Table Saw to Cut Brass Rifle Cases? 223 to Blackout

[Patrick Irish]

Another hobby of mine is to reload. I do so for 7 calibers one of which is the 300 blackout round. It's a pricey round to buy BUT can be made by cutting the top off a 223/5.56 case and then reforming the brass. I currently do this with a little harbor freight saw that takes forever. I don't want to spend $400+ for a press mounted trimmer yet and started thinking bout using my table saw.

What kind of blade would be good to cut brass shell cases? My plan is have about 20 cases stuffed inside a piece of wood which I would push along the fence and cut the top of the cases. Similar to the photo below. It would allow me to trim a lot at once.

I have a bosch 4100 jobsite by the way.

ubvZL1n.jpg

[Adam Herman]

for this application, i would try an abrasive blade from a cut off saw with the correct rpm spec and such of course. I would also try to get the brass closer to the table than your current jig, also i would consider a piece of poly carb attached to the top as a guard. I think anything with a tooth would trash your brass. I have witnessed people using a carbide tip 84 tooth blade cutting sheet steel or thin aluminum with good results. make sure to wear the right safety gear, i would like to know how this turns out.

[Bill Space]

If I were to do it I would make a sacrificial holder for the brass, that would support it on both side as the cut was made.

Essentially what you have but with the wood wide enough that a slice of wood would be cut off along with the waste ends of the brass...

I would use the finest tooth carbide blade I had, or could afford...

I would cut slowly...and probably try it with only one or two cases first as proof of concept.

I have never done it, and never will so take my thoughts with a large grain of salt...

I think you can make it work though.

Bill

edit: You might try posting the question at a machinist site, like HSM (home shop machinist forum). They might have some valuable insight into a solution...

[James W Glenn]

I have cut steel with a sawblade mounted in reverse. In theory it would work but if nothing binds.

I would be looking at spinning the individual brass on the drill press and jigging up some sort of razor blade cutoff tool to press against the spinning case. My reloading knowledge is cursory, but maybe one of the specific shell holders could get chucked up to speed the process.

[Brett Luna]

I make .300 BLK brass, as well. I use a miniature Proxxon-like chop saw and it's laborious doing them one at a time like that, even with a jig to cradle the casing square to the blade and at the right length. I was considering making a jig for the band saw, similar to the one pictured. A fine-tooth metal cutting blade should work just fine since the brass needs to be trimmed and resized anyway. A table saw seems like overkill for the job, though. I'm not sure you can get a fine enough blade at that size, unless it's a cutoff wheel.

[Patrick Irish]

I plan on doing at least 1000 cases which would be a lot of blackout since each piece of brass can be used 3-4 times safely. I might have access to a bandsaw, that would be easiest and I wouldnt feel nervous after running 20 cases, leaving the bandsaw running as I dumped the cases and inserted 20 more. Having the table saw spinning while I 're-load' I dont know about.

Of course this company make an adapter to use a bosch router and an endmill. It trims down and sizes in one pass.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5K-pFVO3w3k

[Martin Wasner]

A buddy of mine built a 300BO SBR on an AR platform with a can on it. With a subsonic round, it is just stupid how quiet that thing is. Nail gun quiet. I was shocked.

[Jerry Thompson]

Would a plumbers tube cutter work? The ones used to cut copper tubing and pipe.

[Brett Luna]

Would a plumbers tube cutter work? The ones used to cut copper tubing and pipe.

Nope. The case wall is really too thin for the pressure required. It would deform before it cut. On top of that, the case isn't long nor straight-walled enough to register properly on the cutter's rollers. And it would be sloooooow.

[Wes Ramsey]

I plan on doing at least 1000 cases which would be a lot of blackout since each piece of brass can be used 3-4 times safely. I might have access to a bandsaw, that would be easiest and I wouldnt feel nervous after running 20 cases, leaving the bandsaw running as I dumped the cases and inserted 20 more. Having the table saw spinning while I 're-load' I dont know about.

Of course this company make an adapter to use a bosch router and an endmill. It trims down and sizes in one pass.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5K-pFVO3w3k

I like Bill's idea best - support the case on both sides and cut with a high-count tooth blade. Doesn't matter if it leaves a jagged edge as you'll be sizing and trimming to final length anyway, just don't cut them too short. Also, .300 BLK is pretty much a straight walled case and not particularly a high-pressure one, especially for suppressed loads. If you anneal before you resize them you should get way more than 3-4 shots out of each one.

[Jim Dwight]

If I did this right, this is a link to a table saw blade sold by Amana that says it works for brass:

http://www.toolstoday.com/c-422-alum...aw-blades.aspx

I am not familiar with your saw but if it uses a universal motor - if it has brushes - you may want to try slowing it down with a speed control sold for routers. I've used mine on my dust collector (when hand sanding with a Festool sander) and it worked fine. Should work on any universal motor.

I think the main things are to use an appropriate blade (I would agree with other comments that a negative hook angle is appropriate - could get rather exciting with a regular blade if it pulls the saw into the case as expected), slow the saw if you can, and use a jig that keeps your fingers away from the blade. Also I would have a fire extinguisher handy. The little pieces of brass will be hot and could start a fire.

I also have hand loaded but not recently. I've never made my own cases, however.

[Jerrimy Snook]

Because the case is so thin, you would want a high speed steel blade like these http://www.blademfg.com/high-speed-s...-m-2-hss-dm05/

[Ron Lindner]

Patric I use the harbor freight saw to cut arrow shafts. I replaced the 2 inch saw with a 3 inch Aluminum oxide blade. Makes safety cover useless. But it cuts threw hard aluminum shafts quickly.

[Mac Cambra]

I wonder if the brass could be cut on a lathe, the shells could be secured in a chuck and the cuts would be perpendicular to the central axis.

[Brian W Smith]

Air die grinder with cutoff wheel.

Reload here as well.BR cast boolit shooter.We have indoor and outdoor ranges.Good luck with your project.