I have some new sixteen gauge paper hulls that are 2-3/4" and I want to cut them to 2-1/2". I have a rig (Exacto blade in a dowell rod) for cutting the plastic shells but it doesn't work well for me with the paper hulls.

Any suggestions?

Thanks!

Mike

Mike,
With paper, you need a type of cutter that presses/cuts or shears through from the outside, normal to the surface of the workpiece. I hope that makes sense. The old-fashioned crank cutters from a century ago work best, as they were made for the chore. They turn the shell over a supporting mandrel and have a sharp-edged rotating disc that cuts against the case wall. A few laps, and the cut is done. These are hard to find nowadays, and people want a mint for them. They work better than anything else for plastic hulls too. I found an old Lyman product which uses the same principle, but is simpler in construction. It has a cutting wheel that looks a lot like a slightly sharper version of the one on one of those little copper tubing cutters. It has interchangeable mandrels for 20, 16 and 12 gauge, and the mandrels are held in place to the body of the unit with a thumb-screw to allow adjustment of the length of cut. The cutter wheel is mounted on a spring-loaded hinge that pivots on the part that holds the mandrel. You slip a hull onto the mandrel, squeeze the cutter-wheel holder down onto the hull, and then turn the hull until the cut has been completed. Pretty slick. I hope this description helps. Before I found this tool, I contemplated making one. I still do. The only tough piece to make (not that difficult either) is the cutting wheel. frankly I think you could rob one from a pipe cutter and sharpen it a little. You can get replacement cutting wheels for good tubing cutters.

Alternatively, you could modify the tool sold by Ballistic Products. It is made for 12 gauge, and you'd have to convert it for 16 (turn down the mandrel or make a new one). It uses disposable utility knife blades, which is nice. They do not use the rotating disc principle, so the blades won't last as long, and it will take more effort to cut the hull, but it'll do the job.

Tony Lowe

I cut federal papers just at the bottom of the crimp so that I can roll crimp my blackpowder loads. Here's the secret-I just cut them with a razor knife. Lay them on a board, use the bottom of the star crimp as a guide and a sharp blade makes a quick, neat job of it. No gizmos needed.

Mike,

I think Tony is on the right track. Maybe try a standard tubing cutter with a wood dowel inside the hull. Alternatively, maybe put a wood dowel cut to give your desired hull length inside the hull and cut the excess hull off using an X-acto razor saw.

Phil

This is set up in a drill press. You can regulate the depth by adjusting the depth gage. This is a box cuter set into a piece of 2x4 material. A table saw blade made the kerf cut and the box cutter fits very snug. I use this for 10 ga. 2 7/8", 12 ga. 2 1/2", 16 ga. 2 9/16" and 20 ga. 2 1/2". Each dowel is snug on the inside of the hull and I have it marked on each dowel how far it had to be on for the correct cut.
If you don't have a drill press, dis-regard, but now a days you can buy them very cheap.
These happen to be 20 ga.

Mike, JDW's method is going to be the best for you. Bring a hull over to my house and I'll make you a dowel. No problem.

Another razor blade rig; this one a Jim Legg design with adjustable depth stop added. Works best of plastic hull but has done a few paper Federals.

jack

Mike replace the exacto blade with a safety razor blade and give it a try. I have used this arrangement on new old stock Federal and Winchester paper hulls without a hitch.

Thanks for all the help. When I find something that works for me I will report back.

Best,

Mike

Hello Mike,

This tool has always worked for me.

tunes

https://www.ballisticproducts.com/prodinfo.asp?number=TRIM

I just drill a hole slightly larger than the case in a block of wood. And run them through the table saw with a plywood blade.

John

I am a bottom feeder, don't like to spend money on store bought stuff and often can't even get to the power tools and drill presses. I have an aluminum bar that fits snuggly into the shell. I mount a sharp kitchen knife (well, actually my asparagus cutting knife) in a wide jaw vise with the blade barely protruding for several inches. I "roll" the shell over the protruding blade like a rolling pin, cutting the unwanted crimp area from the shell. No fuss, no muss, no cutting on a spiral. Just remove the shell and when mounting the next shell, the cut off section of the previous shell slides up the aluminum bar. The cut is very neat, no power tools involved and no replacing of fragile razor blades. However, John E's method looks fast and easy as long as the correct blade is used on the saw.

New and improved...If you were to drill two or more holes in the wood block for the hulls. You could eliminate the shims that are now used to keep the block from teetering on the saw fence.

Thanks, John

I could see clamping John E's jig on my chop saw banging out 100 cases in, oh, maybe 20 minutes.

A block with 100, maybe 150 holes, coupled with a water cooled cut off blade on a chain saw body....Actually, my method, the rolling pin, one at a time, works pretty well, but volume is power.

Mike,
I toyed briefly with Ballistic Product's trimmer, didn't cut cleanly on Federal Gold Medal paper hulls--once fired. It left tags of in inner liner paper. The device is great for plastic, though. If I were you, I'd try some of the other recommendations before investing $40 if paper is your only use.

Steve

I haven't tried any paper with the rolling pin method, but the sharpness of the blade would be a factor. I have never tried to cut a groove into the aluminum rod because of the difficulty of locating the cut exactly at the groove. The knife blade cuts plastic shells very cleanly with the rod ungrooved. It may work the same way with paper. I'll try some paper and report back. Unfortunately, I don't have a cutoff blade for my chain saw so can't report on that method.

Really? how do you install recoil pads? with your asparagus knife?

Mike,
I use the BP cutter, that I modified as shown in the pictures.
This works great for paper hulls.




The screw on the end is for adjustment of hull length.
Hope this helps, I've cut 1000's of the 16 gauge paper hulls with this.
Dave

I happen to have a Dremel Hobby table saw left over from my model airplane hobby days. I will probably give John E's a try. I like power tools.

Thanks to Rudy, Bill, Mike, and Dave for their posts. I have several likely looking methods and one of them will surely work out.

I will report back what I find.

Thanks!

Mike

It's surprising how many different variations there are for this. I use John E's method in a 2 x 4 jig with a dremel cut off blade. A little ragged for paper though.