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Old June 13, 2013, 12:07 PM   #1
AL45
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Poor man's case trumming

I need to trim some 6.5mm Carcano brass (54mm) down to 7.35mm brass (51.5 mm). I use a Lee case trimmer for my .308 which is cheap and effective, but the 7.35mm gauge would have to be custom made and they have temporarily suspended custom production. Is there a poor man's way to trim brass? Speed is not important as this will be low volume. The only other caliber I reload for is .45 Colt which needs no trimming. I don't see the need for buying an expensive trimmer for the little .308 and 7.35mm I would be trimming. Any ideas?
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Old June 13, 2013, 12:31 PM   #2
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never mind, wouldn't work!
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Old June 13, 2013, 04:16 PM   #3
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I think the RCBS file trim die may be one of the least expensive alternatives.
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Old June 14, 2013, 03:19 AM   #4
Jimro
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Take your 308 win guage, make a 0.5 mm washer style shim that has a hole in the center, and trim to be 0.300" round. Use this shim between your guage and cutter.

A soda can averages 0.33mm in thickness, so you could use two and see if that didn't get you to 51.66mm in overall length. I expect that the aluminum would "squish" easily so you would probably end up closer to the desired 51.5mm

Good luck.

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Old June 16, 2013, 08:45 PM   #5
SVTCobra306
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Can you use Lyman's trim tool..the one that looks like a pencil sharpener? It has an adjustable stop, takes time to set up but work once it is. I paid about $50 for mine.
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Old June 16, 2013, 09:33 PM   #6
Dan Newberry
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I have, in a pinch... used my RCBS inside/outside neck chamfer tool to work down the length on some cases. It's maybe a bit laborious (unless you have a way to chuck either the case or the chamfer tool in a drill)... and you have to stop every few seconds to make sure you haven't gone too far.

But it's do-able.

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Old June 16, 2013, 10:14 PM   #7
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Use a Lee 7mm-08 trimmer (I'm assuming they make one) and you might have to grind .2mm off the end of the pilot pin.
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Old June 17, 2013, 04:42 AM   #8
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The Possum Hollow trimmer for 308 family of cartridges is adjustable as well, and works like a pencil sharpener.

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Old June 17, 2013, 01:40 PM   #9
AL45
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The 7.35mm is .298, the 7mm-08 is .284, the .308 is .308. It seems like the 7mm-08 gauge would be too loose in the case neck and the .308 gauge wouldn't even slide in at all. Am I missing something? Thanks
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Old June 17, 2013, 02:14 PM   #10
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The 7mm-08 will be too loose, but I think that might not matter. It's also easier to shorten the primer hole pin a little than to shim it.

It'll cost you about $6 to buy one and try it
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Old June 17, 2013, 02:14 PM   #11
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No issue. The angular error across the case mouth due to tilting into the slop would only be about 50 millionths of an inch. Unless you have a chatter problem, the inexpensive Lee tool in 7mm-08 will do what you want just fine.
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Old June 17, 2013, 08:53 PM   #12
AL45
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Thanks for your input. I'll give the 7mm-08 a try.
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