Little Crow WFT

[corelokt]

I need to get some trimming done and was thinking about a Little Crow Gunworks trimmer. I was hoping to use it in a drill press but wondered what speed to set the press. Anyone use the WFT? and can I use it in a drill press?

 

[coopermania]

Yes and I would start around 400 to 600 rpm and go up from there.
Most electric trimmers that I have seen operate are slow speed.

I just watched a video of it working and I would bump up the speeds to 800 to 1000 rpm

 

[corelokt]

It looks like a nice trimmer from what I've seen on youtube . I Think I am going to get one in .308 and give it a go.

 

[silanehead]

Take a look at the new deluxe model. It has changeable blades for different calibers.

 

[El_flasko]

I have one in 308 & 223. I love it, only problem I had was fgmm 7.62x51 brass was cutting short after I had set the trimmer using ppu 308 win brass. Weird stuff.

I keep mine in a cordless drill and it worked great other than the one unresolved issue.

 

[DocSavage]

I run mine in a bench top drill press at medium speed.

I have an airchuck handy to blow out the chips as needed. Drill press is perfectly centered and makes awesome 300BLK brass.

Doc

 

[DarrellA]

I use my WFT in a Craftsman table top drill press at it's higher speed. Seems to work just fine. Every time.

 

[kingstrider]

I have several and they work great in a drill press at low speeds. Just be sure to stop on occasion, blow the chips out and wipe out the bearing to prevent scratching your brass.

 

[HarCo2ANewb]

I use mine that is for .300blackout in a harbor freight 3/8 corded drill that I throw in my vise, works like a charm.

 

[corelokt]

It looks as though my chuck on the press has a wobble to it. I guess I got to fix that or use a cordless drill.

 

[byf43]

I have both .308 and .223 WFT.

I use then on a Craftsman table-top drill press on SLOW speed.

If you have any wobble in the chuck, try removing the chuck (should be a press-on fit) and use the downward motion of the spindle to re-seat the chuck to ensure straightness.

 

[Mulchman]

I just got mine last week and trimmed 200 .50 BMG cases with it in short order. I researched this trimmer for quite a while before purchase. The only problem I heard about it was the tedious set up. It took me all of about three minutes to set the length. I'm extremely satisfied with the quality of the tool, it's ability to repeat case after case at exactly the same length and the speed that you can do it. I'm not sure I'd wanna run it in a drill press...I use a 1/2 inch electric drill at half throttle. The speed doesn't seem to make a difference in anything other than how fast you can feed the case in. Some of my cases lost a sixteenth of an inch. I would not hesitate to purchase the smaller version to trim the rest of my smaller cases.

 

[byf43]

Mulchman, welcome to the forum!!


Running the WFT in a tabletop drillpress keeps both hands free to feed, reach for another case.

 

[Pinecone]

Remember, this type of trimmer (also the Giraud) indexes off the case shoulder.

So you need to resize your cases first. And for accurate trim lengths, you should full length resize to set the shoulder bump to be consistent.

 

[corelokt]

I thought you should always re-size first...But I am still learning.

 

[Pinecone]

It is always recommended, as the expander plug being pulled through the next can cause the case to lengthen.

But with the WFT/Giraud type, is it mandatory. As you are not indexing the full case length, but just the distance from the shoulder to the case mouth.

 

[peace]

It is always recommended, as the expander plug being pulled through the next can cause the case to lengthen.

But with the WFT/Giraud type, is it mandatory. As you are not indexing the full case length, but just the distance from the shoulder to the case mouth.

It is not always recommended to keep the expander plug(ball) in your die though. Many remove it.

 

[byf43]

I thought you should always re-size first...But I am still learning.

I've always resized cases before trimming.

Running the case through the sizer, not only 'squeezes' the case back to smaller dimensions (diameter), it makes the case(s) longer. (The brass has to go 'somewhere' when it's sized.)


Once I have a quantity of brass sized, I tumble the lube off, then do the trimming task.

I do believe you'll like the Little Crow WFT.

 

[Pinecone]

It is not always recommended to keep the expander plug(ball) in your die though. Many remove it.

I agree with a bushing die where you can adjust the neck sizing amount.

But with most standard dies, removing the expanding ball and lead to VERY small case mouths, and possibly crushing the case when seating the bullet.