burrhead
Member
I received a new World Finest Trimmer for .223 Rem. a couple of days ago. All brass is once fired LC full length resized with the shoulder bumped back 0.002. I've used a few different brands of lathe style trimmers over the years and have found the Wilson to be the best of the bunch for precision. Having been given thousands of LC 5.56 cases to play with I needed to add speed to the trimming chore, hence the WFT. My review follows.
The cases after sizing but before trimming are +/- 1.770. Manual specs trim to length is 1.750 but I like to trim a little shorter. Trimmed a case on my Wilson to 1.745 to use as a master that was subsequently used to index off of to set up the WFT.
Setup is to loosen two allen setscrews, insert the master, slide the cutter until it just touches the mouth of the master, then tighten the set screws. Took less than a minute. Care must be taken as the screws are steel and the datum index housing is aluminum. Test trimming five cases using a cordless drill motor gave an OAL case length of 1.747. I felt that was close enough. The trimmer is sensitive to differences in technique as will be noted latter.
Installed the trimmer in a drill press and set speed to 1720 RPM. After establishing a rhythm, OAL settled to 1.743 +/- 0.002. This reflects a change in my technique. The manufacturer considers this to be within expected operational specs. The case mouths were very smooth and will require only a light chamfering but, as this is a brand new cutter, I expect a falloff in cutter performance. I easily trimmed 10-12 cases per minute for a total of 300 cases.
Using a drill press instead of a drill motor causes the brass shavings to collect on a sort of “shelf” inside the trimmer housing. These filings are easily blown out with compressed air every one hundred cases which, in my shop, isn't a problem but in a house would necessitate some other way to deal with the shavings to keep on the good side of SWMBO.
My conclusion is that accuracy will improve as technique becomes more fluid but will never match a good lathe type, setup is very quick and easy but will always be somewhat imprecise, trimming is very fast, and my hands will throb at night. My one criticism is using steel setscrews in an aluminum housing. Time will tell how well that holds up. Overall I give the WFT two (sore) thumbs up.
The cases after sizing but before trimming are +/- 1.770. Manual specs trim to length is 1.750 but I like to trim a little shorter. Trimmed a case on my Wilson to 1.745 to use as a master that was subsequently used to index off of to set up the WFT.
Setup is to loosen two allen setscrews, insert the master, slide the cutter until it just touches the mouth of the master, then tighten the set screws. Took less than a minute. Care must be taken as the screws are steel and the datum index housing is aluminum. Test trimming five cases using a cordless drill motor gave an OAL case length of 1.747. I felt that was close enough. The trimmer is sensitive to differences in technique as will be noted latter.
Installed the trimmer in a drill press and set speed to 1720 RPM. After establishing a rhythm, OAL settled to 1.743 +/- 0.002. This reflects a change in my technique. The manufacturer considers this to be within expected operational specs. The case mouths were very smooth and will require only a light chamfering but, as this is a brand new cutter, I expect a falloff in cutter performance. I easily trimmed 10-12 cases per minute for a total of 300 cases.
Using a drill press instead of a drill motor causes the brass shavings to collect on a sort of “shelf” inside the trimmer housing. These filings are easily blown out with compressed air every one hundred cases which, in my shop, isn't a problem but in a house would necessitate some other way to deal with the shavings to keep on the good side of SWMBO.
My conclusion is that accuracy will improve as technique becomes more fluid but will never match a good lathe type, setup is very quick and easy but will always be somewhat imprecise, trimming is very fast, and my hands will throb at night. My one criticism is using steel setscrews in an aluminum housing. Time will tell how well that holds up. Overall I give the WFT two (sore) thumbs up.
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) but that looks like I could find some uses for it.
