Hornady Excessive-Pace Case Trimmer, Put to the Take a look at

There’s by no means a greater time to check one thing like Hornady’s high-speed, 3-in-1 case trimmer than proper now, within the forty-below doldrums of a Fairbanks, Alaska winter. Case prep is an usually despised necessity for reloaders, particularly high-volume shooters. Baggage, buckets, and packing containers stuffed with soiled circumstances that should be sized, trimmed, and cleaned supply little gratification. So any tooling that accelerates the method is welcome. That’s the place this motorized case trimmer is available in. I’ve churned  by means of over 3,000 items of brass up to now few weeks, making ready for hotter days on the vary, and I actually like this trimmer. Right here’s every little thing you might want to find out about it. 

Hornady Excessive-Pace, 3-in-1 Case Trimmer

Key Options

• Twist-lock collet case retention
• Two included collets
• Interchangeable cutter pilots and adjustable blades
• Trims, chamfers, and deburrs in a single step
• Eight included pilots
• Direct-drive motor
• Optimistic-click changes on depth cease
• Case assortment tray
• Worth: $620

I Trimmed over 3,000 Circumstances, Right here’s How It Went

I acquired the Hornady high-speed case trimmer this fall and have been placing it to exhausting use these previous few weeks. A mix of the bitter chilly snap and my restricted mobility following my horse wreck again in October supplied the motivation for me to chew by means of a pile of circumstances that wanted consideration. 

I’ve sized and trimmed over 3,000 items of brass in a number of cartridges together with .30 Carbine, .300 BLK, 22 ARC, 22 Creedmoor, 6mm Creedmoor, 6.5 Creedmoor, 25/6.5 PRC, 270/280 AI, and .30/06. By means of all that, there actually isn’t a lot to report. The motor runs quick and quietly, circumstances trim quickly, and it’s typically a pleasure to function. I’ve discovered that adjusting and swapping {hardware} to be straightforward and intuitive, and there hasn’t been many issues to complain about. 

Trim Consistency

The Hornady high-speed case trimmer has been straightforward and intuitive to arrange and function. It cuts brass with glorious consistency. I examined this by trimming and measuring 30 items of 6.5 CM brass in a row. I ran the machine precisely how I’ve been when processing bulk brass, which is to say, rapidly. My objective was a trim size of 1.910 inches, and my trimming averaged 1.9098 inches. The intense variation was from 1.909 inches to 1.9115 inches, or .0025 inches whole. The usual deviation of case lengths was .0005 inches. 

Potential Points

Every so often, the collet gained’t get a great grip and the brass will spin with the cutter. Typically this appears to be due to particles accumulating within the collet, different occasions it’s as a result of I didn’t set up the case fairly proper. Some situations might be as a consequence of rim diameter or the collet merely not being tightened sufficient. Contemplating the amount efficiently trimmed on the primary strive, it’s a fairly minor inconvenience. 

I’ve discovered the cutter straightforward to reconfigure with completely different pilots, however I’ll be curious to see how lengthy the cutter blades keep sharp. As a result of the blades contact the circumstances in the identical spot no matter pilot diameter, they’ll doubtless should be changed ultimately. 

Electrical Case Trimmers — The Competitors

There are two dominating kinds of motorized case trimmers available on the market. One makes use of pre-set or adjustable bushings into which the case is inserted and held towards the cutter by hand, the opposite makes use of a collet to carry the case in a sliding meeting which might be pressed onto a spinning cutter. 

One instance of the primary model is the Frankford Arsenal Case Trim and Prep Heart. It’s absolutely adjustable to trim almost any shouldered case, and options instruments for deburring and chamfering. Lyman makes one other instance that makes use of pre-calibrated bushings. These are each inexpensive and useful for common reloaders — I’ve prepped many hundreds of circumstances with the Frankford Arsenal mannequin. 

The most effective, and the primary motorized trimmer I ever used, was a Giraud Energy Case Trimmer. These trim, chamfer, and deburr in a single step, with a belt-driven, high-speed motor. They’re a wonderful alternative, however require particular case holders for every cartridge that run about $45. Downsides of this model of trimmer are that your fingers can get fairly worn out whereas processing plenty of brass.

The most effective and most well-known trimmers of the second model is the Henderson Precision Gen 3 Case Trimmer. Hornady’s high-speed case trimmer is of the identical model and shares some important similarities, but additionally has plenty of key design variations. 

How the Hornady Excessive-Pace Case Trimmer Works

Hornady’s trimmer comes with good directions and is simple to arrange and use. The unit bolts to your reloading bench by way of two mounting holes and may also be used with quite a lot of modular mounting {hardware}. I merely bolted mine to the bench and might take away it for storage when carried out. 

The trimmer comes with two collets, every accommodating two sizes of brass, that cowl most cartridges from small rifle to magnum case heads. The collet is put in into the sliding deal with meeting and held in place by a left-hand-threaded cap. The massive aluminum deal with on the again is used to tighten the collet and seize the case rim. 

