My 30-303 brassWell, 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.