USA -(Ammoland.com)- Most of us love reloading, but hate using a case trimmer on brass. Manually sorting, trimming, chamfering and deburring – just to remove a few thousandths off a few cases is time-consuming, tedious, and can be incredibly frustrating.
Not to mention, those old hand-crank trimmers aren’t the greatest for your shoulders and elbows after a while.
Well, there’s finally an affordable product that does it all, and it’s the TRIM-IT II Case Trimmer! ( goo.gl/swJjJT )
This trimmer hooks up to any power drill, drill press, electric screw driver, or anything with a motor and a chuck. That, in and of itself, will save you tons of money because you supply the motor!
Another huge benefit is that going between calibers is less costly (caliber dies are available for just under $20) and a lot faster than most other methods. Changing dies takes all of 15 seconds. To say this tool is fast is a bit of an understatement. In fact, if you secure the TRIM-IT II in a drill press, you can trim, chamfer and deburr your brass one-handed – up to 500 cases an hour; All for under $200!
How is it that this case trimmer can do it all? An ingenious tool called the Adjustable 3-Way Cutter.
This cutter allows the Trim-It II to work for multiple calibers. Once you set this cutter into position, it’s held in place by a set screw. The beauty of this is that the cutter uses a carbide blade that has three separate cutting surfaces, meaning this tool is built to last a lifetime!
Speaking of that carbide blade, this is a good time to note that, by utilizing the “access holes” in the unit’s body, its lateral position can be adjusted in its slot. This is how one aligns the V-notch with the neck wall of the case and how the tool can service any diameter neck. This blade is the key to the tools “3-in-1” operation! After setting, its position is secured by setscrew.
Furthermore, micrometer-precise control over the final case length, the major innovation introduced by the TRIM-IT I, is also present in the TRIM-IT II. With the amazing 3-in-1 cutter capability, it is easy to overlook this. With previous “trimmers” (none of which chamfered or deburred), to alleviate time-consuming and cumbersome measurements every time you had to maintain “trim-to length” cases in each caliber that you reloaded. The micrometer adjustment works so well that it negates the need for such special cases.
It allows for accurate and consistent trimming, and is a lot faster to set up.
The TRIM-IT II represents a major advancement in the art of case preparation and is highly-recommended for any serious reloader.
You can find the Trim-It Case Trimmer and parts at Brownells.com : http://goo.gl/swJjJT
I recently purchased my Trim-It 2 from Brownells/Sinclair as well as 7 different case holders for some of the many calibers I reload frequently. This Trim-IT 2 is an interchangeable tool using 1 3/8″ sealed ball bearing housings with proprietary caliber specific shoulder headspaced full length sized cases. The concept and workmanship is excellent and repeatable with the 3 way trim-chamber-deburr carbide cutter. My initial experience was a learning curve and I have been working with Troy from ACT/Coleman-Black Widow in California with my issues.
I received my tool as mentioned from my supplier Beownells in brand new condition and followed the well written operation card supplied with the Trim-It 2 cutter. My first attempts would not allow the cutters when properly set to cut any brass? I then noticed that the cutter in a drill motor designed to cut clockwise was actually able to cut counter-clockwise? I called Troy and sent a photo of my shaft and cutter assembly and quizzically noticed that the brand new assembly had the cutter mounted 180° out of position hence the cutter would cut backwards and the relief side was opposite. I mentioned this to Troy. The real issue I have is with the soft aluminum micrometer barrel. This large anodized barrel is well marked with dilineations representing .002″ of adjustment. There are three opposing 10-32 setscrews that bite quite hard into the internal ring of the micrometer top such that even with mild tightening creates deep burrs in the soft aluminum. I suggested to Troy to use 10-32 nylon tipped setscrews to prevent this. Remember as well,these screws have to be loosened way out or you may score the fine internal and unlubed aluminum micrometer barrel threads when making icremental changes. The major issue was the 10-32 shaft locking screw coming loose and the shaft under normal drill speed allowed the loosened screw to score the mild steel drive shaft making disassembly almost impossible. I managed to safely tap out the shaft and raised quite a burr which filed off but is marred. I am using a Dewalt 3/8″ drill motor at normal speed. I attribute my issue with the fact that the huge diameter barrel at drill speed when stopped creates enough centrifugal speed to allow the torque to spin the housing off the shaft. This loosening happened five times for me in less than 50 cases. The trimming is excellent and tooling is meticulous but there are short falls in manufacturing materials. The shaft needs to be hardened steel with 2 90° opposing deep flats with center grooves in the flats for a hardened cup point setscrew. The micrometer index witness marks are perfectly spaced and the cutting system being fully adjustible is first rate. Just needs some more attention to details as mentioned. Troy reciprocated by sending me a new tooling shaft,but the micrometer barrel is now internally marred with lack of soft point setscrews.Ted Bates-Indiana
With other trimmers, like the Little Crow Gunworks there is a need to Full Length Sized Cases prior to trimming. How is it with this trimmer; do you need to full size the case? Or is just neck sizing OK prior to trimming?
Got one of these to trim .223 and it works great! Done a few thousand rounds and keeps on trimming. It take a little time to set the head so I bought another one to do my 6.5 Creedmoor. Just chuck it up in the drill press and go to town. Getting another for .308.
Wow. If there is anything I hate about reloading, it’s case prep. This thing looks like the answer to my prayers.
Looks pretty slick. If I were manually trimming my brass I would seriously consider this tool.
I consider case trimming/deburring and chamfering to be a necessity and if I didn’t already have at least 2 different options for trimming my brass I would check this out. Anyone who loads more than 20 brass at a time probably already has a case trimmer chamfer/deburrer set up that is motorized or can be. Lot’s of them out there. The article say’s with previous trimmers, none of them chamfer or deburr at the same time which actually is not true. My Trim pro with the right trimmer head on it will trim, chamfer and de-burr at the same time. Problem is the heads are not cheap.
There is one thing the guy in the video did that I wouldn’t do, least not without cleaning my cases first is to size the case with a good die. Sizing the case with dirty brass will wear on the sizing die and dirty up the inside of the die real quick. I would recommend buying a dedicated depriming die like the Lee (they are cheap and tough) to remove the primer then clean the brass before sizing. As a matter of fact some die manufactures recommend trimming, chamfering and deburring be completed prior to sizing as well.