Sportsman Series Number-32 Cast Iron Meat Grinder with Pulley

The media could not be loaded. I have been grinding deer meat with the sinew in it for the last 10 years or so. I had been using a #22 grinder. The price was cheap enough on this one, especially for coming with not only one pulley but TWO pulleys. It goes thru the meat better than my #22. I have it hooked to a 1.5HP electric motor, and it does just fine. I have 3 complaints, and 1 or 2 of them is/are operator error on my part, but it needs to be addressed: First, when operating with an electric motor, some of the paint/metal shaves off the drive shaft in the back of the unit. It collected mostly in the back of the unit and did not contaminate much of the meat, but what little was contaminated, I just threw that away. Second, the cutter in the front of the unit will load up with sinew from the deer meat. I say this is operator error, because I don't think any chopper is ever going to completely chop up that tough sinew. I just stopped the grinder every time the meat started slowing down coming out of the barrel and cleaned the cutter out and started over. The blades on the cutter do need to be touched up when grinding deer meat. Last, because this unit has bearings with it, the bearings need to be cleaned out after use. MAKE SURE TO COMPLETELY DRY OR THEY WILL RUST. I washed my bearings and put them in the silverware part of my dish rack. I didn't get all the water out, and they rusted. I put them in my tumbler with walnut media and shined them back up. I'm going to put cooking spray or cooking oil or something similar on them next time so they don't rust. As for the grinding itself, I imagine with beef or some other meats, you won't have any trouble with the cutter clogging up, but that deer sinew or silver flesh/shine is tough stuff. I have been making homemade deer jerky, and this grinder is fantastic for this task.*** UPDATE 12/9/14 ***I am now using 1/2" drill turning 1/2" driveshaft, turning 3" pulley, driving 6" pulley via "endless" belt driving another 3" pulley, driving another 6" pulley via another "endless" belt, driving another 1/2" driveshaft to 1/2" "Lovejoy" (or similar)with "X" or "star" rubber center, driving 15/16" Lovejoy (or similar), driving the grinder shaft. Turns about 60rpm now, and is much, much safer.

I purchased the grinder with pully last week. I finally got it mounted and began grinding some chicken with bone and some carrots for my dogs, and to my disappointment the grinder was very difficult to use. The handle was hard to turn and the meat kept clogging up within the grinder. Then when I put the carrots into the grinder, they were more difficult to grind then the chicken. I ran out of strenght before I ran out of chicken and carrots. It did grind the chicken and carrots, but man what a workout. Then when I washed the grinder some of the parts began to rust.

I bought this unit to use during deer season. The unit arrived factory sealed and the box in excellent condition. When I unpackaged it I found the blade was broke in half and the grinder housing had a 4" hair line crack in it. At first I thought it was a scratch but a flashlight from inside the body proved that it was indeed a crack. I filed a damage claim with the seller and they were very prompt in sending me out a replacement and I paid absolutly no additional freight charges. The second unit arrived in perfect condition. I mounted the grinder on a cart and have a 3/4HP 110V electric motor mounted beside it. The grinder came with stuffers and they do the job. They are plastic. I did however have to go out and purchase a stuffer plate in order to properly use the stuffer attachment. I also bought a course grind plate too. Bought off ebay, (dcprocessingequipment.com) had the best prices and 5 star customer service. I was able to buy the stuffer plate, course plate, and an extra blade from them for around 60 bucks. Clean the grinder very good prior to using it. Let it run for a while so that everything gets seated good and that will help keep metal shavings out of your meat. I had a good bit of flaking going on while the auger was getting seated inside the housing. Clean up is pretty simple, everything comes apart easy. Havent had any problems with flash rusting, I spray the inside down with mineral oil then let the grinder run for a few seconds to spread it around. Overall with the price of the grinder you get what you pay for. It will work fine for me for the few times during deer season that I will use it. If I ever get to where I'm grinding year round then I will invest in a nice one from Cabelas or Gander Mountain. But for now this will do the job. On a side note, small rubbermaid containers from walmart make excellant meat tubs!