I have the WFT in 223 and I like it a lot. Prior to buying the WFT I had been using a Possum Hollow trimmer with the power adapter. The WFT is much smoother since the cartridge support is on bearings while the "blade" an end mill, spins and trims.

 

Another vote for the WFT. I did about 400rds of 308 on a Lyman Universal before getting one. My hands thanked me. I have three at present, 223, 308, and just picked up on for 30-06. Have trimmed 1000's of rds between the 223 and 308. Solid product.

I would advise you buy an additional cutter (10 bucks) just to have a spare. Keep it clean as well ( knock out trimmings occasionally) and youll be in good shape.

 

I have WFTs for the 223, 308 and 5.7x28 they are a pretty good tool and make short work out of the trimming I need to do. I modified a 3 gallon water jug to go around the trimmer to catch all the trimmings and use canned air to blow out the WFT, they make clean up a snap.

I have not used a Giraud but, know the guys that use them swear by them.

 

Both of these units trim the case mouth using the shoulder as a reference. As long as the shoulder is perfectly located, the case length will be perfect. I use the WFT.

I think I would prefer a lathe style trimmer. I need to get after finding a suitable powered unit.

Another thing to consider is the RCBS X-Die. You trim the die to minimum just once and the die prevents the brass from extending during resizing. I have the .223 version but I haven't used it. I resize .223 on a Dillon 650 at about 1400 cases per hour.

 

Interesting point about the need to size accurately. That's one aspect of this design which concerned me until I thought about the case in the chamber during ignition. As I understand it, the firing pin and primer explosion push the cartridge all the way forward in the chamber. Therefore, differences in total case length only matter in terms of the case head in relation to the bolt face. As long as the neck is trimmed in relation to the shoulder, the bullet should be presented to the throat the same way every time.

I use an RCBS X-Die and it helps a lot. You still have to trim after the first firing usually and sometimes 2 or 3 re-sizings later.

BTW since the OP, I've realized that the WFT doesn't chamfer and deburr the way the Giiraud does. The Giraud also has a plastic housing to contain the metal shavings plus you can see inside the trimmer. IOW I'm leaning toward the Giraud at this pointe spite the higher price.

 

I have and tried the WFT model in .308 Win. Case length was all over the place due to the previously mentioned shoulder variable. I don'use it anymore so it just sits on my shelf collecting dust. Really hoped it would have worked better.

Got the RCBS power trimmer with the motor and haven't looked back. Case length variations is now + or- 2 thousandths usually zero to plus 2. Much better accuracy. One thing to watch for is burrs on the case head from the extractor. I keep a fine file handy for those cases that need a touch up.

 

TinMan; I have a Little Crow WFT and it does a fine job on the 6.5 Grendel I use it for.

The downside is that you must chamfer the case mouth (inside and out) after trimming. The WFT 2 has the advantage of interchangeable trim chambers, still need to chamfer.

Another company has come on the market, with their Trim-It II. It combines the adjustable trimmer head of the Giraud original and the WFT 2 body style.

Before I bought my Giraud I had a Gracey, it was a nice unit but a little tricky to adjust the cutter. I bought my Giraud after seeing a friend's and sold my Gracey to do so. I love it and always buy a cutter head and chamber adapter as a set when I need to, makes conversions a snap.

You mentioned the Giraud Tri-Way, based on the quality of his products it's the one I'd buy, no mater the price difference.

Aside, when I bought my Gracey I spoke to Mr Gracey on the phone. He wasn't set up for CC,s at the time so I asked if I could send him a check. He told me that he would ship me the unit and the accessories I wanted and I could send him a check when I knew I like it. My check went in the mail the day after it arrived. Have you ever heard of such a thing? I never had and never have since.

Take your time and make the best choice for you. IMHO, you will be doing other calibers in the future.

 

my vote

 

WFT user here. Excellent results with consistency much superior to my prior usage of a manual trimmer.

 

I like that Giraud trimmer as well. I doubt that I can afford it but I do like the machine.

