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Giraud Power Trimmer vs Henderson Precision Powered Trimmer

Missed the last in stock batch that came in maybe 3 weeks ago. I just happened to see their email this morning about 35 minutes after it was sent.
Got one!
 
I had my order completed within three minutes of receiving the email. I just happened to skip lunch and was at my desk.
 
Good work! I'm pumped to get one finally. My brass needs trimmed if I'm going to keep shooting that same barrel.
 
I've been trying to buy one since June. About to give up and just spend the money elsewhere.
 
I've yet to receive my order notification from Henderson but did get it from PayPal. The Henderson site said 2-3 weeks to ship. Where did you see end of October?

<edit> I certainly didn't read that one thoroughly before responding.
 
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I've yet to receive my order notification from Henderson but did get it from PayPal. The Henderson site said 2-3 weeks to ship. Where did you see end of October?

If you're replying to me, I ordered a Giraud that will ship end of October, not a Henderson.
 
Can you share a picture of how you've got that setup with the Inline plate/mount?
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Can you share a picture of how you've got that setup with the Inline plate/mount?
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The last picture it is sitting in its storage spot on a storage dock. Because of the motor, you will need the dock 6-8 inches off the wall for clearance. I have a small shelf on the back of my bench, so I just screwed the dock to a 2x4 and then secured it to the shelf.
 
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It took about two months from order to receipt of my trimmer. It was a long wait and I admit I was a bit nervous after sending a bunch of money via PayPal to some guy name Todd half way across the country. An order received email might have eased that worry a bit. In the age of Amazon Prime our expectations as online shoppers is high. But, after the my trimmer arrived I actually spoke to Todd on the phone and the experience was top notch. We sometimes forget that some of the people making our toys are truly small business people (often with a real job) and don't have hundreds or thousands of employees churning out product. Search the inter webs for RTX 3080 launch and you will see that even a major tech company can't produce enough product in this silly time to meet demand. Bottom line is Henderson makes a niche product for a niche market and supply of everything is scarce. It is a quality product, as are the Giraud's I've used. I ultimately chose the Henderson for ease of use in changing calibers and ease of use on an arthritic hand. My advice if you want a Henderson is to buy the unpowered one if/when they are in stock and hook a drill to it until the motors are available. Otherwise order the Giraud, I don't think you can go wrong either way.
 
The non micrometer cutting length adjuster on the Henderson is a deal killer for me. I can buy the crappiest manual trimmer and they still manage to include easy adjustments but Henderson can't for $700+? I'm sure someone will be along to tell me I'm stupid but it seems like Henderson said 'fuck it' half way through the project.
Your stupid! Haha just kidding. The lack of a micrometer adjustment is really not an issue. It probably only takes 2-5 minutes to set a new bolt up for a new caliber. If you set up a different bolt for each caliber, you can switch between calibers in about a minute or so and there is no need adjust anything.
 
Your stupid! Haha just kidding. The lack of a micrometer adjustment is really not an issue. It probably only takes 2-5 minutes to set a new bolt up for a new caliber. If you set up a different bolt for each caliber, you can switch between calibers in about a minute or so and there is no need adjust anything.

And he sends a bag of bolts, I think it was 6 or 8 bolts and nuts. Plus, they are readily available at any big box/hardware retailer.
 
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Finally got an order in for the Henderson powered trimmer today. He sent out an email over the weekend saying exactly when it'd be listed for sale. I'm glad he did this, because I was able to snag one this time. I bought it right when it was up... within the first 60 seconds or so. lol. They are sold out again now.
 
Finally got an order in for the Henderson powered trimmer today. He sent out an email over the weekend saying exactly when it'd be listed for sale. I'm glad he did this, because I was able to snag one this time. I bought it right when it was up... within the first 60 seconds or so. lol. They are sold out again now.

Got mine from the last batch on Sunday. Took almost exactly three weeks to ship. Did 100 6.5C yesterday and I am absolutely thrilled with it so far.
 
