Cost effective brass trimming & chamfering

To add to the list of trimmers: before owning a Giraud, I found the Little Crow Gunworks' trimmer to provide pretty good results in accuracy and consistency of the trimmed brass. I had the Lyman a few years back but it did not work for me. I could not get enough tolerance in trimming cases. I kept the Lyman motor and fitted it to the Little Crow head. I got the caliber specific Little Crow and they are solidly built with tight tolerances.

Just got this setup...was worried with accuracy but 50 cases its held. 0015" and I'm very happy with it. Thank you John you probably don't realize how much you've helped others and how much people look up to you and your honest reviews!

I really love my RCBS Trim Pro 2 with 3 way cutters...trims, chamfers and deburrs in one easy step! Hook it up to a cordless drill and your rocking!

I agree this trimmer is a GREAT option on a lower budget. I run it next to the Frankford Prep Center (4 station w/out trimmer) to chamfer/debur/neck brush after. Pretty quick and under half the cost of a Giraud for both units. Great recommendation!

I've bought the K&M deburring tool 2 years ago, but I still can't say if it was worth it. Now I'm going back to the Wilson deburring tool (same as the RCBS) and I still make tiny groups. For me external deburring helps the bushing to self align with the neck (improve concentricity), and the internal deburring is to improve the bullet seating. I always deburr just before one of these operation, because the transport of the brass cases, the cleaning, trimming & resizing process can make some dents on the case mouth. I stop chamfering as soon as I feel it running smoothly (no more burrs or dents left), noo need to sharpen the neck as a cookie cutter 😃

Thanks for all the great info. 👍

I've been pretty happy with my FA case prep center. It's not the best but it does job and way faster than doing them by hand.

I've found that anything where I have to tightly squeeze a piece of brass in my hand is ok for about 8 cases. I can do a few dozen, but the next day the tendons and/or ligaments in the back of my hand are very sore as I become ancient. Especially with smaller brass like a 5.7x28. So I've been using the little Lyman Universal Trimmer and that's been decent. It holds the brass and I can use the hand crank or also bought the one with the drill adapter for larger & volume trimming. For cham/d-burr, I'm just starting to use the Frankford Prep Center for doing a few that I will have to hold the brass, but not so much of a death-grip-squeeze. I also found a Lyman Chamfer and Deburring Tool that will screw into the trimmer rod so I can crank those out either with hand crank or drill. Having to put into the holder is a bit of extra time, but not having to squeeze and hold onto it, for me - is well worth that few seconds. Def will be looking into that expense unit you mentioned, though. Might be worth the investment. The trimming and then chm/d-bur were steps that were making me not want to prep brass at all. Ouch!! thanks for the vid.

Good video and information thanks for sharing.

The Lyman is also good if you are reloading for a number of calibers and, IMO, it handles chips better than some of the other trimmers that have more bearing surfaces that trap chips.

Looking to get away from my frankford, it's beginner level at best. I'm actually considering this because of how many different calibers I load for. Thanks again John

I now use the Wilson trimmer with the K&M chamfer tool featured in this video. They are both awesome tools!

Thanks for doing a review of something cheaper. Of course I'm still waiting on the extended zero review with some data 😉

I have the frankford arsenal and it isn't great. Its decent but I'm sure that there are better ways. There are areas for inconsistencies with the chamfer and deburr part. Keep up the great videos

If you already own a power drill, the Lyman power adapter for their traditional trimming tool is a good system. Another option would be the Frankford Arsenal trimmer that adapts on your power drill (not to be confused with their Case Prep Station). I own both and had good results with them. I would be interested in your opinion comparing trimmers that index from the base of the case (most of them) vs trimmers that index from the shoulder (Giraud, Frankford Arsenal). Edit: for chanfer and debur, I still use manual tools for small batches, or the Lyman case prep station for large batches (I advice using gloves as holding the cases against the rotational force of the unit will be abrasive to your skin after a couple of hundreds cases and you’ll get swollen fingers the next day).

If you want to talk about cost effective and precise, you can't beat a Lee case trimmer with a drill. Chock it up, trim, chamfer, debur, run a brush through the neck and you're done. I just wish they made versions to work with small rifle primer flash holes.

I use the Little Crow in my drill press.

I couldn’t get the Lyman to trim consistently. As in consistent measurements. So I ended up just getting the Dillon rt1500. My crimp and M die do the debur and chamfer on the cases. It’s pricey but it keeps me sane

Would you do a video on a comparison of ADG, LAPUA, PETERSON brass, why you like a certain one etc. ? Thanks!

The Triway and a cheap Harbor Freight polishing wheel can get you cooking for <$200. You’ll need a grinder that does <3500 RPMs.