Forster makes an optional cutter head that trims and chamfers in one operation:
http://www.midwayusa.com/product/14...nal-power-case-trimmer-3-in-1-case-mouth-cutter-carbide-30-caliber-308-diameter

It would be used with a Forster lathe style trimmer:
http://www.midwayusa.com/product/269638/forster-original-case-trimmer

And the power adapter:
http://www.midwayusa.com/product/644779/forster-case-trimmer-power-adapter

This setup has the advantage of trimming relative to the base. OTOH, it won't be nearly as fast as the Giraud (either model) or the WFT.

Given that I have the WFT, I'm not sure the Giraud Tri-Way saves a lot of time. I use my Hornady Case Prep Station to clean the primer pocket and brush out the neck so deburring and chamfering don't take a lot of extra time - maybe 3 or 4 seconds per case.

The trim cutter on the Hornady CPS doesn't cut very well and a burr gets developed at the case mouth and rolls under the mandrel. It is very difficult to pull the case off the mandrel. That's why I have the WFT. The CPS just hasn't worked out for trimming.

 

I have been using the Giraud pictured above for a few years now for .223,.308 and 30-06. Many thousands of casings trimmed and the only thing I have had to replace is the plexiglas shroud. Great product if you shoot much.

Semper Fi
Art

 

For me, the WFT is good enough. It's fast, easy to use, and if your resizing die is consistent, then your OAL will also be reasonably consistent given the way it works.

My personal belief is that out of an M14, a lot of the usual things people do to increase accuracy during reloading are much ado about nothing. From primer pocket uniforming to flash hole deburring, I have yet to see any empirical evidence that they do anything substantial to make the groups tighter, and I feel that overly precise trim lengths fall into the same category. Sure, if were were talking about bench rest bolt guns, it probably does make a measurable difference, but with the M14, I simply haven't seen it. Basic reloading fundamentals combined with quality components and a solid load work up will get you the most bang for your buck. Of course, everyone can do with their time what they will, but I feel less time at the reloading bench and more time behind the rifle will produce better results.

 

For me, the WFT is good enough. It's fast, easy to use, and if your resizing die is consistent, then your OAL will also be reasonably consistent given the way it works.

That's where I came out. For my M1A loads, I use the WFT. For my Rem 700, I don't trim the case at all. In fact, I only resize the neck to recover neck tension. The fired case is perfectly sized.

For the Rem 700, I do uniform and debur the primer pocket although, for Lapua brass, it's a waste of time.

There's enough variability in my shooting to cover up a lot of reloading issues.

 

A large quantity of trimmed .223, 308, and 30-06 cases using the WFT with absolutely 0 issues.

I've also never heard a bad thing about the Giraud, either.

 

I've had the Giraud from the first batch, must have been 10 years at least. Between my own and when friends borrow it, tens of thousands of brass has been through the trimmer. Almost all the high power shooters in the area has one now.

Made in Texas.

 

I have a Giraud Tri-way trimmer and love it. On the other hand, I only load 223 these days, so the question of how much money one wants to spend to trim several different cases is valid. I run mine with a drill press.

Tim

 

I have one for my precision .30-06 bolt gun loads and it saves alot of time. I am buying two more soon...

 

Another vote for the Giraud unit. Makes easy and quick work of brass prep. Just what you needed.

 

Does the World's Finest Trimmer chamfer the inside of the case mouth?

 

No. But apparently the Giraud Tri-Way does. Hm...

 

Giraud

IMHO

Giraud, buy once cry once, (maybe twice).

Honer

 

I had a giraurd triway for 308 and 223. I also had the WFT in 223. I ended up winnning a giruard powered trimmer but I have used both so I can make comparisions. The WFT is easy to set up and is quick. The guirard was fairly easy to set up as well. I will say that using the triway was a bit tricky at first because I was using it in a battery powered drill. When cutting, deburring, and chamfering at slower speeds (18v Bosch set on high) I would get cases ripped out of my hand because of the torque and the fact that all 3 actions were happening at once. So what I learned is to use a Mikita corded drill set on the fastest speed using cloth/rubber gardening gloves to hold the cases. Once I started using that set up I never used the WFT unless I just needed to do a few cases and didn't want to deal with clamping the mikita on my workbench. That being said if you have a corded drill TriWay is the way to go.

