Rifle case prep center?

yeah!
Next time TSC has cordless drills on sale, buy a couple.
What I did..

...case prep station...

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http://www.giraudtool.com/prod02.htm

This isn't really a lot more expensive than some of the multi-station wiz-bang things on the market.

However, for some reason, folks just don't want to pay for something that actually works. All I read is, "Yeah, but it's too expensive."

After you've done a couple thousand cases on something less efficient, the Giraud begins to look like a wise investment.

I am in the process of making a run of 3000 223 in my spare time (casting and reloading takes most of mine). I have done small batches with the lee hand trimmer and with the lyman with and without the power adapter. Im in the same boat as you, but my brass also has crimped primers. I finally ordered the hornady case prep trio and I am waiting for its arrival. I plan to trim with the lee trimmer with a drill and decrimp,chamfer/deburr with the case prep trio. I would love to get the dillon trimmer but if I spend too much on tools, I cant buy anything to load.

I chamfer & debur with the tool chucked in a small hobby lathe.

I trim .223 with a Lee trimmer pilot in a drill press.

Hand hold the case and the drill table becomes the depth stop for the Lee trimmer.

I can trim as fast as I can pick them up and throw them down.

rc

Looks like that Giraud would cost about $800.00 to set up to do all the calibers I do now with my Lee's the same way rc does.

I can buy a lot of powder and primers for $800.00.

jim

You can buy a Harbor Freight Chinese lathe for $499 and chuck your own tools in it too.
http://www.harborfreight.com/7-inch-x-10-inch-precision-mini-lathe-93212.html

Or a drill press with a 5/8" chuck for way less.
http://www.harborfreight.com/12-speed-bench-top-drill-press-44836.html

rc

$800? Ouch.

I probably went for it because I only reload 2 bottleneck cartridges, so I think one trimmer unit and a quick-change cutter was around $500.

Still wasn't an easy purchase...

First off I wanted to say, "good job" for taking the time and interest in watching your brass for trimming. Some don't realize the importance of this step in preventing possible very high pressure spikes and throat errosion the result of untrimmed mouths getting pinched in the throat.

So far as the tools to get it done wuickly and right. I like the Lee with a cordless drill. I can easily trim, ream and chamfer 2-3 per minute once I get a rythm going.

My fingers are killing me after 30-40 cases twisting that damn deburring tool

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This is puzzling. I can chamfer a thousand cases without getting tired. It only takes a light half twist with any but the Lee chamfer tool. Reaming primer pockets, OTOH...

+1 on the Lee for lots of trimming. If you use a drill and a Zip Trim chuck, it is a complete motorized trimming/chamfering/polishing station. Just add a hand chamfer tool.

I use the Zip Trim 3 jaw chuck in a fixed speed, SLOW* cordless drill. (If you buy this for a drill, you need to get 2 separate parts - the chuck part and the base part.)
1. Put case in
2. Stick the cutter with ball grip in
3. Spin up the drill
4. Hold outside chamfer tool over the mouth
5. Spin drill for about 2/3 a rotation, using a light touch
6. Flip chamfer tool to the inside chamfer
7. Spin drill for a quarter turn, using an even lighter touch - barely kiss the case mouth.
8. Hold cloth over the case to remove case lube and/or polish it
9. Spin drill
10. Remove case.

* If your drill is too fast, you will get chatter with most outside chamfer tools. And the inside chamfer tool can cut way too deep. In this case, I recommend you pick up a Lee. It works the best for high RPM, IMO.

I built an on press trimmer for my LNL-AP that uses a forster 3 in 1 tool on a shortened redding body die. It trims, chamfers, deburrs on station 2 with a lee collet neck size on station 1. Picures are posted here somewhere. It's +/- .001 and perfectly centric, takes zero time.

i use a benchtop drill press i got on craigslist for $60. i speed it up to 3100 for trimming bulk .223 with a possum hollow and it does great. i slow it down a little for the chamfer/deburr tool.

I was just re-reading the OP's post and noticed that he is trimming before resizing. This isn't the most effective method of maintaining consistent trim lenghts. Brass changes significantly in length after resizing, so I would strongly advise against trimming prior to resizing.

