475 to 480 cutoff jig available

[gnappi]

A seller on Ebay makes brass cutoff jigs in various calibers for the harbor  freight  mini chop saw. I wish this one was available when I needed to cutoff the 500 I trimmed :-(


www.ebay.com/itm/305137433892


In case that link doesn't work:

www.ebay.com/itm/475-Linebaugh-480-Ruger-Cut-off-Trimming-Jig-Brass-Case-Tooling-/305137433892

[gcf]

Good to know, thanks for posting.

[cas]

You reminded me of cutting off a couple hundred .22 Hornet cases with a small pipe cutter to make either .22 L Snapper brass. Many many many hours and finger/hand exhausting work, would have taken about 45 minutes this way.

[bula]

I recently bought out somebodies here, remaining stock of Starline 480 brass. Thought I had a baggie or 2 left of Hornady brass to offer. Can't find. But will be willing to part with, send Hornady as I find, or empty rounds. Got once fired and very few heavy loads fired. Mostly TB and Longshot. In next day or two, will scour my way thru the back corner of basement. If I can scrounge 50, will let you know. 

[ridenshoot]

Sept 14, 2023 15:07:28 GMT -5 gnappi said:

A seller on Ebay makes brass cutoff jigs in various calibers for the harbor freight mini chop saw. I wish this one was available when I needed to cutoff the 500 I trimmed :-(





www.ebay.com/itm/305137433892





In case that link doesn't work:



www.ebay.com/itm/475-Linebaugh-480-Ruger-Cut-off-Trimming-Jig-Brass-Case-Tooling-/305137433892






Has anyone tried this jig with success.  It was broken when I received it, they had just tossed it into a padded envelope and did not see fit to wrap it in bubble wrap to protect the protruding piece of plastic that holds the shell down, so I am sending it back.  Just out of curiosity I was looking at it and taking measurements while waiting to return it.  I found that the one I received would no way work on the saw that they recommended, which I had purchased for this task.  The holes on the jig were not drilled in a location to allow the brass to be cut anywhere near 1.285 inches long using the holes in the saw base.  And because of the overlap of the jig holes and the holes in the saw base, I would be unable to drill the base of the saw to mount the jig in an appropriate location.  Just curious if my experience is unique?  I think this product would be really useful if it were executed properly.

[gnappi]

What did the seller say?

[ridenshoot]

Hasn't responded yet.  I only sent the email saying that it was broken on Thursday and at that point didn't realize that it wouldn't work on the saw.  Just started looking at it this afternoon and trying to figure out if I was mental or what.  Checked out a few reviews and most are good, but a couple kind of appear to be the same problem.  Here are a couple of pics of a casing in the jig, I had already trimmed this case to check the length of the jig with a case in it.  It appears to me that in order to get the case cut to 1.285 (which is the length he is saying the jig is supposed to cut to) I would actually have to cut into the jig.  In the pic, the case is located in the position for cutting, as the rim is aligned in the cutout for it.  Based on this I'm just gonna request a return, there is a 30 day return policy.  Got to looking at the saw, which is pretty neat and fairly inexpensive, I believe I can make my own jig and cut it close, then use my RCBS trimmer to finish it off.  I have about 94 cases left to cut and trim so I need to figure something out, otherwise this gun is a pretty paperweight.  Thanks for responding, any suggestions would be very welcome.

[gnappi]

Ridenshoot, did you see my setup? I used a piece of aluminum shim .165" thick by ~.450" high hot melted to the side of the saw vise. Cuts them PDQ

If you cannot source the shim, I'll send you one.

[bigbore5]

I've used a few ebay jigs. They all are designed to cut a little long to account for any misalignment. You still have to trim some to get a square mouth, just not as much as you would have to without the cutoff saw.

[ridenshoot]

gnappi, I did not see your setup, can you post a pic of it, I'm not seeing it in this chain of postings.  Thanks for you assistance, it is much appreciated.

I understand that the jigs are setup to cut the cases long, the jig is supposed to cut the case at 1.285, which is the COL of the 480 and that will allow you to trim it to the trim to length of 1.275.  However, when aligned with the holes in the base of the saw (as depicted in the picture on ebay), the blade barely touches the case mouth, leaving the case well in excess of 1.3+ inches. 

The case in the picture was trimmed by me to a length even shorter than the jig would cut and it was still 1.3+, meaning I would have to cut into the jig to get the case to 1.285. 

The location of the holes in the base and the jig preclude me from drilling new holes to secure the jig in a position to get the 1.285 length, due to the overlap of the holes. If I move the jig into a position that will allow for a 1.285 cut the holes of the jig and base partially overlap each other.  Sorry if my explanation isn't clear, I find it difficult to explain this in english, that's why I generally try to take a lot of pictures.

I was also thinking a jig like this wouldn't be hard to make out of a small piece of wood.  Since the case is .504 inches, could just drill a 1/2 inch hole in the piece of wood and enlarge slightly for a tight slip fit, add a thin piece of metal to the end of the wood, with a hole to stop the rim and then screw it all to the base, or reference off of the clamp base.



Or maybe I should use this as an excuse to buy a metal lathe?

[bigbore5]

A lathe is nice to have, but requires training to use. Most machinist will agree with me when I say a lathe, even a small one, is the most dangerous piece of equipment in a machine shop.

[gnappi]

Oct 16, 2023 6:20:21 GMT -5 ridenshoot said:

gnappi, I did not see your setup, can you post a pic of it, I'm not seeing it in this chain of postings.  Thanks for you assistance, it is much appreciated.

I understand that the jigs are setup to cut the cases long, the jig is supposed to cut the case at 1.285, which is the COL of the 480 and that will allow you to trim it to the trim to length of 1.275.  However, when aligned with the holes in 



Or maybe I should use this as an excuse to buy a metal lathe?

Yeah, a lathe can cause a world of hurt. Also it's not worth if for the expense versus the benefit to trim a few hundred cases.

Anyway, this solution costs zip if you already have the HF saw and also have a glue gun. If you don't try to chop one every second they come out well within specs. The main things to understand for consistency are to not tighten the vise too tight / too loose, and to operate the chop handle the same way every time. The HF saw is not built to very tight tolerances so how you bias the handle toward or away from the case will vary the length quite a bit, but even with the Ebay jig on the HF saw this is true. 

I went through one case every 45 seconds or so including de-burring with a lyman de-burring tool. I also tried the Dremel tool with various bits but the Lyman tool is cleaner.  

[ridenshoot]

Thanks for the picture.  That helps me understand it better, I'll have to find some time to make that up.  I appreciate everyone's help with this.

[jbreland6128]

Just wanted to post my experience with the jig described in this thread. I purchased a jig from eBay and a HF cutoff saw. It appears there have been no modifications done by the seller to correct the issues described previously, therefore the blade barely touches the brass. The sellers response is that I was to align the blade with the brass and then screw down the jig. Well, 2 screw holes in the jig and two in the saw doesn’t leave a lot of options.
Hopefully this will save some folks some time and money if they are considering one of these jigs.
Jamie

[hunter01]

Screw wood to saw table. Screw jig to wood in proper place. Problem solved. A lathe would take so much longer than a chop saw its not even funny.