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Case Prep Accessories?

Chuckdog

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I've been working on some good sized batches of brass for my autoloading rifles lately. Most of it's nickeled stuff that makes it that much harder to work with too. I've got an RCBS Trim Mate case prep tool that's great. Yea, over priced but still great. I use it for many things. I have carpal tunnel, trigger finger, and other assorted maladies that affect my hands and make it a very useful tool for me. I've been less than impressed with the chamfering and deburring attachments that came with it from the start. For what they cost, they should be better at what they do. My inexpensive little Lee hand tool is very much superior to the RCBS attachments for cleaning up freshly trimmed brass. I've easily adapted one of the Lee's to do the inside of the case, but the outside's a bit more challenging. My questions are, have any of you used the Hornady deburring/chamfering attachments? If so how well do they work? Does anyone know if the size/threads are compatible with the Trim Mate? Below is link to the attachments I'm looking at. Also any thoughts or ideas of something better than what I'm using? Thanks' Guys and Gals. Chuckdog.


http://www.midwayusa.com/viewproduct/?productnumber=219064
 
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Chuck, I recently changed over from trimming my brass with the Lee cutter and gauges to an RCBS Trim pro with the 3 way cutter head. It has dramatically changed the way I prep brass. Everything goes faster. The 3 way cutter head trims to length, deburs and chamfers in one step. However, with your hand ailments, you'd want a power version. I'm in the process of adapting an electric motor to the Trim Pro. It's a bit of an investment to get the entire setup, but worth it, IMO.

http://www.midwayusa.com/viewproduc...ent (Not Presses)-_-PriceCompListing-_-251948

I've been thinking that the Trim Mate would be a great companion tool to my setup.
 
Another vote for the RCBS trim pro.

I would be interested in a nice write up of how you adapt your trim pro for use with an electric motor. ;)
 
I welded the lee cutterhead to the arbor on a router. bolted it under my reloading table and put a sewing machine foot pedal on it. Works like a champ!
 
I've got the Trim Pro case trimmer, and I'd like to see the RCBS 3 way cutters in action. I've looked at them at Midway, but I've not seen one in person. I would hope that they work better than the Trim Mate attachments. It seems like this stuff dulls way too quick. Have ya'll used the 3 way long enough to feel good about its longevity? I'm assuming that you can change the pilot for other calibers? I would also think this would require readjustment of the o.d.cleanup too. If it works well, I'm sure it would be worth buying one for each caliber you do in any volume. I admit that I've never really researched the 3 ways, mostly because of being so disappointed in the other RCBS case prep tools performance. The little thimble like debur/chamfer tools from Lee have worked better and stayed sharp longer than the more expensive RCBS stuff. That's why I was looking at the Hornady products. If the 3 ways work well, and hold up, that sounds like a good way to go. The .308 and .223 are really the only two calibers that I do any real volume in. I may need one for the 6.8 too though. Thanks' for the replies. I'd like to hear more about the 3 way cutters, adjustments, longevity and such.
 
Chuck, this is a new tool for me. I've prepped about 700 cases of .223 so far. Not nearly enough to comment on sharpness issues. I bought a pilot for .30 cal, but haven't changed over yet. The 223 came adjusted out of the box, so I haven't had to reset it yet. I'm almost tempted to purchase a 30 cal 3 way cutter head, just to be able to use them without adjustment.

Here's the 3 way cutter in action on Youtube. Gives a good feel for how fast you can trim/chamfer/debur cases.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j65zHxVenz8
 
I use the Lyman universal trimmer.

http://www.midwayusa.com/viewProduct/default.aspx?productNumber=795961

I added this little chamfer/deburring tool to the trimmer.

http://www.midwayusa.com/viewProduct/default.aspx?productNumber=310638

I doesn't trim but once I have them trimmed, it will chamfer the inside and debur the outside in one step. I did buy the motorized adapter for the Lyman trimmer but went back to the hand crank as it's only a turn or two for the tool to work and it was easy to turn...

so far i"ve done about 1k 223 round with it and happy with the results. If I am only going to do 20 or 50 rounds I will just use the VLD chamfer thing but for doing bulk rounds that I sent out to have trimmed/processed it's great.
 
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