Trim die question

I have been using WFT trimmer for all my rifle brass. I bought a s set of Redding 204 dies and a Redding trim die. I have never used a trim die. It looks like you just set the die in the press to the height that you want the brass to be and use a file to trim off anything sitcking out of the die. Is that correct? If so, that does not screw-up the top side of the die?

I’ve wondered this myself, but just assume that the die is hardened but not tempered, so it’s significantly harder than your file.

That's a piss poor way to trim brass to a specific length. Get a rotary trimmer and do it correctly, you'll be happier....

Get one of the little harbor freight chop saws and the correct shell holder. That little thing goes thru brass with nice burr free cuts almost instantly. There's an article in a recent "Handloader" magazine and if you're interested I'll find the vendor for the holders. I got my 300 BO holder off of Ebay for 15$ or so.

The Handloader article concluded that the chop saw was the best way to go these days.

KnotRight said:

I have been using WFT trimmer for all my rifle brass. I bought a s set of Redding 204 dies and a Redding trim die. I have never used a trim die. It looks like you just set the die in the press to the height that you want the brass to be and use a file to trim off anything sitcking out of the die. Is that correct? If so, that does not screw-up the top side of the die?

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You can learn how to do just about anything from You Tube: