[amosfella]

I'd go #22 at the smallest. Avoid the cabela's #42. Parts aren't easily available. I hear it like to twist the augers off. The actual Weston Pro lineup would the the smallest that I'd look at in the homeowner lineup. I'd keep my eyes out for an industrial grinder like Hobart, Biro, Berkel, pro cut, Butcher Boy, etc., from a place shutting down.

How much are you looking to grind at a time? Will you be making batches of sausage, hamburger, game processing, etc? How much do you like using knives (smaller units require you to cut into smaller pieces meaning that knives get closer to fingers)?

I just went through this recently, and got a very lightly used Hobart 4732 from Ontario for $2500 plus accessories and shipping.

I've already burnt out a few grinders. Mind you, I have been also grinding a whole beef at a time for dogfood. Grinding about 600-650 pounds of meat through a 5/8" #12 plate took about 6 hours. I had a few replacements of the same one. The last one was starting to smell like it wanted to let out the magic smoke.

As for HP ratings, they're often lies. The last one that I had was said to be 1 HP. But, It took under 350W to make it run. A HP in an electric motor requires 673 (?)W. It liked to stall out a lot. Lots of time pulling the head apart and driving the auger out with a block of wood. So, either get a more powerful unit or get one with a reverse.