I bought one of these last night from Acadamy Sports. I should have read more reviews. It takes forever to set a cartridge to correct length. Blade doesn't cut very well. It does do uniform after working forever to set it up. Took me over an hour to trim 40 30-06 cases last night. Any advantage over a Lee trim pilot. Bucked into a drill. Has worked for me so far. Anyone like this trimmer.
Hornady cam lock trimmer
- Thread starter Wendyj
- Start date
I confess I've never been crazy about trimmers that let the case body hang out in the air, unsupported. I like the Wilson trimmer, whose holders support the case body. It used to be the best price bargain, too, until they stopped making the carbon steel version and went over to stainless-only.
I don't have your Hornady, but looking at a photo of it, I'll make a simple suggestion: use your Lee trimmer to trim one case to serve as a standard. Loosen the big knurled thumb screw that holds the chuck position. Slide the chuck back and chuck your standard case into it. Then press in on the cutter and slide the chuck forward until the case mouth just meets the cutter, then tighten the knurled thumb screw. That should have you very close to being set up to trim to the same length as the Lee. Try one and measure it, fine adjust as needed.
I don't have your Hornady, but looking at a photo of it, I'll make a simple suggestion: use your Lee trimmer to trim one case to serve as a standard. Loosen the big knurled thumb screw that holds the chuck position. Slide the chuck back and chuck your standard case into it. Then press in on the cutter and slide the chuck forward until the case mouth just meets the cutter, then tighten the knurled thumb screw. That should have you very close to being set up to trim to the same length as the Lee. Try one and measure it, fine adjust as needed.
I have one and find it very easy to use. The coarse adjustment is the big knob on the left,( lets the shellholder bar slide) the fine adj. is done with the knurled rings on the cutting arbor (right beside the crank handle) I can have my length in five min. or less and it will hold +.001 to -.0005 with no problem. Until it gets dull, then it's hard to trim with. The cutter should be made from carbide, it would be a far better tool.
Owning a small machine shop business, I can easily re-sharpen mine when it needs it. Hornady will cheerfully sharpen it for you, for a fee.
and who needs the loss of use during turnaround.
The tool is a good design, basically, but the cutting arbor needs to run in bronze bushings and the cutter needs to be carbide. Some time ago I spoke to Hornady about a carbide cutter and they told me that they didn't have any plans for a carbide cutter.
It was about 700 cuts before mine started "rolling" brass instead of cutting, not very many, IMOP.
I still like the tool, I can hold it down on my bench with one hand and turn the crank with the other.
"One Day" I am going to build an "improved" version for myself, to address the shortcomings that could easily been eliminated.
Owning a small machine shop business, I can easily re-sharpen mine when it needs it. Hornady will cheerfully sharpen it for you, for a fee.
and who needs the loss of use during turnaround.The tool is a good design, basically, but the cutting arbor needs to run in bronze bushings and the cutter needs to be carbide. Some time ago I spoke to Hornady about a carbide cutter and they told me that they didn't have any plans for a carbide cutter.
It was about 700 cuts before mine started "rolling" brass instead of cutting, not very many, IMOP.
I still like the tool, I can hold it down on my bench with one hand and turn the crank with the other.
"One Day" I am going to build an "improved" version for myself, to address the shortcomings that could easily been eliminated.
I'm convinced that the Lee trimmer chucked into a drill is one of the fastest methods with least handling of the brass. I have the Universal 3 jaw chuck (with drill shank) which did speed things up a little vs the original lock stud and caliber specific holders, and the cutter head with the ball grip was a must-have for me as my fingers cramped trying to grip the small knurled one. After trimming I chamfer and debur while the case is still in the chuck. Case uniformity is always perfect as the case length gauge is a set length. The only real disadvantage I see is that you cannot easily trim to a different size, but there's not a lot of reason to do that for me.
I recently bought a WFT specific to .223 Rem because I plow through a lot of that. But so far I'm not convinced it is faster than the Lee system, as I still have to chamfer and usually debur manually. Plus now I am gripping the small case instead of the cutter ball which fatigues my hand much faster. The Giraud looks good as it has a 3 way cutter that trims, chamfers and deburs at the same time - but it is $$$
I recently bought a WFT specific to .223 Rem because I plow through a lot of that. But so far I'm not convinced it is faster than the Lee system, as I still have to chamfer and usually debur manually. Plus now I am gripping the small case instead of the cutter ball which fatigues my hand much faster. The Giraud looks good as it has a 3 way cutter that trims, chamfers and deburs at the same time - but it is $$$
Rangerrich99
New member
I've been using the Hornady cam lock trimmer for over 18 months now. It is a bit tedious to set up initially, but once I figured it out and then had to go through the process a few times setting up different caliber cases, it's now a pretty straight forward process. I haven't timed myself, but I don't think it takes more than 5 minutes to switch calibers. I do recommend making a dummy case to speed up set up. 1100 tac gives a good tutorial on how to adjust the trimmer above.
