Best way to trim pistol brass in quantity?

J

Josh M.

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I have several thousand pieces of mixed .38 spl brass that I'd like to get trimmed to the same length.

I've always done my trimming on an old RCBS hand crank job, but it is a long process to trim just 100 pieces that way.

What's everybody's favorite way to speed up the process?

Thanks.
 
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Don't trim it.:D

100 pieces? By hand, that's nothing.:confused: you only maybe have to do it once. Try doing a thousand 223/556.

Get a power drill adapter for you hand crank if you must.

Edit Sorry I thought I read 100. Even though it's 1000 I still don't do it, never have, Tried it once makes not difference to me. The variance is not enough to worry about. The cannelure in a lead bullet is much wider to offset any slight case difference,
 
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Have you sweet talked the wife, kids or girl friend?

No big thing really.......... if it needs to be done, plus you may get better groups?
 
9mm and 357 mag brass get tossed as soon as they don't fit in the case length gauge. Way too much cheap brass available to waist my time trimming pistol brass.
 
Remove the crank from the trimmer and turn the head off a bolt to put in the shaft. Chuck your cordless drill up to the trimmer. Only way I trim brass anymore.
 
You can make it easy on yourself, especially if you have one of the harbor freight cheapo bench top drill presses. When I have a large quantity of brass to trim, I use my drill press, chuck in a LEE case gauge/cutter stud in the drill press, and go to town. I can trim hundreds of cases fast and easy like that.

Only thing left to do by hand is chamfering (removing the burr left from trimming). Nice thing about the Lee case trimmer is that they are easy to use, cheap to buy, last a life time and you end up with all of your cases trimmed to the correct length.
 
Krell1 said:
I've been shooting for over 40 years and I keep going till the brass splits. I reload as many times as i can. I shoot .45ACP and .38Spec and NEVER trimmed a case. I won't start now, that's for sure.
Click to expand...

Pretty much my story as well.

I load batches of 9mm and 45acp up to 1000 at a time, and .357 in batches of 250.

I trim rifle cases all the time; I've never trimmed a pistol case ever. Never. Nada. None.
They split before they grow.
 
The newer Lee Quick-Trim chamfers the case as well as trimming it.
These are caliber specific and do work but IMHO are kind of a PITA to use.
You still have to crank the thing by hand but I suppose you could drill adapt it.
I'll measure a lot of new brass and if it is within .001-2 I'll skip the trim.
Most starline 44 brass doesn't need trimming at all.

I got a lot of NOS 444 that was all over the place, averaged .01 long and went as far as .015 long.
Those I did trim after firing and sizing once using an old Lyman hand cranked lathe style trimmer.
Took awhile but I don't anticipate ever needing to do it again.

===
Nemo
 
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I trim brass when I'm just starting to load it...and check after firing it once. After that they dont tend to grow. Sounds like this is a new batch you haven't loaded before, so I would say just out in the time and trim them all and then you shouldn't have to do it again. That is a lot of brass, so perhaps do half or a third now and save the rest to do over the winter? I do like all my pistol brass to be the same length or within a thousandths so I get a consistent crimp.
 
I have an even simpler answer than modifying a screw to use a drill. Note, the drill I use is a Milwaukee 90 degree drill which aint cheap by an stretch but it's quite handy mounted to my modified RCBS. hand crank trimmer. It also leave me Dewalt standard 3/8 drill free for the Lyman Chamfering (ID & OD) bits I keep next to the trimmer.

Now, the actual fix is really cheap. What you need is a #10-32 setscrew 1 inch long and a #10-32 Coupling Nut. Note, a Coupling Nut is a VERY LONG nut intended to couple 2 pieces of threaded rod or screws together. In the case of a #10-32 Coupling Nut they are about 3/4 inch long and a perfect size to chuck up in a 3/8 drill.

Procedure, remove the hand crank and screw. Note save them for the future just in case, it's how we get enough "stuff" to make our heirs wonder if we were a bit luny after we pass. Now, take a tiny dab of blue locktite and secure the set screw in the Coupling Nut with about 3/8-1/2 inch of the set screw sticking out. Set the Coupling Nut/Set Screw combination aside for a few hours until that locktite sets up. Then use a paper towel to insure that the threads visible on the set screw are free of any still liquid locktite. Because you really don't want to locktite that coupling nut to the shaft of your trimmer. Now you have a very convenient Hex Shaped stud to chuck a drill to the shaft of your trimmer.
 
Scooter,

Does the coupling nut have a hole for the set screw or does one need to be drilled and tapped?

I bought an adapter from a guy on another forum. The RCBS adapter is useless to me as it is just a slip fit so it and the drill do not stay attached. I use the "custom" adapter and I made a little shelf holder for my drill so it is level and will slide back and forth. I try and get a picture.
 
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Scooter that sounds like a neat adapter and I like gadgets. Darn now I am going to have to start trimming my pistol brass. I am so slow at reloading I never will get any shooting done. Don
 
A Coupling Nut is just as described, it's simply a lot longer than a standard nut. So no drilling and tapping required as long as you get the correct thread. IIRC the set screw set me back about 23 cents and the coupling nut was probably 40 or 50 cents. Add in the 50 dollar Carhartt short sleeve shirt I picked up on the same trip and it only cost me 51 dollars to modify my trimmer to use a hand drill for power.

Note, I have an excellent local hardware store nearby that knows how to hit every single one of my buttons. First, the Floor Staff really knows the store and the various experts in the store. So, you not only get answers to questions, you actually get good accurate answers to your questions. Then they are a Spyderco and Benchmade dealer, a Carhartt dealer, and the owners taste for cashiers runs to attractive and friendly females. As a result I look forward to going there but tend to dread what that trip will cost me.

Yeah, I am bragging a bit. I feel that it's real unfortunate that the Big Box retailers have been so effective on killing off the local stores and avoid them whenever it's possible. Because I'm old enough to remember the times before Home Depot and remember the unique aroma of oiled wood floors and the rust preventative used in the nail bins back when I was a kid.
 
Josh,
I'll register another vote for "don't bother". I've been reloading .38 Special for better than 40 yrs, everything from wadcutters to .38-44, and I've amassed a considerable stash of brass - old, new, foreign, domestic, nickeled, plain, big name and no name. The only sorting I do is to separate brass from nickel, and discard 'em when they split. The .38 Special is a low-intensity cartridge, so stretching is an infinitesimal consideration, and case length in a revolver is a wide-tolerance proposition. Bullet fit is far more important.
This is all just my opinion formed after consuming a good deal of powder and lead. Others may counsel differently.

Larry
 
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