Opinions on a gracey case trimmer

[fabguy]

I am thinking of getting a Gracey case trimmer to help expedite my case trimming. what do you all think of these?

[FLIGHT762]

I have a Gracey and have used it for several years. If I were to do it all over again, I'd buy a Giraud. The main reason being Giraud has more powerful motor and changing the cutter to cut another caliber is a pain, even with Giraud's replacement cutter for a Gracey (which I do have).

Giraud now has caliber specific cutters. A little pricey, yes but well worth it in my opinion.

[problemchild]

Love my dillon trimmer. I can trim size, deprime 2000 per hour.

[BrianRodela]

I love the simplicity of this one. Attaches to any drill.

http://www.creedmoorsports.com/store/product.php?productid=889974&cat=360&page=1

[GeoffLinder]

There is no better way to go than a Gracey or a Giraud. Nothing out there trims as fast AND as well as these do. Unlike other power trimmers, the Gracey and Giraud not only index on the case shoulder (more accurate trim method) but they also chamfer and debur the case mouth as they trim.

I have the Gracey and love it.

[problemchild]

There is no better way to go than a Gracey or a Giraud. Nothing out there trims as fast AND as well as these do. Unlike other power trimmers, the Gracey and Giraud not only index on the case shoulder (more accurate trim method) but they also chamfer and debur the case mouth as they trim.

I have the Gracey and love it.

I guess its just a different tool for a different purpose. I would say those trimmers are for Benchrest and the Dillon is for bulk reloading like when I have 16,000 LC OFB's to reload.

Indexing off the shoulder is also good for benchrest where the neck will be the same on all. If the body stretches and you want all loaded rounds to be the same length to fit in the magazine then the shoulder indexing is not the way to go. I have also never had any problem with non chamfered brass after trimming so why solve what isnt broke.

Bottom line is two tools for two purposes. Both are good for your type of application.

Im sure there are other pros and cons like the fact that I can do six 6 gallon buckets of brass on a Saturday makes it a no brainer for me.

[problemchild]

I love the simplicity of this one. Attaches to any drill.

http://www.creedmoorsports.com/store...cat=360&page=1

Yeah its like the fancy girard without the 500 dollar price tag. Genius!

[popeye4]

I've got a Giraud and would never part with it. Trimming is now the least objectionable part of case prep for me!

[GeoffLinder]

I guess its just a different tool for a different purpose. I would say those trimmers are for Benchrest and the Dillon is for bulk reloading like when I have 16,000 LC OFB's to reload.

Indexing off the shoulder is also good for benchrest where the neck will be the same on all. If the body stretches and you want all loaded rounds to be the same length to fit in the magazine then the shoulder indexing is not the way to go. I have also never had any problem with non chamfered brass after trimming so why solve what isnt broke.

Bottom line is two tools for two purposes. Both are good for your type of application.

Im sure there are other pros and cons like the fact that I can do six 6 gallon buckets of brass on a Saturday makes it a no brainer for me.

I don't load for benchrest applications, I load for bulk competition usage and can process many thousands of cases through my Gracey in an afternoon.

Additionally, I find deburring and chamfering the case mouth does contribute to downrange accuracy even in bulk loading for AR's. I get down to moa performance from my 55gr bulk fodder after I trim and chamfer/debur case mouths from un-sorted bulk brass versus using it as is without these steps. I get extremely sub-moa performance when I add the step of segregating the cases by weight and lot. This tells me case mouth uniformity and release tension consistency are important at the early stages of loading for reasonable accuracy in ammo. Release tension is equally effected by crimp and static case mouth tension uniformity. Crimp uniformity absolutely depends on case mouth preparation and trim accuracy.

Additionally, all bottle-neck rifle cartridges index the case in the chamber at time of firing against the case shoulder NOT the case head. This means that bullet jump uniformity is absolutely determined by distance of case shoulder datum line to barrel lead, not case head to leade distance.

I rest my case here

[grant22]

Oh cool, a pissing match! Can I play?

The Gracey is $280, and as I understand it the Dillon is $229 + $46 for the die, which equals $275, and the Giraud is $425.

In my world of reloading, I knew bulk AND some precision was going to be the name of the game. I think the Giraud handles that and it had only one downside that I saw: price. At approximately $150 more than the other two big players, figure you'll keep it 30 years, at $5 a year, it's not that big a deal.