As for the cutter getting dull, I haven't had that problem. I've probably trimmed over 3000 cases at this point and the cutter is (as far as I can tell) as sharp as it was when I bought it. Guess I just got lucky on that point.
As for the cutter getting dull, I haven't had that problem. I've probably trimmed over 3000 cases at this point and the cutter is (as far as I can tell) as sharp as it was when I bought it. Guess I just got lucky on that point.
I was able to return the Hornady Trimmer. If the cutter had worked it would have probably been ok. I wouldn't imagine it would take 80 turns with a good cutter to cut a few thousands off a piece of brass. Lee trimmer chucked up in drill about 2 seconds. Looks like the Forster might work better and has a micrometer dial.
Rangerrich99
New member
80 turns?!?! Yeah I'd return it too. I never had it take more than ten turns.
There are a few case trimmers I do not have. I have the Hornady, the last time I used it I did not get into mortal combat with it. I went through 400 257 Weatherby cases. It was a work out because the man that owned the cases allowed the cases to exceed maximum length by .030" each; that is close to 12inches of trimming. I have all of the pieces and parts for trimming with the Lee; I do not use them but I have them just in case. Then there are all of the trimmers that were built to trim before sizing and the trimmers that were built to trim sized cases. My favorite trimmer is the form/trim die; raise the ram, hit it with a hack saw then finish with a file. Or when working with small jobs use the file.
F. Guffey
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I also have the L.E. Wilson case trimmer with the case holders. I have two case trimmers I am going to sell. One is a Gracey and the other is a Dillon 1200; both have the 223 Remington case holder.
http://www.creedmoorsports.com/product/GRACEY-POWER-CASE-TRIMMER/282
F. Guffey
http://www.creedmoorsports.com/product/GRACEY-POWER-CASE-TRIMMER/282
F. Guffey
I like my Lyman universal trimmer . Although they look the same . The lyman has a few different key features . One is it does not use shell holders , any case just pops in and out . I don't know how to explain the other key feature but it also has to do with how the cases are held . The best way to put it is that section is a fixed part of the trimmer and never needs adjusting . All adjustments are with the cutting rod which has two adjustments . They are a slide lock and a threaded lock for .001 fine tuning .
Carbide cutter
http://www.midwayusa.com/product/435802/lyman-universal-carbide-case-trimmer-kit-with-9-pilots
I personally went with this one ( non-carbide ) because of the drill attachment but that can be bought separately . I use the hand crank when I'm doing 100 or less cases but if I'm trimming a large lot . The drill comes out
http://www.midwayusa.com/product/72...h-case-trimmer-kit-power-adapter-and-9-pilots
Power adapter
http://www.midwayusa.com/product/736582/lyman-universal-trimmer-power-adapter
The collets support it and I don't even use mine any more . Sometimes I can see a little wiggle in the case but it seems to cut pretty square .
I took this pic to see if by setting the cases on there mouths . Would the heads line up straight or look all crooked . I'm happy with that but to be clear this trimmer does not cut them perfectly square but it's close enough for me .
To give you an idea how well it actually can cut . Here are a couple pics of cases I cut down to look at the flash holes .
Ignore the nicks in the case on these . At the time I did not know one of the cutting blades was broke but it still was able to cut them down . ( 223 and 308 cases )
In short , it may not be the best trimmer out there but I'm very satisfied with mine .
As UN pointed out having a case already cut to use as a stop for adjusting the cutter is a Quick easy way to set it up .
Carbide cutter
http://www.midwayusa.com/product/435802/lyman-universal-carbide-case-trimmer-kit-with-9-pilots
I personally went with this one ( non-carbide ) because of the drill attachment but that can be bought separately . I use the hand crank when I'm doing 100 or less cases but if I'm trimming a large lot . The drill comes out
http://www.midwayusa.com/product/72...h-case-trimmer-kit-power-adapter-and-9-pilots
Power adapter
http://www.midwayusa.com/product/736582/lyman-universal-trimmer-power-adapter
The collets support it and I don't even use mine any more . Sometimes I can see a little wiggle in the case but it seems to cut pretty square .
I took this pic to see if by setting the cases on there mouths . Would the heads line up straight or look all crooked . I'm happy with that but to be clear this trimmer does not cut them perfectly square but it's close enough for me .
To give you an idea how well it actually can cut . Here are a couple pics of cases I cut down to look at the flash holes .
Ignore the nicks in the case on these . At the time I did not know one of the cutting blades was broke but it still was able to cut them down . ( 223 and 308 cases )
In short , it may not be the best trimmer out there but I'm very satisfied with mine .
As UN pointed out having a case already cut to use as a stop for adjusting the cutter is a Quick easy way to set it up .
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