Which Trimmer? Hornady or Lyman?

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Crawlin

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I have the Lyman, and I like it a lot. Only downfall is the handle is a bit small, but if you get the power conversion piece, it works like a champ and won't wear you out.
 
I use the Hornady and screwgun it to the bench with large washers under the screw heads. Features that work for me:

- the 1.75" clearance under the crank handle is definitely enough to prevent hitting the benchtop with your fingers.
- the crank handle is large in diameter and therefore less 'crampy'.
- there's a port to lube the crank arm bearing area.
- keep the pilots in a plastic box.
- case length setting is fine adjustable without having to release a set-screw.

Hornady's trimmer gives quite consistent results, within .001".

I have no experience with the Lyman unit.
 
I have no experience with the Hornady, but I know it gets better reviews than most. I was actually looking for one and couldn't find one. Everywhere I looked they were backordered.
We went to Bass Pro in Springfield a few weeks ago and I bought the Lyman. It works great and I like it just fine. Well worth $65.
 
I have a Lyman that works pretty well. I did have a problem right out of the box with a bad cutter head. I wish I had gone with the rcbs and their 3 way cutter head. I am going to make some sort of adapter so the rcbs 3 way cutter will fit the Lyman.
Fred
 
Basically they are quite simular. I prefer the 'universal' case holder of the Lyman AND the fact that the case heads are indexed on the solid steel base of the chuck. Any length variations are due to the operator, not the tool.

I've never noted the chuck and cutter shaft to be non-aligned fine but any tiny non-square cut mouth potential would be irrelivant to practical accuracy; it is generally agreed that the case neck will usually be slammed against the chamber wall before the bullet gets out of the case neck anyway.

I have added a short section of soft plastic tubing over the crank handle to increase its diameter.
 
If i were you i would go with the L.E Wilson case trimmer. The way its designed to hold the cases it cant be anymore precise. you can get a nice mount for the trimmer from Sinclair international, or if your good with metal you can make your own.

If you decide to go with the wilson, get the "Fired" case holders as they will hold both new cases, resized, and fired. the other types of case holders can become useless.

One thing you want to do is make sure you keep it oiled and stored away as it will rust quick depending on where you live.

I bought mine with the Sinclair stand and micrometer attachment. best purchase ive ever made. each case comes out perfect. you can tell the difference in quality when you put the wilson next to the hornady, its like night and day.
 
Dog-gone-it! Now i feel like I gotta go out and buy a drill press! :p

Looks like a good set-up bloomin...a whole lot nicer than twisty twisty with wristy wristy :)
 
I just couldn't justify $450 for the Giraud. I could run cases at the same rate if I had the RCBS three way cutter. Granted there is a lot less required moves per case to trim though. I will stick with my $110 for a drill press and trimmer. :) I am a cheapskate though.
 
I have the Lyman universal that I use for straight walled cases, I does ok.
I use the Wilson lathe type trimmer for bottle neck cases, it does really well if the chamber hole is centered in the case holder, I have returned several that were not.
 
Over the years i've had several different case trimmers, but i like the Forester best, so it's the one that i kept and i have no reason to replace it.

DM
 
I have the Lyman, with the powder Drill attachment, and it works very well... I need to find a power drill that is the same thickness as the Power drill attachment and my work bench so I can lay it on its side
 
"When you have this much 223 brass to trim the Giraud Power Trimmer comes in handy."

True. But spending $500 or so to trim an occasional hundred cases or less would be silly. Choose your tool for your need, not someone else's need. I have both a Lyman trimmer and a drill press but my needs are too low to bother with putting them together.
 
Thanks for all the input. After looking at them all, I think I am going to back and buy the RCBS with the 3 way cutter. With the price of the other two cutters I am a bit over the cost of the RCBS manual. I am going to cut .223 only so $30 for convenience is worth it to me.

Thanks for all the suggestions guys.
 
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