I have found three options to do that.
- Trim-It II
- Giraud Tri-Way
- Forster 3-In-1 Cutter
The first two index off the case shoulder. The Forster indexes off the cartridge base. I suppose indexing off the shoulder is best if you want to have the most precise spacing from the end of the chamber to the case mouth and the most consistent bullet to lands setting. There could be issues with indexing off the shoulder if you are wanting to align a bullet with a cannelure, since reloading dies index off the base of the case, so any variation in case length would change the bullet position. There might be other negatives and perhaps positives to indexing off the shoulder or the base of the case, that I am not aware of.
I can get a Forster 3-in1 cutter for under about $60, so that is attractive. The Forster is adjustable so one cutter will work with literally hundreds of different cases with nothing more than the right pilot. I already have a Forster pilot and a neck turning pilot for every caliber I shoot so this will be the lowest cost setup by far, but I don't know for sure what I am giving up by indexing off the base. Apparently, adjusting the Forster is not all that easy from what I have seen.
The Trim-It II is also adjustable, but you need a $25 die for every different cartridge. The Trim-It II appears to have a cutter that is virtually identical to the Giraud and is said to be very difficult to adjust.
The Giraud is spendy, $105 per cartridge, factory set and not meant to be adjustable which makes sense after reading about how difficult the Trim-It II has been to adjust for some. They want you to buy a complete cutter for every cartridge, plus they don't offer one in 6.5 Creedmoor, so that one is out of the running for me.
So, it is either the Forster for $60 or the Trim-It II for $160 plus another $500 for all the pilots I need. Seems to be an easy choice for the Forster.....
If anyone here used the Tr-Im II and the Forster 3-in-One, or perhaps one or the other and has some input I would appreciate it.
Howdy GH. My 2 cents: I have the Forster in 223 & 308. Used them for years (don't remember when I bought 'em - had to be at least 10 years [or more] ago), and I love 'em. They're not that easy to adjust, though. By far, they're the lowest cost solution, and also a time saver over doing 3 separate steps. Having both eliminates adjusting them for different calibers. Hope this helps.
Y'all take care.
I have two 3 in 1 trimmers, 26 & 30, hand power is fine in my Forster trimmer and I've not adjusted any cutters in mine.
FWIW, Henderson Precision uses Forster collets and 3 in 1 trimmers in their $$$ powered case trimmer.
I guess i dont know what a 3 in 1 trimmer is.
My Forster trimmer was owned by my father and bought in the early 50s.
I can only recall replacing the cutter one time.
I have all the pilots for 22 cal to 338, but they all use the same cutter.
A few years ago i purchased another one in order to do larger cases, but other than length it is identical to the old one.
As for adjusting it, i just keep old trash cases of the proper length to set it with.
I do the same with seating depth adjustment on my bullet seating dies.
I use a RCBS power tool for chamfering, inside neck cleaning and primer pocket cleaning.
Yobuck - The 3-In-1 from Forster and the others do the three case neck prep steps in one shot using multi faceted carbide cutters preset at the correct angles. Assuming it is as fast as case trimming only with a cordless drill on the Forster trimmer or using their drill press case holder which I also already own, I should be able to do all three steps in just a few seconds.
- Trims the case to length.
- Chamfers the inside case mouth to an angle of 14°.
- Chamfers (Deburrs) the outside case mouth to an angle of 30°.
It should cut the time by more than 2/3rds to process cases since you only have to handle it once with no need to switch tools. It looks like it will give a more precise case mouth chamfer depth than trying to do it by hand. I find the inside neck chamfering is the most difficult of the three to do consistently. I do 500 to as many as 5000 cases at a time, so it can get pretty tedious having to do 3 steps for every one. More precise, faster, less wrist and joint pain. (Yup, I really am an actual geezer.) Anything to save time and reducing pain without breaking the bank is worth looking at for me.
Thanks for the feedback Patrad. I have read many reports of the cutters staying sharp for many years even decades. Forster said in one of their videos that they have not been able to give cutter life specs because they have yet to dull one! Just don't overheat it by trying to cut way too fast.
I will start out with a 264 as I have 2500 recently obtained once fired cases to trim. Then on to a 5 gallon bucket full of military surplus 5.56 LC and TW cases, followed by 5 gallons of 308 LC brass. I may try measuring it with a caliper before trying to adjust it so I can hopefully return it to the original setting more quickly and try it on some 5.56 cases. Depending on how hard it is for me to adjust, I may end up getting at least one more so I have two ready to go for two my most used cartridges.
Forster 3 in 1 case mouth cutter...
I don’t know the Forster. The difficulty of the Trim It 2 is overstated. I have one. It can be setup in 10-15 min. Maybe a pain for 20-100 rnds, but for 1000, it works well.
The Forster will be slow case to case.
Thanks for clearing that up for me.Originally Posted by geezerhood
I suppose i could add one of those to my unit if i chose to do so.
Trimming cases is just something i never took much interest in however. lol
Maybe my mind is too cluttered with my full time/part time job.
Catching Crappies. lol
My Forster 3-In-1 tools arrived today. I got one for 308 and one for 6.5 Creedmoor. I am very impressed. It took me about 3 minutes to set it up and prep my first case. With a power driver I can trim to length, deburr and chamfer the neck in 5-8 seconds. The finished case mouth is glass smooth with no burrs or chatter. It does a better job than I have ever been able to achieve with a 3 step process. I am hesitant to mess with the cutter settings but might give it a try once all my 6.5 Creedmoor cases are done. The main concern is that the part of the cutter that chamfers the inside of the neck, looks pretty thin and prone to breaking, if I don't set it right.
Other than if one wanted to index off the base of the case rather than the shoulder, I can't see any reason to buy the Trim-It 2. As already noted, the Giraud isn't an option since they don't make one for the 6.5 CM. Maybe they will some day. I don't think I need to have my case neck trimming indexed off the shoulder as doing so off the base of the case has worked very well in the past.
"My Forster 3-In-1 tools arrived today."
So Geezer, have ya had a chance to give them a work out yet? If so, whatcha think about 'em??
I'm interested in your experiences. I went with the RCBS three way and I don't remember why. It may have been an availability thing.
I chose the Forster because all the cutting parts are made of carbide, the cost was reasonable, they offered 6.5mm, plus I already had three of their trimmer bases, standard, 50 BMG (easily converted to other cartridges) and the drill press collet base. From experience I knew I would not be happy with a steel cutter of any type as they get dull to fast. Forster claims they have yet needed to sharpen any of their cutter assemblies.
The 6.5 trimmer worked well as delivered. The 308 trimmer needed to have the outside deburring part moved outward slightly as it was taking off way too much metal on my LC cases. It was not an easy task making adjustments, but doable with patience. I would recommend keeping a perfectly processed case with the trimmer so you can use it to help get the settings right should you ever decide to switch it to another diameter case. The only problem I have had which applies to the regular trimmer tool as well was when the case head was not seated fully into the collet. I cut about 4 out of 1000 cases too short because of that.
I was planning on adjusting one of the trimmers to do .224, once I had processed all my new cases, but after trying to adjust them I decided to buy a separate .224 cutter assembly as soon as my source has them in stock again.
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