Lee Quick Trim -- update

[earlmck]

A couple of months ago I mentioned that I had used the Lee Quick Trim Deluxe when I was faced with a bushel of 223's that needed trimming, as it does the inside/outside champfer at the same time as the trim-to-length. Still a lot of work but better than my old way of using the Lyman drill press attachment followed by hand champfering.

I just finished trimming 500 once-fired 30/30 cases I recently acquired followed by trimming my 100 rounds of once and twice-fired 25/35 cases. For this I used the Quick Trim setup but with the drill attachment. Now this is the way to go! I still do not like case trimming but this setup cuts the pain by about 2/3.

trimcuttertypes9435.jpg

trimsetup9431.jpg

trimgap9440.jpg

The slick part about using the drill for turning the cutter (besides less work for the old kid) is that you can easily see the gap appear when you run the case up into the die and then can watch the gap drop to 0 as the cutter works. Feeling when the cutter was done cutting was a bit challenging and this takes the challenge all away. Easy peasy.

Nope. Not agonna' ever like trimming brass but this does ease the pain. Considerably.

Oh yeah -- the 30/30 trim die works just fine for trimming 25/35 also. Because of the slop in the neck area you do get more fine brass cuttings dropping down outside the case and getting on and in the shell holder. I think I ran the vacuum about every 15 or 20 cases when doing 25/35 where it was more like every 50 or 60 when doing 30/30's. And you do get a bunch of fine brass cuttings that fall into the case and onto the shell holder and the press and the floor, etc. so the vacuum is definitely our friend when using the Lee. And empty the case into the trash can after the trim. A little wash process after the trimming would not be amiss.

[Bill in Oregon]

Earl, I'm with you on disliking case trimming, so that's mighty slick.
I was dumb enough to buy the Hornady Cam-Lock Case Trimmer only to realize it will not accept Lee or RCBS shellholders -- and Hornady does not make a shellholder for .50-70 Gummint.

[vancelw]

Earl, I'm with you on disliking case trimming, so that's mighty slick.
I was dumb enough to buy the Hornady Cam-Lock Case Trimmer only to realize it will not accept Lee or RCBS shellholders -- and Hornady does not make a shellholder for .50-70 Gummint.

Thanks for that information. I will mark the Hornady case trimmer off my "want" list. I suspected as much, since I have one Hornady shellholder that came with my 9.3x74R dies and took some gentle coaxing to get it in my Lee Challenger press. And it wouldn't go in my old Lyman turret at all.

[Bill in Oregon]

Vance, I just realized the Hornady 42 for .405 Winchester won't fit in the ram of my Lee press either.