That's how I justified it at least!

I'm sure of these three, the OP will do just fine choosing and none are a 'bad' choice.

[CSACANNONEER]

I love my Giraurd (indexes of the shoulder) for bulk processing. My K&M (indexes off the inside of the case head) is caliber specific but also an excellent and less expensive way to go. For smaller runs (1-400), I use my Lyman universal trimmer (indexes off the outside of the case head) because, I'm too cheap to buy Giraurd bushings for every cartridge. However, I'm mulling over picking up a couple possum hollow trimmers for my medium sized runs. Now, to answer your question, if I couldn't buy a Giraurd, I'd buy a Gracey without hesitation.

[problemchild]

I figure a picture is worth a 1000 words so here it is.
Picture one 308 NON chamfered dillon trimmed
Picture two NON chamfred dillon trimmed
Both shot in gusting wind, both nothing special loads thrown on my 650 with nothing special brass.
Both bulk LC brass trimmed at 2k rounds per hour (no way the fancy one at a time trimmer can do 2,000 round per hour, sorry)
Both shot out of a nothing special combat AR10 type rifle, not a fancy bolt benchrest gun.
I find that all the extra steps do NOTHING towards accuracy.
I find the thing that matters the most is exact same charge weight and quality bullets like hornady Amax along with BR primers. Nothing else seems to make any difference in my shooting experience at my range with my rifles.
Those groups are good enough for me and I bet the rifle and my crap loaded ammo can shoot better with a better shooter.
So why get carpal tunnel on a one by one hand trimmer?

I don't load for benchrest applications, I load for bulk competition usage and can process many thousands of cases through my Gracey in an afternoon.

Additionally, I find deburring and chamfering the case mouth does contribute to downrange accuracy even in bulk loading for AR's. I get down to moa performance from my 55gr bulk fodder after I trim and chamfer/debur case mouths from un-sorted bulk brass versus using it as is without these steps. I get extremely sub-moa performance when I add the step of segregating the cases by weight and lot. This tells me case mouth uniformity and release tension consistency are important at the early stages of loading for reasonable accuracy in ammo. Release tension is equally effected by crimp and static case mouth tension uniformity. Crimp uniformity absolutely depends on case mouth preparation and trim accuracy.

Additionally, all bottle-neck rifle cartridges index the case in the chamber at time of firing against the case shoulder NOT the case head. This means that bullet jump uniformity is absolutely determined by distance of case shoulder datum line to barrel lead, not case head to leade distance.

I rest my case here

[Dark Mod]

I figure a picture is worth a 1000 words so here it is.
Picture one 308 NON chamfered dillon trimmed
Picture two NON chamfred dillon trimmed
Both shot in gusting wind, both nothing special loads thrown on my 650 with nothing special brass.
Both bulk LC brass trimmed at 2k rounds per hour (no way the fancy one at a time trimmer can do 2,000 round per hour, sorry)
Both shot out of a nothing special combat AR10 type rifle, not a fancy bolt benchrest gun.
I find that all the extra steps do NOTHING towards accuracy.
I find the thing that matters the most is exact same charge weight and quality bullets like hornady Amax along with BR primers. Nothing else seems to make any difference in my shooting experience at my range with my rifles.
Those groups are good enough for me and I bet the rifle and my crap loaded ammo can shoot better with a better shooter.
So why get carpal tunnel on a one by one hand trimmer?
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Well played sir, well played

[grant22]

Here's what sold me on the Giraud since I can relate to the kid in diapers:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7q11p5G58mA

Seriously though, if anyone gets carpal tunnel from a Giraud, Gracey, OR Dillon trimmer, you may need to get your monthly testosterone shot.

@ problem child, do you have 5 Dillon triimers on your tool head? If not, how do you figure the Dillon is NOT a 'on at a time' trimmer?

[problemchild]

Cute video.

Slow processing.

A comparison.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLyK1UwuK3M

Here's what sold me on the Giraud since I can relate to the kid in diapers:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7q11p5G58mA

Seriously though, if anyone gets carpal tunnel from a Giraud, Gracey, OR Dillon trimmer, you may need to get your monthly testosterone shot.

@ problem child, do you have 5 Dillon triimers on your tool head? If not, how do you figure the Dillon is NOT a 'on at a time' trimmer?