Yeah, that's what I had figured out, I had gotten used to doing it that way with the Lee trimmers.

Newbie Looking brass
 

I will be getting my 300 in a few weeks, I would like to get a hundred or so round to start with. I have basic reloading equip. Presses, hand trimmer and pocket reamer, etc, but drill/press, cutters etc. Can't really afford that stuff after forking out for the rifle. Can anybody help me out?


Youssef

352 258 5175

Doesn't anyone use a vertical bandsaw?
I tried it last night as work. I thought it might crush or tear the cases but it went zipping through. Came out a little ragged but the final trim will take it out. I'm going to make an adjustable sliding holder to fit the saw table and support the case while cuttin to the right length.
I thought about it for awhile and that's the fastest way I can think of. You'll have a lot of chips using a regular timmer or EM. My original thought was to buy a cheap lee press, make a trim die, and put it in a vertical vise on one of the milling machines but sawing then trimming will be quicker with no press or trim die needed. You would however be cutting to the final OAL with those methods so I may still try the press in vise with trim die if this doesn't prove fast enough for me.
I'm going to trim the sawed pcs using a regular case trimmer or possibly making a die to use the Dillon electric trimmer on the 650 if there's enough length available. Only about .010-.020" will be left after sawing.

Nick

Nick,

I have tried this method. I made a little jig that would hold eight cartridges at a time. It is way too slow. It requires handles each case at least three times. I shoot about 200 to 400 rounds a month with about a 15-20 percent case loss. So I want to make brass fast! I cut/trimmed 1000 rounds on Sunday and formed 800 of the 1000 into ready to load brass in about 3 hours. The only set-up that would be faster is a Dillion 1050 set up with a power trimmer and sizing dies.

Bottom line make your brass by what ever means works for you given your time constraints.

Good Luck and have fun and welcome the the 300-221 Fireball (a.k.a. 300 Whisper)

320pf

The pc that I made last night just cradles one round at a time. I found a problem in that you can't count on the blade being sharp in a work environment. I was hoping to get Paid for processing my brass but it looks like it won't be reliable enough due to the morons I work with. Other than that it did work with some denting and ripping even with a dull blade.
320pf-thanks for the welcome. How much swing does that forster power trimmer have on the handle? I assume it must open and close similar to their press. Do you get any kind of OAL runout on one side without a 308 pilot?
After last night running the cases on the dillon 650 and their power trimmer sounds really good but I'd be worried about the amount of chips produced. I do run a vacuum but I guess I'd have to just do it and see
I am also thinking of making a benchrest type seater die out of a forster 7.62x39 model by just making a new case holder. I was hoping the OAL is close enough and the seater stem is the correst size. I've never seen the SSK seater dies but I assume they are the standard type like the redding. I'm getting sick of adjusting the seater die for each different bullet. I'd rather have a bunch of bullet specific seater dies. Has anyone tried to make their own seater dies in this manner?

Nick

last night I tried something I though wouldn't work but turned out to be awesome.
Using a v-block with one clamp on a broken 3/8 EM as a stop and the top clamp with a delrin bumper holding the case I was able to pound through them with a 1/2" carb EM at 2400 rpms. I had a small strip of tape at the top to take care of the case taper. I thought the case would get crushed but it took very little pressure on the bottom half to keep it from spinning. The cases came out with a very small burr and were very consistent in OAL. Just had to blow off chips on the stop every 4 or 5 pcs.
I know some people don't have access to a milling machine capable of this but a drill press should work almost as well if you can clamp the v-block down tight and a chuck big enough.

Nick

Has anybody tried the Dillon method?

I've been using a mini chop-saw to cut the cases down and then I run them through a size die and then do the final trim on a Giraud Power Trimmer, it takes my guys about 1 hour to form 250 cases.

thanks,
Jon

Here is a youtube video of the set up

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFkmpHdGm0U

320pf