looking to buy a grinder for our deer camp. probably need to grind 5 or 6 deer/year for burger and sausage. throw in 3 or 4 dozen geese/ducks.

any recommendations? is a 1/2 or 3/4HP grinder enough to handle this?

I don't know about the 1/2 hp. But I am very happy with my 3/4 hp cabella's grinder. No buyers remorse here. If making sausage, I would encourage getting a stuffer. That will be my next purchase. Regrinding to stuff is a pain and a slow process.

how much volume/qty do you do with your 3/4?

Not a factory built, but dad converted a hand crank #22 to belt drive with a 3/4 hp motor, it'll grind meat faster than the packaging dept (mom and sister) can take it away. We typically get 3-6 deer a year, for a while everything was being ground and it had no issues keeping up.

You should easily be able to do what you want with either of those grinders. I use my 1 HP Cabelas grinder for our version of Hunters for the Hungry and we run 5 or 6 deer thru it per grinding session and at least 20 - 30 deer and several hogs a year and it never slows down. I do know the 1/2 hp doesn't have a reverse switch, not sure about the 3/4 hp. If you do a half way decent job trimming the silver skin I doubt you would need the reverse switch, I've never had to use it on my 1 HP.

The larger the feed hole, the happier you'll be.

I have the 1.5hp from Cabelas and it is a beast! It will grind frozen meat and not slow down. I think you would be fine with the .75 or the 1hp. These guys also make good stuff.

http://www.lemproducts.com/

http://www.lemproducts.com/category/meat-grinder

I do about 3 deer a year, would do more if the wife would let me . It would easily do several deer a year. There is no reverse switch, but I've never had the need to, and i have never removed silverskin. It blows right through it.

I have a Waring Pro and am very happy... it was between $100-150 and I did 80lbs of hog without a hitch... If I was going to do as much as you though, I would go larger and would agree, regrinding to stuff sucked a little but I think the comment on having a larger feed shoot would take that pain down by a large amount.... the pain for me was just getting the ground meat into the shoot more than anything....

T second grind sucks on the smaller ones. I finally went to a separate sausage stuffer.

thanks guys.

I bought this 1/2HP one from Northern Tool on recommendation of somebody at the Campfire and I believe you'd have to spend at least twice the price to get a better one.

Northern Tool Meat Grinder.

Prior to this, I looked at several different models available locally, some costing three times the price and endorsed by so called "celebrity chefs", and none had metal gears/drive train as this grinder does. (Do not buy a grinder with plastic gears or drive as they won't last!)

Click on the clink and the select the "Customer Reviews" and you'll see a lot of very happy customers...

I have that same model and it works great. miles

How fine of a cut do you guys get with those.

My brothers grinder makes a finer grind than mine.. I like his sausage a bit more due to texture.

Spot

We got the 1/2-horse Cabela's about 4 years ago and it does a great job. We do at least one moose or elk a year, along with several deer and pronghorn, and it just grinds 'em right up, pronto. We do trim the tougher silverskin off, but not the thinner stuff. We also sometimes double-grind, and make quite a bit of sausage.

has anyone tried the cuisinpro that is on ebay?

the price and power are great, but is it garbage, or a smoking deal?

i just bought a 1/3HP refurb from LEM. reading how much QTY you guys were doing with various size grinders i think i probably have that sized pretty well.

thanks for the info, wish me luck!

It comes with a couple of different size holes in the plates and I think they are standard sizes that may be replaced with other sizes than the ones that come with it. miles

I was a commercial meat cutter for over 20 yrs before switching trades 8 yrs ago. I bought a Cabelas 1hp this fall but was sceptical before using it.

I was NOT disapointed with it and would heartily recommend it to any sportsman or private meatcutter.

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I bought a small grinder, like a 1/5 hp from Cabela's. The first time I used it, it got so hot it burned me. I returned it and got another. It did the same thing. Our club bought their biggest model. It got hot too. We are on our second since I joined in 2004. I was told that Cabela's grinders are made by Thunderbird, which is considered a second rate company. I have been to Cabela's on several occasions to see their grinder refurbs piled high in the bargain cave. I would never buy one.

Bass Pro Shops grinders are the same as LEM, which I am not familiar.

About 12 years ago, I bought a 500 Watt Kitchenaid mixer and a $50 grinding attachment. It still works... and I can make cookies with it too.

I had the same experience with a Cabela's 1 hp as rob. The auger got so hot the meat would sizzle. Even with short run times of 5-10 min. I tried the grinder importer's fix, which was to replace the grease in the gear unit but that didn't work. So it went back and I got a 3/4 hp LEM and have been happy with it.

I have a KitchenAid grinder attachment too and for small batches use it as it's easier to clean than the big grinder.

Careful here... before I bought my Waring, I was planning to get the attachement for my stand mixer (a Kitchenaid) the review ALL said that any made in the last few years are JUNK but the older ones were GREAT... if you could find an old one at a garage sale or something, it seems like it would be a good pic up but from what I read, I would not buy a new one.

I only paid around $100 for the Waring, it was HIGHLY recommended on every site that I read for a small grinder... again, if i had to complain it would be about the small shoot but I could run it straight for 20-30 minutes with no problems.

Found a huge European grinder, 50Hz, 240, 1 1/2hp, and all the attachments for $20 at a garage sale many years ago. It makes a ridiculous amount of noise, but it has ground literal tons of meat and runs continuously as long as needed.

The 20% increase in speed due to being run on our 60 cycle juice does not cause a bit of problem.

I bought my grinder from Cabelas in 1999 -- it is a Sausage Maker Inc EM-10, and it works like an utter joy. Mine was made in Poland -- most if not all of the grinders sold by Cabelas et al these days are made in China, and they're just crap.

There are several available made in places that know how to make things that work -- but I do think it matters to be very careful where the models you're looking at are made.

Dennis

the bigger the better?

Any grinder will work better if the meat is slightly frozen. Warm meat will not move through the blade and plates as easily and will tend to bung things up a bit.


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+1.

I bought one many years ago from Northern tool for about $100. It has done more elk and deer than I care to remember and is still runnning srtong.I just did another elk with it a few weeks ago

Noone has mentioned the Gander Mountain Guide Series grinders. I've been looking at them, are tehy worth buying?

I'll second this. I have the same one and really like it.