Bulk 223 case trimming

[MThuntr]

Over the last few years I've acquired several thousand 223 and 5.56 pirces of brass and I'm finally getting to process a bunch of it. All of it was collected at ranges so after resizing all of it is getting trimmed to same length. Anyone have a favorite bulk case trimmer?

Most of this is Lake City with primer crimp. Which primer pocket swage or trimmer you prefer for an estimated 1500 rounds?

Also Brownell has 6000 count hornady fmj on sale with free shipping...June 15th only

 

[Rancho Loco]

lee case trimmer, vld chamfer, and a cordless drill.

 

[Schism]

I don't have recommendation for power trimmer as I'm still looking myself.

I do use the Dillon super swage600 for the primer pockets and love that tool!

 

[marksjeep]

I've used one of these for several thousand cases. Use the power adapter and chuck it in a drill press. You can also use the adapter to chamfer/deburr in the press. Dillon is also what I use on LC brass to swage out the crimp.

https://www.possumhollowproducts.com/KWICK_CASE_TRIMMERS.html

 

[MThuntr]

Thanks guys, Possum Hollow case trimmers seem to be discontinued but I'll keep my eyes open for them. In the meantime I'll probably do some trimming with my Lyman trimmer.

Anyone have experience with the RCBS Bench Mounted Primer Pocket Swager...it's about $30 cheaper than the Dillon Super Swage600

 

[Laelkhunter]

If you are already a Dillon user, they have a power trimmer that trims the case during the resizing procedure. Might cost a few $$, but if you are doing that many cases and have to resize anyway, could be a way to go.
You can never go wrong buying anything Dillon. Lifetime no hassle guarantee.

 

[marksjeep]

Looks like Midway stopped carrying the Possum Hollow trimmers, but they may still be available here. http://www.sjsinclair.com/home.html

Ditto above on anything Dillon.

 

[MThuntr]

Thanks for the find on those Possum hollow. I saw the Frankford Arsenal Case Prep Center the other day...looks like it's good for trimming and deburring. Anyone have experience with that machine?

 

[TBass]

How much money do you want to spend?

 

[MThuntr]

Preferably I'd like to be a cheap ass about it...thus the interest in the all in one Frankford Arsenal @$160. I've seen others things like the Hornady Case prep center but those are like $350 and require their shellholders. In the meantime, I'm going to get a power adapter for my Lyman trimmer and do small batches.

 

[Laelkhunter]

The Dillon electric trimmer that trims the case when you resize it is $329.00 It also comes with a nifty attachment that allows you to connect your shop vac, and it collects all of the brass trimmings from the case to keep the area clean.

 

[MThuntr]

So I got the crimps cut out of the 2500 pieces of brass this weekend. I decided to forego the Dillon and use a primer pocket cutter in a variable speed drill. It took about 3hrs but I powered through and most of the cases look really nice. The few PMC pieces had especially small primer pockets that this little cutter chewed up pretty bad but all look nice and uniform. I tried to cut cases to length with a Power Lyman bench tool and that is not going work for bulk processing. It's great for 100 larger pieces of brass. I have 1500 commercial 223 and 2500 Lake City pieces so I'm going to buy a case trimmer system.

I've watched a pile of videos and the positive comments of the Frankford Arsenal system is probably what I'll invest in so I can trim and chamfer with one machine.

 

[Southwind]

When I shot cross course I used a Match Prep trimmer by Gracey, Giraud was the other high volume trimmer most competitors used. I sold it off and if I were to do it now I would try a "little crow" trimmer first.

 

[MThuntr]

Well I pulled the trigger on a Frankford Arsenal trimmer system because I managed to find one on the cheap. I put it together last night and ran about 200 pieces of brass. The trimmer works great and having the chamfers on the same machine make for efficient motions. It takes a touch longer per case than I wanted but my fingers don't hurt like they did with the Lee trimmer or the Lyman bench mounted trimmer. The machine isn't too loud but loud enough to make listening to the radio pretty tough. I was getting very consistent trims at my set length of 1.75" (+/- a thousandth).

So far the only issue that may have identified was the trimmer creates long brass threads that got inside many cases. I'm hoping those will come out when I wet tumble.