I built an on press trimmer for my LNL-AP that uses a forster 3 in 1 tool on a shortened redding body die. It trims, chamfers, deburrs on station 2 with a lee collet neck size on station 1.

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That sounds ingenious. PICS! Q- Do brass shavings get in the cases, and do you just leave them there?

The outside is another story. This old Lyman universal hand crank trimmer I have puts a pretty aggressive flash around the outside of the case. I keep spinning the outside tool until I can't feel the edge anymore when I run a finger uo the side of the case and off the mouth.

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I think I know what you're talking about. I have a Wilson, and the outside flash is pretty impressive on some cases. Still takes me just a half twist, or two at the most.

Now, I'm not trying to tell you how to make a sandwich, or anything. But I've found the typical 3 blade outside chamfer tool does a terrible job if you turn it too fast. Put it on there with enough pressure where it's indexing off the case mouth, and not the edge of the flashing. Then make one really slow, controlled turn, and all that flashing gets cut off in one pass. If you hold it too lightly and/or turn too fast, the burr is cut unevenly, and the blades start bouncing on the uneven edge. Now it takes forever, because the blades are not making good contact. They're biting out one tiny, microscopic chip at a time, between bounces. Took me awhile to learn this, because I started out with the Lee tool, which is much less aggressive and better at self-centering. (I still think the LEE produces a more consistent, prettier edge under a microscope). Again, I'm not trying to tell you how to tie your shoes. Maybe I'm just a big dummy, but it wasn't obvious to me, at first. I almost went back to the Lee before figuring this out.

I use a Hornady case preparation machine and it will trim, chamfer the inside and outside of the case mouth, remove the crimp from the primer pocket, clean the primer pocket and clean the case neck. Within the last 12 months, I have prepared about 6,000 223 cases; 3,000 308 cases; and several hundred other cases in such calibers as 30-30, 30 carbine, 6.8 Rem. SPC, 6.5x55 Swede and 270 WSM. I will soon start reloading 45 ACP and other pistol calibers. It works and has proven to be durable. It's not inexpensive (@$340) but it is pretty efficient.

Gloob, this is station 2 (body size / trim) of the press and a typical case. takes under 3 seconds at top stroke. You can see the aluminum trimmer support post going down through the center hole of the press - it's a press fit. A semi-floating aluminum offset block mounts to the post and holds the bearing part of a forster case trimmer. By floating i mean it has a very small amount of horizontally constrained play so the pilot will center without binding. there is no vertical or rotational play. I attached the 3 way head and a floating motor drive so the case mouth lifts the drive and the weight provides down force. With the head all the way down the trimmer lock ring (the one that comes on the trimmer) bears on the bearing, just like it would normally do but it's vertical and not horizontal. I put a couple of bronze thrust washers in for good measure as it spins at 600rpm. The die was turned down in a lathe, mig'ed some shim onto the base of the die, and turned it down so i get .003" setback with the die bottomed on the shell holder. i then turned off the top of the die so the neck would stick out, placed it in an LNL bushing with JB on the threads, adjusted it to bottom out, and it's there forever. It is in effect a dead length sizer which trims. It's sub .001 good, basicaly i can't measure any variation. I hang a small shop vac nozzle next to this station, it gets pretty much everything. Another advantage here is any high primers get pressed flat when it resizes the case, so high primers are a non issue. Every time I reload .223 I have perfect trim with zero effort, which was my goal as I am lazy.

That's incredibly impressive. If it were me, I think I'd be looking for a patent attorney. If Lee can patent a fill-through-expander die, a patent on this should be a lock! If you could design one that simply screwed into a press, that would be something, now wouldn't it? Move over, Giruourd!

I use:
http://www.forsterproducts.com/catalog.asp?prodid=700289

and:
http://leeprecision.com/case-conditioning-tools/case-trimming-tools/zip-trim/

I have a Hornady Case Prep center for sale if anyone wants it. Not trying to hi-jack the thread just throwing it out there. 250 shipped and it is yours. It is basically brand new in the box. PM me.

For trimming I just got a worlds finest trimmer for 223 and it makes trimming MUCH nicer!
http://www.littlecrowgunworks.com/wft.html

I also have a RCBS case prep center but you still have to hold those skinny 223 cases and after a while my hands start cramping just from holding them tight. But I can normally do this for and hour before I have to do something else.