Meat grinders? LEM?

Needing a good meat grinder. Looking at the LEM big bite. The smallest one they have. Looking to process up to 6 deer a year as well as sausage and snack sticks. Any better options? $300 is the top of my budget. Thanks

I have a LEM #12. Its a fine machine, ive had it for a few years now and 0 problems. It will grind faster than i can shove meat into it. I emailed the company before i bought it and it is rated and warrantied to grind small bones like chicken. They said i would just go through blades a bit quicker. I have not tried to grind any bones with it but i dont doubt that it would with ease. The grinder i have is more than enough to do what i want to, process a few deer each year plus anything else i decide needs grinding. Im sure the smaller models would work equally as well maybe just a small amount slower. It takes me longer to disassemble and wash everything than it does to grind a whole deer. I also got the tenderizer/jerky attachment. It also works perfectly. I recommend all the LEM products that i have used.

Which ever model you're thinking about buying, buy the next size larger.

I’ve got a #8 and love it. Honestly the only issue I’ve had with it is when I grind burger twice, but I don’t do it twice very often. The throat isn’t quite large enough to feed it quickly the second time. I’ve done several deer, hogs, and even beef with it and it grinds everything up great without bogging down the motor. A number 5 or 8 would be a good fit for you if you’re doing 1 or 2 deer at a time. If you’ll be stuffing bags and snack sticks, i would recommend getting the foot pedal controller to go with it. You can control the bag fill better and in my case helps keep everything cleaner

I bought a #8 about 12 years ago and have probably ground anywhere from 3 to 7 of deer per year and a few hogs. It has done a fine job but if you do much more than 30 lbs at a time, it will take you a while and probably require a coarse grind then the fine grind. I've also used it to make several hundred lbs of sausage too. It never gets bogged down but the feed is just too slow.

With that said, if I could do it over, I would have got a bigger one. Luckily, my dad is giving me his Enterprise that he got from my great uncle. Takes longer to clean it than grind 100 or more lbs of meat.

my LEM #12 works very well , grinds fast as I can stuff meat down the whole , sometimes faster. around 5 a pounds a minute from the medium plate.

X2 grinders are like shops there never big enough. Lol

i have the Cabelas 1 horse power size #22 grinder.I probly put close to 2000 lbs of meat through it each year between deer,,making pork sausage,grinding my own burger etc.I also have the cubing attachment for it and use that all the time also.

Sounds like LEM may be the way to go. Any other places to look?

Sausage maker Buffalo NY

Vary happy with Cabelas meat grinders I use the biggest one for glands and such. Wife made me buy a smaller model for home use, I told her I could disinfect between uses she would not buy it.

I have the small LEM big bite, it works good, but wait for a sale, they have them fairly often, and get the next size up, it works even gooder...lol

Check out Waltons Meat. I've also been happy with their products and usually their prices are better than others.

LEM has done well for me. Use a stuffer for jerky and summer sausages, I never liked using a grinder for that. I have haded the Countertop #8 and it still is going I just use it to grind bait now. I got a new mitybite #8 it's ok.

I had a Lem and it kept over heating, been 3 or 4 years ago and I wasn't the only one that had that problem, they were good about taking it back i will say.
I bought a Cabela's and have never looked back, excellent machine
Like said 6 deer a year is a lot of meat I would go with bigger than you think cause the power makes the job so much easier and should last a life time. Keep that meat cold for the second ground and make sure you don't have any hamburger tubes in use, Use a stuffing tube on the 3rd grind and you will have no issues.

I have had a Lem for years no problems X2 on the sales when I bought mine the larger one was cheaper than the next smaller size don't know the size off hand but it has a 1 hp motor only downside it weighs 70 lb and im getting older

I have a big LEM grinder, not sure the size right off, I think it's 1 1/2 hp, but it was overheating and tripping the thermal switch. I loaned it to a buddy of mine and it got to doing it on him and he called LEM about it. He drove it up to cincinnatti and they replaced the switch and also put new shaft seal in it because it was leaking a little. All free of charge. He also got an incredible deal on 2 refurbished or discontinued model grinders while he was there. Good people to deal with