To arrange, set up the correct collet and match the case head into it. When set correctly and snugged up, a brief quarter- to half-turn will safe the case. The deal with meeting slides ahead and backward on two rods in the direction of the motor and cutter. A tough-stop bar that additionally slides alongside the rods in entrance of the deal with meeting might be moved to set the tough depth of your minimize. It’s secured in place with two knurled-knob brass set screws. Nice changes are simply made by way of an aluminum knob below the deal with, which controls the depth of a plunger that contacts the cease bar. This knob has detents which interface with a small bearing and permit roughly .001” depth changes. I did discover that with use, the positivity of the clicks vanished, however adjusting the tiny Allen-key set screw which presses the bearing fastened the difficulty.

With changes made and depth set, flip the motor on, and slide the deal with/collet/case meeting to the cutter and the blades will trim, chamfer, and deburr the case in a pair seconds. Withdraw the deal with, give it a half-twist counterclockwise to unlock, and the case falls free into the gathering tray. Set up one other case and repeat. It’s that straightforward.

Altering Cartridges

An enormous profit that the Hornady trimmer offers is the included tooling to cowl all kinds of cartridges. Altering the trimmer over from one cartridge to a different is easy. First, change the collet with the right one if vital. Second, take away the clear protecting chip guard and loosen the set screw which holds the cutter head onto the spindle of the motor. Loosen blade and pilot set screws, take away and change pilot, then change blades and re-install. Lastly, reset slicing depth and also you’re off to the races. 

Hornady vs. Henderson

Since Hornady launched their trimmer in early 2025, I’ve seen quite a few comparisons between it and Henderson’s glorious precision case trimmer. They’re actually in the identical model and share some options, however there are plenty of variations too. I’ll go away it as much as you to resolve which you like, however listed below are a few of these specifics:

Similarities

• Each trimmers use a motor-powered cutter and sliding collet, twist-lock deal with meeting
• Each trimmers have an adjustable exhausting cease to set trim size
• Each trimmers use a slicing head that holds a pilot and two slicing blades
• Each might be fitted with a case assortment tray

Variations

• Hornady trimmer makes use of a direct-drive motor, Henderson makes use of a belt drive
• Hornady cutter head slides over motor spindle, Henderson cutter heads insert into drive.
• Henderson affords cartridge-specific pre-set cutter heads, however they are often adjusted by consumer, Hornady’s trimmer supposed for consumer adjustment.
• Hornady trimmer’s depth adjustment is dial-adjustable, Henderson makes use of a easy machine screw and nylon lock nut
• Henderson collets are inserted into detachable deal with then that’s threaded into slide meeting, Hornady trimmer has a detachable cap to retain collet

Energy Trimmers Just like the Hornady Excessive-Pace, 3-in-1 Case Trimmer Are the Reply for Excessive-Quantity Reloaders

There are a number of widespread varieties of case trimmers on the market, starting from crude to express. Once I began reloading ammunition with a Lee Traditional Loader equipment as an adolescent, I used Lee’s easy case trimmer that, used at the side of their case size gauge, trims circumstances to straightforward trim size utilizing a handheld drill. You may then, by hand, use a chamfer and deburring device to decorate up the case mouth. When a case is trimmed, substantial burrs develop on the within and out of doors of the case mouth. These should be eliminated for easy bullet seating, loading, and general reliability. Eradicating the burr and beveling the within of the case mouth is known as chamfering, and “deburring” typically refers to eradicating the outside burr and typically beveling the skin of the case mouth barely.

The most well-liked hand-powered case trimmers are of comparable design and are basically small hand-cranked lathes. A collet grasps the case head on one finish, and a deal with is used to rotate the case towards the cutter till the required size is reached. These are exact and efficient, however painstakingly gradual. Additionally they nonetheless require handbook chamfering and deburring. 

Electrical powered trimmers have been round for a very long time, and supply the velocity and precision demanded by shooters dealing with a whole lot or hundreds of circumstances. For the common hobbyist or informal reloader, they’ve at all times been considerably prohibitively costly however, when combating by means of the uninteresting technique of case preparation, they’re a godsend. The much less time you may spend on every case — whereas nonetheless getting exact outcomes — the higher your books will steadiness ultimately. I’ve been utilizing energy case trimmers for nearly 20 years, and might confirm {that a} good one is price each penny. 

Closing Ideas

I’ve been totally happy with Hornady’s Excessive-Pace, 3-in-1 Case trimmer in almost each facet, and I count on to be utilizing it for years, and lots of hundreds of items of brass, to return. Excessive-end brass trimmers are costly, and every design affords its personal benefits and potential downsides. I can’t converse for all of them, however this Hornady trimmer doesn’t go away a lot to complain about — it’s a strong purchase for high-volume reloaders.