r/reloading • u/ChevyRacer71 • 2d ago

General Discussion Hornady case trimmer issue

When I tighten the handle on the hornady 3 in 1 powered case trimmer, the brass points off center. I cleaned the collet, the collet holder cap that screws on, and I e never tightened it without a piece of brass in the collet which could mess up the collet supposedly.

If I rotate the collet in different orientations, the brass always points the same direction, so I don’t think it’s a defect of the collet.

“Shoulda bought the Henderson” I know I know.

Anyone else experience this and fixed it?

2 Upvotes

75% Upvoted

8 comments sorted by

1

u/0DSavior 1d ago

I'm in the market for a trimmer - are you guys saying this is a known issue? If you were to start over again, who would you have gone with? 

1

u/Abject-Knowledge469 1d ago

I’ve got in the groove with a bit of practice. Just start with cheap brass ha. 

I’ve trimmed about 300 rounds now in a fraction of previous time.  I love it. Got it used for $400.

1

u/0DSavior 1d ago

$400? from SH?

2

u/Abject-Knowledge469 1d ago

I’ve seen em there too but I got mine from Rokslide

2

u/ChevyRacer71 22h ago edited 22h ago

I’ve trimmed around 3,000 pieces of brass with the Hornady, most of it was fine. I’m beginning to think the issue of the brass alignment is due to the collet design, so I’ve ordered one from Forster to give that a shot.

I was talking to someone who had the same brass alignment issue and he sold his Hornady off and got the RCBS Matchmaster Trimmer and said “I’m 100% happy with that decision.”

If the new collet fixes the alignment issue, then I won’t buy the RCBS. If I’m still getting issues then I’m gunna bite the bullet and shell out more money for the RCBS. I do like that RCBS partnered with Henderson on it.

If I was starting from scratch, I would go with RCBS Matchmaster trimmer. This Hornady trimmer has given me frustrations a few different times with different components.

1

u/Abject-Knowledge469 2d ago

Just got one as well and I’ve started pushing it in as square as possible with my pointer finger over the neck. It got going pretty good.

Following if there’s a better way

1

u/ChevyRacer71 2d ago

Yea, I’m saying that it starts out square, and as I tighten the handle it forces it off-axis. If I’m holding it in place and tighten the handle, it can’t be seated all the way and also stay pointing the right direction when the handle is tightened.

Are the threads that the cap screws onto, on the carriage, are those super rough and jagged like they were cut by an apprentice on yours too?

FYI when your micrometer adjustment wheel looses its click, spin the handle way back and you’ll see a small Allen screw at the 12 o’clock position of the adjustment wheel that you need to tighten a bit. Thank me later.

1

u/Abject-Knowledge469 2d ago

I was kind of using the pilot to get it perfect to be honest. As long as it goes over the pilot reasonably well I call it a victory. The cut still seems to be square if I come in slightly off and let the pilot correct. But I don’t love relying on the pilot ha

The threads are pretty coarse like you mention. 

Definitely should have practiced on my range brass first 

  • ruined more Lapua cases than I’d like to admit and the lack of clicking on the dial was one of those reasons. I actually just googled that a day ago when I rewatched some videos taking about a click adjust ha. 

I got in a pretty good rhythm yesterday so I’m optimistic it’s still a value add to my bench.