doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Hull Trimmer

I've been cutting hulls down with a cutter from Ballistic products and as some will remember I posted pics of Jim Leggs trimmer. My buddy told me he used a paper cutter...just so happens an older lady down the street had an estate sale and I picked up an old photo cutter. As you can see it makes clean nice cuts on plastic hulls.

Homelessjoe,

I can see a clean cut, but how do you keep the cut square? With the case being squeeze down to the platform one side has to be shorter than the other?

It's a square cut...they are just as I cut them in the picture. It doesn't really mash them if you do it right.

It's all in the wrist action...yOu don't just push down it's kind of a snappy cut.

Joe

I recal a post by someone that took a 2x4 and drilled holes the size of the shells he wanted to shorten. He then put the empties in the holes and ran the 2x4 through his table saw with the rip fence set at 2.5 inches. He would then simple reload the 2x4 and do another cut though the saw. This could be volume cutting. You could easily drill 10 holes and cut a lot of shells in no time at all.

Regards, Gordon

That looks like a good idea! I have a couple of paper cutters that I use to cut cleaning patches from daiper flannel(unused). Daiper flannel is good because it is nappy on both sides. It's good for ML wiping patches and cleaning both. I've seen people cutting plastic shells with scissors but the paper cutter and guide makes a more uniform length. Lots of ways to skin a cat. I don't do much cutting since I bought a 2-3/4" chamber reamer.

Yet another piece of someone's actual experience which confirms my suspicion that with BP we make things so much harder than they need to be. One shooter told me I had to trim then heat treat to re-condition over a mandrel etc. etc... I've never done it, and never had problems; I think it's only BP rifles where one must practice voodoo to get it right.
RG

I think there are about a dozen slightly varying versions of a tubing cutter using a protruding Exacto or utility knife blade to trim hulls. There a gentlemen with a BP site internet who puts a brass washer of a thickness to allow a roll crimp on top of the shot after loading, trims to the washer, adds a card and then roll crimps. Table saw sounds about as good as anything so long as you've got a basic grasp of fixturing for either the fence or the miter gauge and do it with a bit of regard for fingers.

jack

I made a crude cutter based on one of the pictures Jim Legg sent me a couple of years ago. It is essentially a disposable utility blade set into a 3/4" dowel, sanded slightly for diameter and cut to the proper depth to get a 2 1/2" shell. I was shocked at how easy the STS hulls cut. Much like soft butter. One good easy twist and it is ready. I don't think it took me more than 15 minutes to do 500 hulls which I have reused a number of times. Not worth even firing up the old table saw and it takes up no room to store it.

Builder is right, used a homemade cutter like that to trim 10ga 3 1/2" hulls for 2 7/8" chambers. Cost about twentyfive cents to make and is very easy to use.

Homeless, that piece of blue hull in the photo sure doesn't look square to me.

I posted this last year. Pictures are not at my demand right now. But I think it is easy to build if you have a few pieces of wood, a hinge and a utility knife blade. I used a 1" wide board and a 2" wide board.

Let me describe how it works and see if that clears up the picture. It has a narrow top and wide bottom board. It is hinged on one end so it opens up and down and closes. Closed, the two pieces of wood lay belly to belly, flat together. Put both boards even at the left side and put the hinge on one end. Blade will go on the top boards right side when you look down from the top. So the blade will go on the right side of the top board that is over the middle of the bottom board. More on this later.

Now you need a space for the hull to rest in.
Stand the jig so the left side is up and drill downward 1 1/4". Drill so that half of the hole is in the top board and half of the hole is in the bottom of the boards. This creates a groove in both boards where the hull lies in the groove. Half in each side of a board. It is hinged on one end to open so you can remove the hull easily. Mount the blade so it is over the hole, on the top boards right side.

Your top board is 1" wide drill a hole that is 1 1/4" deep. That way it goes all the way through the top board and 1 1/4" deep in the bottom board. I suggest a 3/4-7/8" diameter hole to make the hull fit loosely in the hole. By drilling a 1 1/4" hole you create an extra 1/4" space in the bottom board. So as you shove the hull in 1 1/4" in the bottom boards' half of the hole hole it goes all the way through the top board half of the hole. You get a 1/4" exposure of the top half of the hull end above the bottom boards level. This is the part of the hull that you will cut off. Hence when you lower the top board, which has the blade along its' right side, the blade comes down on the hull that is exposed. It cuts the hull a 1/4" from the end of the hull. Rotate the hull by twisting the brass end and as it rotates the hull is cut by the blade.

I suggest that you locate the hole about 4-5" from the end with the hinge. That will give you great leverage when you close the jig. Nearer to the fulcrum the greater the advantage as you close the jig.

Also to make it easier on the fingers grip the hull in a piece of rubber mat that you use to line a drawer bottom. Rubber-made sells it in rolls for a couple dollars. Cut a 2"X 6" strip. wrap around the exposed end of the hull when you shove it down the hole. Grip and rotate.

If your blade gets dull it will tend to push the hull down as you work. Put a dowel inside the hull to support the hull. Just need a 1/2 or 5/8 diameter dowel about 2" long. Trim to fit just below the end of the hull. Drop inside the hull and put the hull in the jig. Close, rotate and trim.