Lee Deluxe Quick Trim Case Trimmer

[wv109323]

What are the Pro's and Con's of using this case trimmer as opposed to an older RCBS lathe style trimmer.
My RCBS has the collet that needs to be tighten,then trim the case then debur the inside and outside of the case mouth.
It appears the Lee would be faster. Am I missing something? What holds the case from spinning in the die on the Lee?
Does the power adapter with a power attachment speed things up on the Lee?

[RogerDat]

If you are talking about the Lee trimmer that you put in a press with a cutter having a crank handle then I can answer how the brass stays in place. There is a taper and collet type thing inside the gage, when you push the brass up using the press the brass is squeezed tight enough to not spin.

There is a spacer on the cutter that has to be removed for shorter brass or it will hardly cut anything no matter how hard you press down. Don't ask how I know or how many cases it took me to figure it out.

The head that would allow electric screwdriver to drive the cutter instead of the hand crank would be something I would really like to try. Doing initial trim on revolver range brass to get all to a common length so they would crimp the same was tedious, trimming 50 - 100 cases or so an evening allowed me to work my way though them but for bottle neck cartridge where trimming is required more often or quantity is high (like 223 or 7.62) I would say plan on doing it over a period of days if using the hand crank. Doing the more modest quantities of 303 British, 30-06 or Mauser is not bad.

I found it worked better with a little Lee case lube applied to the shaft. Turns easier and does not seem to make the chips get stuck to the cutter. Because the trimming is inside the gage the shavings can get caught on the cutter, much as a drill bit going through metal will if the hole is deep. This can be felt but it is subtle. In effect it can stop cutting well at random times because the cutter has a chip on the blade or blade is jammed up in the handle by a chip. Need a block of wood handy so you can slip the cutter out and push the blade end against the wood to move the blades in and out to clear it of cuttings and chips. Fast operation only takes a second or two and your back in business - provided you notice and don't just sit the repeatedly measuring and cutting.

Pros - it works pretty well, does a nice chamfer, is easy to get consistent trim length. Loading next case is fast operation. Just slide it in shell holder as you would when reloading.

Cons - not ideal for mass quantities, can be a bit fiddly to get a good routine worked out initially and requires attention to the feel of the cutting action. If you plan to trim for an auto loader get the electric screwdriver head for sure.

Not Pro or Con but a factor. Requires a press, easy to set up and remove but it will occupy a single stage press. I have a small press set up to side so I can still reload while set up to do trimming but if you only have a single press that might matter. I find it is much easier to feed cases up into the gage if the brass is sized first so it may change your work flow a bit. You need to use a shell holder so you may find yourself wanting to pick up an extra one. Sizing in one press and trimming in another moving the shell holder is a minor annoyance.

I'm content with it but will be trying to fund the electric head in the future and may even go to a WFT for 223 or 7.62 just to facilitate doing large batches. For bolt action rifles or the occasional maintenance trim of revolver cartridges the hand crank is sufficient. I'm also going to pick up a second cutter, just because I don't want to find myself with a dull trimmer, using an electric hand tool to drive it I can imagine doing a larger batch and having the cutter start getting dull in the middle of doing it.

[ukrifleman]

I use the Lee Deluxe Quick Trim for 7 calibres and find it an efficient way of trimming cases.

I trimmed 70, 7.5x55 cases today in just about 30 minutes. You do have to make sure the cutter heads and trimming blades are free of materiel and as the previous poster says, a little lube on the cutter shaft is a help to keep things running smoothly.

I have my 7 die bodies set up on turrets for my Lee classic turret press which make for quick and easy calibre changes.

I have found the Quick Trim to be a consistent and accurate way of trimming cases, much faster than the old Lee system.

ukrifleman.