HeavyMetal
12-28-2014, 04:54 PM
Saw a youtube vid on this and couldn't figure out how they were keeping the case from spinning when trimmed.
So to satisfy my curiosity I ordered up a few from Titan Reloading for a try out.
I bought both the Manual and the Powered deluxe Quick Trim tooling, which trims and chamfer's at the same time.
I also bought dies in the following calibers:
45 ACP
44 Mag
9mm
30-30
270 WSM
I figured I could review both rifle and pistol just in case the are different, a la the Factory Crimp dies for both rifle and pistol.
When the box arrived I was pleased to see Lee is now using a die specific single plastic holder for each die, kinda nice for storage.
A quick exam of the dies showed a bunch of differences, not only between rifle and pistol dies but also between the two different caliber rifle dies, the 30-30 has a nylon insert whiles the 270 WSM die has Two "O" rings in it to hold the case while trimming.
The pistol dies use a sliding collet so it is imperative the ram on your press be held firmly against the bottom of the trim die.
The 45 acp Quick Trim got used first and the instruction advise a sized case be inserted into the die then the handle may be cranked, clockwise, to trim and de burr ( chamfer) the case.
My fears of the case spinning are now long gone, it can't happen and I am impressed.
The other thought I had was limits on case length adjustment, seems the tool has some adjustment built in and I qoute the instructions here:
Rotate the adjusting ring Clockwise viewed from the cutter end to the stop. This will produce a case that is trimmed to maximum length to minus .006. The -.006 is the stack up of tolerances including the length of the cutter,length of trim die length of the spacer and depth of the shell holder.
If you wish to trim the case shorter than standard rotate the adjusting ring counter clockwise. you will feel 10 clicks, each click is approximately .001 of an inch.
That is the quote from the instructions and, while I am not sure I understand the maximum length to minus .006 statement, there was certainly enough adjustment in the tool to "click down" to a point where the Speer case I was trimming were all the same length before I ran out of adjustment.
I trimmed up about 20 case's with the manual triming tool then switched over to the Motorized version which requires the end user to supply a cordless drill or screw driver.
Having recently purchased a Black & Decker cordless screwdriver it was press into service working this part of the trimmer.
If you buy this tool get the Power Trim set up! I can't tell you how much easier it is to use over the manual crank set up.
Case's came out trimmed to length and chamfered inside and out on the case mouth, this save me about 1 to 2 minutes a case over the old style Lee trimming tool even with the Three jaw chuck that goes on my cordless drill.
Just an FYI Lee makes a statement that the tool should not be spun if a case is not n the trim die, the reason for this is the blades that do the chamfering are "loose" and can hit the sides of the dies if no case is present. the chamfering blades are also spring loaded so some pressure on the tooling is needed as well as on the press handle to keep the ram in contact with the trim die.
Nothing an average person that can walk and chew gum at the same time can't handle but it is something the instruction tend to gloss over rather quickly.
All in All I'll give this new Trimming tool set up a 9 on a scale of 1-10. I will also give it a 10 over Lee's earlier trimm set up's!
I'll move into the rifle case's later this week ( need to empty some 30-30's) and update this thread on those.
So to satisfy my curiosity I ordered up a few from Titan Reloading for a try out.
I bought both the Manual and the Powered deluxe Quick Trim tooling, which trims and chamfer's at the same time.
I also bought dies in the following calibers:
45 ACP
44 Mag
9mm
30-30
270 WSM
I figured I could review both rifle and pistol just in case the are different, a la the Factory Crimp dies for both rifle and pistol.
When the box arrived I was pleased to see Lee is now using a die specific single plastic holder for each die, kinda nice for storage.
A quick exam of the dies showed a bunch of differences, not only between rifle and pistol dies but also between the two different caliber rifle dies, the 30-30 has a nylon insert whiles the 270 WSM die has Two "O" rings in it to hold the case while trimming.
The pistol dies use a sliding collet so it is imperative the ram on your press be held firmly against the bottom of the trim die.
The 45 acp Quick Trim got used first and the instruction advise a sized case be inserted into the die then the handle may be cranked, clockwise, to trim and de burr ( chamfer) the case.
My fears of the case spinning are now long gone, it can't happen and I am impressed.
The other thought I had was limits on case length adjustment, seems the tool has some adjustment built in and I qoute the instructions here:
Rotate the adjusting ring Clockwise viewed from the cutter end to the stop. This will produce a case that is trimmed to maximum length to minus .006. The -.006 is the stack up of tolerances including the length of the cutter,length of trim die length of the spacer and depth of the shell holder.
If you wish to trim the case shorter than standard rotate the adjusting ring counter clockwise. you will feel 10 clicks, each click is approximately .001 of an inch.
That is the quote from the instructions and, while I am not sure I understand the maximum length to minus .006 statement, there was certainly enough adjustment in the tool to "click down" to a point where the Speer case I was trimming were all the same length before I ran out of adjustment.
I trimmed up about 20 case's with the manual triming tool then switched over to the Motorized version which requires the end user to supply a cordless drill or screw driver.
Having recently purchased a Black & Decker cordless screwdriver it was press into service working this part of the trimmer.
If you buy this tool get the Power Trim set up! I can't tell you how much easier it is to use over the manual crank set up.
Case's came out trimmed to length and chamfered inside and out on the case mouth, this save me about 1 to 2 minutes a case over the old style Lee trimming tool even with the Three jaw chuck that goes on my cordless drill.
Just an FYI Lee makes a statement that the tool should not be spun if a case is not n the trim die, the reason for this is the blades that do the chamfering are "loose" and can hit the sides of the dies if no case is present. the chamfering blades are also spring loaded so some pressure on the tooling is needed as well as on the press handle to keep the ram in contact with the trim die.
Nothing an average person that can walk and chew gum at the same time can't handle but it is something the instruction tend to gloss over rather quickly.
All in All I'll give this new Trimming tool set up a 9 on a scale of 1-10. I will also give it a 10 over Lee's earlier trimm set up's!
I'll move into the rifle case's later this week ( need to empty some 30-30's) and update this thread on those.