Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles Lee Quick Trim

I am curious if any of you use this. I own many Lee products, but I think this item missed the mark.

The pictures are large so that you can see the detail better.

Unlike their older case trimming tool with the pilot, this one trims inconsistently, varying as much as 0.005. A good idea that fails, I think, with the cheesy trimmer blades and no proper way for the shavings to fall away.



They had a good idea being able to install it into a press. They even have an adjustment knob - the black knurled one in the photo - that adjusts the cutting length.

The fault, as I see it, is that brass collects in and around the blade. Some shavings fall out the bottom onto the case holder. Some also remain inside the die body.

The shavings will lead to inconsistent trim lengths, if the case holder is not kept clean. The base of the case will sit on them. You may be able to see some shavings on the holder below.

The shaft that fits into the die should also be kept greased. It doesn't say that in the instructions. That's the black shaft above the blade.

If it is not greased, it is basically a metal on metal grind, which makes turning the handle harder and will ruin the tool.





You will get tired using this for more than a few dozen cases.

I seem to remember Deflave doing a little trial with these and found the same issues you did...said it was a waste and never went back.

I really like the standard Lee cutter. They're cheap, they work and there's no set up time really. If I upgraded from those, it would likely be to drop the coin on the WFT units.

Yes, I put their std lock stud into my drill press and get a bunch done quickly. There's just too much messig around - measuring, trimming a second time, remeasuring and then chamfering. The drill press is significantly quicker and very consistent.

I've been using the standard zip trim cutters with lock stud in my drill. Chamfer, debur, brush neck while still on the drill. Quick, easy and lengths are within .001 of each other. Much easier and quicker than manual hand crank trimmers.

Owned it for a short while before I threw it in the trash. Of all the Lee products I have used since I started loading somewhere in 1963 that trimmer was the worst piece of junk I have seen them produce.

Tried the Lee trimmers that work in a drill but didn't have a lot of good luck with them. I switched to the Lyman system and have been happy. The Lyman system uses standard shell holders and seems to hold the cases a lot better.

Don't see the point to that model as it is messy and could lead to other problems unless you constantly clean the case holder and press.

All the prep I do for hunting loads happens on a cordless drill. Works great and I can use a VLD champfer tool which I like better. Trim, de-burr flash hole, chamfer and done.

I would like to get a carbide cutter for nickle cases but the standard is holding up pretty well and cheap to replace. I have several and rotate them so I don't wear a groove in the blades.

If I want to get really picky then I have Forster and RCBS trimmers. Only time I usually use these is when case forming and the cases are shorter than the Lee pilot.

RE: Lee case holder problem. I just hold it against the back of the holder lip as I tighten it. If it isn't right you can see the wobble. I do clean up any visible burrs on the holder before using it though.

My 30-303 brass

Well, after the agony of trimming 500 cases, and it was agony, I can safely say this tool will be relegated to my 'box of despair'. It's a junk box that has cheap, broken, or 'doesn't work' stuff inside. What takes about three hours with a Lee Lock stud and cutter, used with my drill press, took the better part of a day (7.5 hours) with the "Quick" Trim.

Let's have a few more pix and observations. They were taken with my cell phone, sorry.



Here are the lucky 500. The average trimmed length varied from 2.208 to 2.214 inches, when measured immediately after trimming. Some cases had to be trimmed a second time. (About 10 percent). Not a precision piece of gear, but Lee doesn't claim that it is.

Even with a second trimming, the length wasn't much better. I grabbed twenty cases at random from the plastic box and measured them. (a small sampling, I know)

The variance was 2.208 to 2.212 inches. Not good IMO, but I doubt it will have any impact on group size.



Next are pix of brass shavings. These little Klingons are what gums up the works. They get wedged between the base of the case and the shell holder. This results in inconsistent trimmed lengths. That is the first of two reasons for the inconsistent cutting length. The second problem is that shavings wedge themselves between the two thin blades of the cutter(see pic below).



The average shavings from a single case. I measured all cases before and after. The cartridges were once fired, shot from five different rifles. That meant five different chambers.

In traditional lathe type trimmers, almost all of the shavings fall away from the case and cutter, away from the machine. They don't accumulate like with the Quick Trim. With the Quick Trim, excess brass falls into the case, with some managing to fall through the flash hole. It accumulates on the case holder. Shavings also fall onto the case holder when lowering and removing the brass from the tool itself.

This next picture is an intermission of sorts.You can see the great job that a Redding body die does to brass. The case in the middle has been resized. The case on the right is unsized. Hopefully you can see how it pushed the shoulder back.

The box highlights the crimp found in most mil cases. You can see the crimp in the above pic as well. I could feel the crimp when using the deburring tool, after trimming.



The blades on the cutter are thin pieces of steel. They sit side by side, inside the tool. Brass shavings get wedged between the two blades and affect the cut. They must be cleaned constantly as well.



Blade 1 is a square, fixed type that actually trims the brass. Blade 2 isn't actually a blade. It is a rounded piece of metal that goes partially inside the case mouth, presumably to steady the case once it is completely inside the tool.
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So, I felt the Lee Quick Trim wasn't worth my while. I will stick to their older design that uses a lock stud and separate cutter. It is less physically taxing, cuts more consistently and is absolutely faster, when paired with a cordless or standing drill press.



It's the constant cleaning of the blades and the case holder that slows things down.

There is a learning curve to get the feel for when the trimmer has stopped cutting. BUT, as shavings collect on the blades, this feel changes.

Try the Lyman. I switched and like it a lot better.

I said that I would stop getting this stuff to try. The up side is that I give most of the tools I test to new reloaders. Some, like this thing, go in the junk box.

If I need to replace my older Lee, I'll play with the Lyman.