Lee "Quick Trim" update

[earlmck]

I've posted before that I dislike trimming, but don't dislike it nearly as much since discovering Lee's "Quick Trim" (with the drill adapter) which performs the inside/outside champfer at the same time as trimming to length.

Needed to trim back some 38-40 cases. Lee doesn't make their trim die in anything called 38-40 but they do make 44-40 which would do the job nicely.

I unfortunately wanted to trim some back farther than the normal "trim-to" length because I have this beautiful 200 grain gas check bullet from an Accurate mould, and the crimp groove is placed wrong: cartridges come out about .05" longer than spec COAL and about .02" to .03" longer than my winny will feed them although the Rem 14 1/2 still feeds them fine. So rather than curse Mr. Accurate Moulds and confine my use to the Remington or to single-shot mode on the winny, I thought I'd trim some cases back about .04" shorter than spec. Which a 44-40 "Quick Trim" die would not do. Enter the 44 mag trimmer (which I already own which is nice for the old Scotsman's soul). This very nicely takes the 38/40 back just about .04" shorter than spec with my shell holder (with some of the QT dies the shell holders have some say in the actual case length produced, so you don't want to blindly turn a QT die to the stop and trim away without checking length.

And the shells loaded with the shorter brass now feed nicely and the winny also likes the "round flat nose" shape better than the semi-wad cutter nose on the 175 grain Lee bullet I have used for the past 30 years.

If I ever want to trim cases to spec 38-40 (I'm not sure 38-40 cases ever "grow" but I could improve uniformity across 3 different brands and many different ages of my case supply) I'll once again use the 44 mag trim die but screw it out approximately one turn and fine-adjust to get the length I want. And of course I'll do the same if I ever get the urge to trim 44-40.

I realize there is a very small universe of folks for whom this "tip" could have any utility, but this "Leverguns" forum most likely contains most of that universe.

And we have a beautiful day shaping up in sunny Central Oregon so I'll get do do a little 38-40 and 44-40 shooting with a couple other 44-40 shooters. And maybe enjoy a beer or two along the way. Keep on shootin' fellers!

[AJMD429]

Now that's pretty cool. Thanks for sharing....!

(....and I don't even have a 44-40, Lee Quick-Trim, or 38-40... )

I remember a similar tip here on the Lee Factory Crimp dies though....before I ordered a 'rifle-type' one in 44 Mag (and later in 357 Mag and 45 Colt) someone here commented how I could shorten the 44-40 FCD with a hard file and use that for 44 Mag.

This is such a fun forum. Too bad there aren't decent ones like this for healthcare...

[Bill in Oregon]

Get out and enjoy that sunshine Earl -- and don't forget the peanuts.

[JohndeFresno]

Thanks again, Earl.