Is the Giraud trimmer still the king of trimmers?
- Thread starter tsu45
- Start date
I think the Henderson case trimmer is right there with it. IMHO
If you plan to swap cartridges regularly with the Giraud, then make sure you buy a separate cutting head assembly. Trying to adjust the cutting tool individually is too time consuming and wastes brass while you try to get it right. Instead, you setup a complete cutting head for each cartridge and swap them out without having to do any adjustments. It’s a more expensive way to keep your sanity though.
I just use the Little Crow Gunworks trimmers now. I’ve got one setup for each cartridge - just pop it in the drill press and be done .
The new Gen 3 is the bomb. Todd Henderson is now making his own cutters and that made this trimmer excellent. It's easy to swap out and you use different set screws for the length. It's highly accurate, and I saw a video where a benchrest guy compared the Henderson to the Giraud. Both were very consistent, but the Henderson edged it out there. Both were very fast (throughput), but the Giraud eked out the win in that department.
The Giraud is loud. The Henderson sounds like precision.
Personally, I prefer the Henderson over the the Giraud.
1. The Henderson heads are easier to fine tune since the ID and OD cutters are independent.
2. The Henderson is quieter and produces less chatter.
3. The Henderson uses the case head instead of using the shoulder as a reference.
4. The Henderson is easier on your hands since the case is being held in a collet. Thats a big deal if you are doing high volume or have Arthritis.
I will add that the Giraud is more versatile since it can handle the 50 BMG bolt face cartridges
1. The Henderson heads are easier to fine tune since the ID and OD cutters are independent.
2. The Henderson is quieter and produces less chatter.
3. The Henderson uses the case head instead of using the shoulder as a reference.
4. The Henderson is easier on your hands since the case is being held in a collet. Thats a big deal if you are doing high volume or have Arthritis.
I will add that the Giraud is more versatile since it can handle the 50 BMG bolt face cartridges
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The thing I like most about the Henderson is when doing large quantities it's so much easier on old hands like mine; quick and easy to load and remove a case from the holder. Also, the one case holder is designed to hold various case diameters.
This video should give you some good things to think about:
Big fan of my Henderson, but it's only a gen2 and changing cutters are a bit of a pain to swap. I have a seperate bolt stop for every different cartridge and it's very repeatable. Case trims are all within 0.0005, I just wish it could clean primer pockets at the same time
I'm a big fan of Giraud especially for high volume 6mm cases like Dasher/BRA. You see very little case growth so assuming you trim every time it's more like a quick chamfer debur than any significant length trim. I'm loading for two shooters and working with well over 1000 cases at a time so overall speed is a big priority.
The video above shows trimming with the Giraud at around the 11:10 mark. You can actually go 25-50% faster than in the video by setting up your brass bins front to back (untrimmed brass in front of the trimmer, finished bin behind the trimmer) then using alternating left/right hands to feed the brass and toss into the bin.
I could see the Henderson being nicer for larger cases or cases where you are trimming off a bunch of length, easier to hold the cartridge with the collet than by hand.
The video above shows trimming with the Giraud at around the 11:10 mark. You can actually go 25-50% faster than in the video by setting up your brass bins front to back (untrimmed brass in front of the trimmer, finished bin behind the trimmer) then using alternating left/right hands to feed the brass and toss into the bin.
I could see the Henderson being nicer for larger cases or cases where you are trimming off a bunch of length, easier to hold the cartridge with the collet than by hand.
If you like marred inner necks and uneven chamfers then the Henderson is for you. If you like even chamfers and unmolested necks go with the giraud. I tried all the “tricks” with the Henderson. In the end it still couldn’t produce results like the giraud. Lesson learned.