Thanks,
Gene

 

The Giraud instructions also mention potential damage to the bearing. I would assume they use a sealed bearing but I don't really know that.

 

The Giraud instructions also mention potential damage to the bearing. I would assume they use a sealed bearing but I don't really know that.

Giraud uses sealed bearing, even then keep the shavings cleaned up. Those small shavings could still migrate into the bearings and eventually cause havoc. Years ago I tend to let the shavings accumulate almost halfway up the shield/container till eventually the bearings started making noise. I sent the trimmer to Doug.

Not only did he replace the bearings for free, he also delivered the trimmer at the state match. Along with the free delivery and the free service came the free lecture from Doug on how I should maintain the trimmer.....

FYI, Doug Giraud is a Distinguish Rifleman.

 

I'm not sure a drill press is the way to go unless you can get it running pretty fast.

You should only run the speed at around 300 or so RPM.

 

The full Giraud trimmer with the AC motor is probably turning around 850 RPM or so. I am assuming it is a 1750 RPM motor and the timing belt arrangement looks like it will slow the rotation by a factor of 2 or so. Just guessing...

The Dillon trimmer uses a universal motor (115VDC) and although there is no information on the nameplate, I would bet it is turning a few thousand RPM just like any small router.

Surface speed is a good thing. Among other things, the cutter won't tend to gouge. But I will admit, I have never measured the RPM of my Milwaukee battery drill.

I didn't see an RPM limit in either User Manual. I could have missed it...

 

+1 for Giraud.
Especially for large batches of brass. I can't believe I used to do all that by hand and take much longer times.

 

Another tip with the TriWay if you are using a battery powered drill is to not start and stop if you can help it. timrb is correct that centrifugal force keeps the shavings off the shell holder while spinning but once you stop the drill the shavings can get onto the shell holder and when you put the next piece of brass in it will trim short. But, at least with me, I could feel something was off when I was trimming that piece and would power down the drill and use a pipe cleaner to knock off any shavings. But overall I was very pleased. Def worth the money.

Thanks,
Gene

 

Another thing to consider about the Giraud Tri-Way: The case mouth needs to be fully circular (no dents) because the cutter revolves around it. Since the cutter also chamfers, this should be obvious but I hadn't thought about it.

From time to time I have cases where the mouth isn't perfectly formed - it's dented, out-of-round. I don't use an expander ball on the decapping pin because I am using a Redding bushing style die. It will set the shoulder and try to correct the neck from the outside but it is still possible that the bullet will ultimately round out the mouth.

In the case of an out-of-round case mouth, I would expect truly bizarre results from the Tri-Way that I don't get from the WFT or the Dillon. That's because neither of them try to do the chamfer operation.

The issue only comes up because I don't use the expander ball. For everybody who uses it, there is no issue.

OTOH, if you want the bushing to set the neck diameter then you don't want to drag an expander ball back through the sized neck. And too, there is the issue of the ball dragging on the neck enough to disturb the location of the shoulder datum. Both good reasons for not using the ball.

Here's a picture of the blade:
http://www.giraudtool.com/prod03.htm

You can see how it rotates around the case mouth.

ETA: The Dillon trimmer uses an indexable carbide cutter. The trim die itself is actually a small-base sizing die without a decapping pin or an expander ball. If the die gives acceptable neck tension, great! If not, perhaps the brass needs to cycle through a Redding bush style neck sizing die. I'll have to think about that... Maybe there is a place for the neck die on the toolhead after the trim operation...

 

I threw down for the Giraud back in January. I love the thing. Only irritation I have is I cannot get a hold of them to ask about the annealer.

 

I WANT one of the annealers...

 

I also have one of the propane annealers and it work fantastic. Next, I think one of Doug's induction heaters might be on the horizon.