I haven't gotten mine from that order yet. Did you receive a shipping notification?
 
I haven't gotten mine from that order yet. Did you receive a shipping notification?
Yep, got tracking Tuesday night. It was obviously individually packaged so if he’s doing this in the evening after work I can see how it would take a while.
 
My paypal receipt was timed at two minutes after the hour. I had already filled out the shopping cart with all the cutters, trays, and collets so it was click , send to cart and into paypal. i haven't received andthing except paypal receipt yet either.
 
Yep, got tracking Tuesday night. It was obviously individually packaged so if he’s doing this in the evening after work I can see how it would take a while.

Has anyone else from the order three weeks ago not yet received their trimmer?
 
Has anyone else from the order three weeks ago not yet received their trimmer?
Prior to my order I’ve emailed Todd two or three times and always gotten a very timely response, looks like less than 18 hrs on all of them and some of that was time zone while I was overseas. If you have any questions I’d hit him up.
 
You're 100% correct. He's responded quickly. He said it should ship early this week. I'm more curious to see how many others might still be waiting see that you received yours five days ago.
 
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What timing. I just got a call from Todd. He's boxing mine up right now but he had a question about the cutters I said I had. Gen 2 used the Forster cutter body. Gen 3 uses just the cutter. The body is now a taper as mentioned above. So, you need to buy all the cutters you need from Henderson vs. being able to buy Forster from wherever you can find them.
 
Just got done trimming 140 pieces of brass and I have to say. The Henderson is so worth the money. So easy to use and set up. If you value your time, the Henderson is the way to go.
 
Great thread here. Answered all my questions between the two. I think I'll be going with the Henderson here soon. Thanks everyone for the detailed run downs.
 
the Giruad doesn't have micrometer adjustment either, right?

I'm about to buy one of these two as well

leaning towards the Henderson,
because it doesn't require pilots per cartridge
Only collets by case head size


figured this was relevant.



seems like a pretty good solution to a micrometer adjustment. I dont have one so ill just have to take F class John's word for it.
 
...or has been said a few times, use a set of die shims under the lock ring.

I will say, I'm not a fan of having to fish that cutter head in and out of the Giraud when changing calibers. It's not hard, but a little annoying.

Are there any videos out there showing a caliber change-over on the Henderson, including maybe the use of a pre-set stop bolt?
 
I have a giraud. No experience with the henderson, but it looks like an awesome product. One point to consider would be the amount of space required to dedicate to the piece of equipment. I can easily move and put away the giraud. I'm sure a person can figure a way to make the henderson just as flexible, but just wanted to put this out on the table.
 
I have a giraud. No experience with the henderson, but it looks like an awesome product. One point to consider would be the amount of space required to dedicate to the piece of equipment. I can easily move and put away the giraud. I'm sure a person can figure a way to make the henderson just as flexible, but just wanted to put this out on the table.

I can see this argument - when I moved I had to shore up my bench and remount everything. If I wasn't cheap and lazy, I'd re-do it with the inline fab mount with the quick change plates.

Otherwise, it takes up an 8,5"Dx8"W space on the edge of the bench.
 
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I just ordered a Giraud after reading all the pros and cons in this great thread. It came down to portability for me as I will use it in 2 locations. The order placed today is scheduled to ship on April 19th in case anyone is wondering how far out they are.
 
I need a new trimmer and will most likely go with the Giraud. The Henderson looks nice but having their max trim size at .338 is not enough.
 
I need a new trimmer and will most likely go with the Giraud. The Henderson looks nice but having their max trim size at .338 is not enough.

