Lyman Universal Trimmer in Drill Press

Since getting into reloading this year I've bought up all the equipment needed to get the job done. Being a complete beginner I relied on product reviews and searching the web to find good products at an affordable price. The case trimmer I decided on was the Lyman Universal Trimmer. So far I have trimmed about 2,500 cases with it, all 223/5.56 stuff. The one I bought came with the standard hand crank as well as what they called the "power adapter". The hand crank would be fine if you were running a batch of maybe 50 or so but for turning out larger quantities it would likely cause permanent damage to the operators arm. The power adapter is nice and a simple cordless drill works well but is still very tiring after a few hundred cases. After a lot of thought I decided to set this trimmer up to be used on my drill press.

Setting it up was pretty easy and only took maybe 30 minutes. A couple scrap pieces of boards and some large wood screws did the trick. The main key is getting everything as close to square as possible so that once everything is clamped to the drill press the main shaft doesn't bind in any way. Lyman clearly states in the manual "Do not use trimmer in a drill press!" But who really reads the manual anyway?

So far I have trimmed roughly 2k cases using it this way. I keep the shaft well lubed as well as the depth adjustment ring where it contacts the stop on the main housing. There is no measurable wear on anything so far after 2k cases. This set up makes trimming cases a much easier task. Still not necessarily fun but definitely easier. My last batch I did this weekend was probably 800 to 900 cases in a 2 hour period which includes a couple breaks mixed in.

While Lyman warns against doing this I feel that the trimmer will last a long time if you get it set up correctly and keep it well lubed. If you do try this, do it at your own risk and don't blame me if something goes wrong! Worst case, it wears out a little prematurely in which case I will gladly purchase another. The $80 or so this unit would cost to replace is far cheaper than shoulder surgery.

Anyway, here's a photo of my setup. Yes, it's a little crude and definitely not pleasing to the eye but works very well.

If you ever need to replace it try CTS engineering. It's made for a drill press and works great. The 223 trimmer I bought worked so well I got one for 308 also.

Lyman used to make a trimmer designed for use in a drill press. You might try finding one on e-bay or another internet site. The main advantage is that it is much more compact than your set up.

I ran mine vertically for a while,the cutting kept clogging the shell holder.

the 'bungee' is weak enough to allow an easy push in yet strong enough for self extraction.
went back to horizontal position

oldman10mm said:

I ran mine vertically for a while,the cutting kept clogging the shell holder.


the 'bungee' is weak enough to allow an easy push in yet strong enough for self extraction.
went back to horizontal position

Click to expand...

Oldman, very neat set up you have there! Looks simple and functional. I stop after about every 200 cases to lube the shaft and blow out the shell holder. So far it's worked fine.

I looked at the CTS trimmers which look nice. Theirs another one I saw that is similar to them. The downside is you would have to purchase a different trimmer for each caliber. Although I'm only doing 223 right now I might do 308 and 270 later on so having a single trimmer that is adaptable to all sizes is a plus.

I reload many,9mm,38sp,357M,40S&W,10mm,41M,44sp,44M,223Rem,300AAC,35Rem,358Win. Used to load 17Rem,6mmRem,308Win,30-06. Gonna be adding 380acp,45LC,454Casull. Needless to say,I have a lot of die-sets,trimmer pilots,shellholders. I'm gonna be doing a thread about case length trimming.

The Lee gauge/trimmer works good in a drill press