Brass prep? Drill press vs station?

[RickyRodney]

So I'm getting set up to start reloading and have a mountain of once fired brass. I want to know what powers tools you guys use to do brass prep, i.e. debur flash hole, primer pocket, chamfer neck inside and out? I was going to get a table top drill press or get the lyman brass prep center.

Please let me know your thoughts.

 

[Sheldon N]

Lyman case prep center. Good value, very quick to run through brass. Works great. Wish I'd bought mine sooner.

 

[sirhrmechanic]

I have a small Unimat lathe that, with a deburring tool, is great for primer pocket removal of military crimp. For the de-burring, a drill and a standard tool works great in a power drill. No need to do a drill press.

For the pocket itself, the RCBS primer pocket swager tool is inexpensive and effective.

For trimming and neck chamfering, there is nothing to compare to a Giraud. They are not cheap. They are worth every penny. And far more. Buy once, cry once as the saying goes. I wish I had been able to buy one years ago. The time they will save you pays for the tool in its first 500 cases, imho.

Cheers,

Sirhr

 

[Juggerxxx]

Lyman case prep center. Good value, very quick to run through brass. Works great. Wish I'd bought mine sooner.

I agree 100%

 

[Kyskeet]

I use the bench top drill press with the " worlds finest trimmer for 6.5Creedmoor, 308 win., 300BO" and chamfering. When not working on brass I have a drill press.

 

[goldeneagle]

I was going to get the Giraud but was just not in the budget at them time (after RPR and Vortex Razor). So I read a lot of reviews and got a Frankford Arsenal (don't laugh) Platinum Case Prep Center. I love it. I just ran through 300 pieces of brass and measured a ton of them and they were all right on. I put an RCBS primer pocket uniformer on one of the stations and trimmed, deburred, chamfered. uniformed all 300 in about an hour. Sure there are faster options but having used a drill press before, I would take the FA hands down.

 

[BearNaked]

I was going to get the Giraud but was just not in the budget at them time (after RPR and Vortex Razor). So I read a lot of reviews and got a Frankford Arsenal (don't laugh) Platinum Case Prep Center. I love it. I just ran through 300 pieces of brass and measured a ton of them and they were all right on. I put an RCBS primer pocket uniformer on one of the stations and trimmed, deburred, chamfered. uniformed all 300 in about an hour. Sure there are faster options but having used a drill press before, I would take the FA hands down.

i run the frankford and it works like a champ. i run everything through for the neck and then work on the primer pockets if they havent been cut and swaged yet. works like a champ and have had zero issues with everything cut to +/- .001 variance.

for the price, its worth it.

 

[jmtyndall]

Interesting points about the FA cutter. I would never spend the kind of money it takes to get a Giraud. But I've chased the functionality using possom hollow trimmers. The FA seems very affordable, and while all the cutting steps are separate, they can all be done handling each piece of brass once. I might have to get one!

 

[jwood1284]

I use the Frankford prep center for everything right now. The multiple heads are great. I can set up a flash hole debur rod and primer pocket uniformer for virgin brass, or set up for trim & chamfer. It's pretty quick, but I've been considering setting up an old electric drill in my vice to use with a Giraud Tri-Way for trim/chamfer. I've tried the Giraud and it easily 3x faster than a prep station.

 

[tylerw02]

I use the RCBS Prep Center or whatever it's called. I'm pleased with it. For trimming I have a Redding lathe and a cordless drill or an RCBS powered unit to choose from. The RCBS unit works quite nicely but it was expensive. Fortunately, you can find sales and rebates with RCBS.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[jb1023]

Another user of the FA. My only complaint is not with the unit itself but the cutter that came with it. It is a steel cutter and is quite slow if you are forming brass and need to trim off a bunch of brass off each case. I am currently loading up some 6.5 Sherman Short and need to trim the SAUM brass .042 and it takes 2.10 minutes or so for each piece. I think I am going to order the RCBS carbide blade and screw it onto the FA since FA does not offer a carbide blade.

 

[Darkside-Six]

I use the worlds finest trimmer in a hand drill for trimming and an RCBS case prep center for chamfering and deburring.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[RickyRodney]

I use the worlds finest trimmer in a hand drill for trimming and an RCBS case prep center for chamfering and deburring.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Wouldn't having the "worlds finest trimmer," be more effective in a drill press? I also feel the drill press would be adjustable in terms of speed which might be nice. Sounds like I can't go wrong.

 

[JoeBUtah]

I've been very pleased with my Frankford. As JB1023 mentions, the original cutter isn't all that great; I replaced it with the RCBS carbide cutter and never looked back.

 

[TripleBull]

I'm don't strictly follow the buy once / cry once plan, but for a trimmer, I went with the Giraud and am glad I did. I'm always looking for great quality tools - they are a great excuse to work overtime when the budget can't handle it.