Just order whatever pilot you need along with another cutter direct from Forster. Adjust the blades yourself and your done.
 
service from Todd at Henderson is off the charts. He even called me on the weekend to make sure i got everything set up correctly. Wouldn't trade the trimmer for anything out there. I have arthritis that really flares up in my hands, this has been a Godsend to use this trimmer
 
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Maybe I'm missing something... how is the Giraud more portable than the Henderson? Because you don't have to clamp it down?
Yes and in one of the locations where I want to set the trimmer is a full cabinet that is not easy to clamp to and I didn't want to drill a hole in it. I think both of them would be great and it was a coin flip, so a small difference that worked for me ended up being the reason I chose Giraud. To others that wouldn't matter. I asked a D1 College Football Coach one time what was the craziest reason he had ever heard of a recruit making his final decision? He said with one recruit who couldn't make up his mind it came down to the color of the helmet.
 
figured this was relevant.



seems like a pretty good solution to a micrometer adjustment. I dont have one so ill just have to take F class John's word for it.

Great clear video from this fella. Enjoyed watching it and the process to use it and the benefits were clearly and succinctly described....(and I love the succinct part! haha)
 
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Just order whatever pilot you need along with another cutter direct from Forster. Adjust the blades yourself and your done.

That may have been true with the older gen, but the new gen has a taper lock head on the cutter- so I don't think the forster is a direct replacement anymore. Can probably still make it work, but I'd just email Henderson directly and tell him what you need.
 
Same thought process as me. One is heading to the PX. Glad another hide member was able to score. They were in stock less than an hour. Does anyone know if Henderson made any changes to their base? Wanting to order one of the inline fab mounts and want to make sure they haven’t altered anything that would effect inline fabs dimensions. Not sure how long their gen 3 has been out but if someone is running a gen 3 on a inline fab mount if you could comment that would be fantastic.
Ordered a powered Henderson this morning. Will compare it to my Giraud Trimmer. One will head to the PX then.
 
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I think their base plate is on hand at inline for Gen 3. I would order one but going to see if I decide to keep it first (Henderson) Used the Giraurd tonight and had to change from 6.5 to 223, and found myself "hating" the process.
 
The big selling point on the Henderson for me is not having to do the turning motion of the giraud. I’ve found the giraud to be more accurate than the RT1500. People have told me countless times it doesn’t matter. It probably doesn’t but I want my ammo to look factory. Just a personal thing. I’m not exactly an expert and it almost seems stupid simple for someone like me to figure it out which I greatly appreciate.
 
...or has been said a few times, use a set of die shims under the lock ring.

I will say, I'm not a fan of having to fish that cutter head in and out of the Giraud when changing calibers. It's not hard, but a little annoying.

Are there any videos out there showing a caliber change-over on the Henderson, including maybe the use of a pre-set stop bolt?
Here is a review showing how to change caliber. The change over starts about 26:16.

 
I have an inline base plate on my Gen 3. I am pretty sure when I talked to Inline when I bought it the base plate did not change. He is pretty good about keeping up with changes.
 
Is there a way to rig up an electric motor to the henderson? Have a 1hp 1750rpm motor brand new sitting on shelf. Has a 5/8 arbor.
I want to do the same. I plan on bolting the motor to a plate, then using a coupling like McMaster Carr 6208K636. Guessing the motor shaft is .875 and the arbor is reducing it to .625? The trimmer would need to aligned to center. I was going to use 4 all threads like McMaster 90322A121 and nuts to position the trimmer. You could then use a tray to catch the shavings and another tray to catch the brass. Not real sure what the actual torque requirement is but 1hp is twice what they supply. I was going to use an AC inverter to run the motor. Once I determine the max torque I would need I will gladly let you know since this will affect cost. Drills produce 125 to 250 in-lbs which is way more than the 1hp's 34 in-lbs and if they are supplying it with a 1/2hp dc motor, well then what is the real torque required? It will be an interesting project which hopefully doesn't cost me 3x more than just getting it powered.
 
Haven't read all the replies on this so maybe this has been covered. I like the Girard, but there are two flaws: 1.) the plastic lexan cover cracks easily. 2.) the adjustment is difficult. #2 can be corrected with a Whidden adjustable lock collar from my understanding. I will be ordering one and see how that works.