My initial thoughts on the latest Lee trimmer:



The trimmer itself comes with two major parts and then you buy the trim die for each cartridge. The die body holds the case with rubber o rings that look pretty easy to replace for cheap when they finally wear out.



The win in this design (besides the price) is that it does a pretty darn good job of cleaning up the edges by chamfering and deburring the edges. This isn't a new idea but IMHO what makes this different is the ease of setup and low cost of trimming everything you reload.



But in the end it comes down to how well does it trim... Well I set this for 1.760" and it seems to have a +/- of .005" with most of mine coming out looking like this after usually half a dozen rotations:



Bottom line - I like it. Typical of Lee products it seems like it wouldn't work as well as it does. I have to assume there will be a chuck adapter to allow a drill to do the turning. The rotation isn't hard but it does demand the bench to be rock solid or you will have a lot of shake, rattle, and roll going on with everything. No, it's not as fast as the WFT but then with the WFT I still have to clean up that sharp edge it leaves or it will shave the bullet during seating. So the WFT is fast but requires handling more than once. Let Lee add that drill chuck adapter and this thing might be a speed machine. Now if only they would hurry up and ship the .30-30 die...

Thanks, Bob. As soon as they come up with a 45-70 die, I'm all in!

That's another obvious miss in the initial line of release items. You would think there are plenty of .30-30 and .45-70 shooters out there. At least they had my 8mmx57 die right from the start.

Does the die body put enough resistance on the brass, so it doesn't spin while you are trying to trim it?

There is an o ring inside the bottom of the die body that holds the case still. The instruction explain how to setup the die with the press handle holding pressure on the case in the die against the o ring. At first I was thinking the o ring would allow some amount of squish factor that would allow trim length to be off. If it is then it's all of .0005" and that's fine with me. I might do this next time on the RC IV that allows me to swap the handle to the left side. Then I could hold the handle with the left hand and turn the crank with the right hand. The centered handle on the Junior made this a bit awkward but still worked.

How did I know you were going to get one????

Why are trimming to 1.760? No wonder you trim so much

I used my WFT yesterday (with my patented hole in jug and vacuum) and trimmed (1.750) 100 cases. I find no real need to chamfer and deburr them.

For the heck of it I did, with they drill chucked Sinclair/Wilson tool. Not much different then not doing it.

Took maybe 15 minutes.

Thanks for the review. How does the little brass shaving tray work. Does it really collect the fine shavings??

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Still Running Against the Wind

Just got mine this morning & trimmed 120 of.223 & 50 of .308. Works good. Better than the zip trim & less case handling than some of the others. The brass shaving tray somewhat works. I still had some shavings on the bench & floor but it kept them from sticking to the ram. The only down side I had was some of my .223 were extra long & it was hard to tell when it stopped cutting. After 10 or 15 turns I still had more to go. Overall I'd say good $35 investment for the trimmer & 2 dies.

BW

So do you have to hold the press handle down (to hold the ram up and tight)while turning the top knob on the trimmer???

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Still Running Against the Wind

That's supposed to be the max length and I like running some max loads so I seat the bullet out as far as the AR mag allows and like to think the pressure doesn't get hinky with the shorter trim length. I got the occasional bullet being shaved by the case mouth if I didn't round off that edge. Like BW64 says I found the tray to be hit or miss but don't care as it's easy to clean up.

The price alone makes it worth while. Now that you mention it, it was a little hard to tell when you were done and I kept checking them at first. I think once I got used to the feel then all of them were fine when I went back and checked a few.

Yes, that is what holds the case against the rubber so it doesn't spin. It tells you not to over cam the die so I guess you can't do that to hold it.

Very impressive.

Most Lee stuff just works. A finished case in a single process at this price is great.

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GOA
USA Shooting Supporter

Nice review maximumbob. I (finally) have the trimmer on its way to me from Midway. It has been out of stock everywhere but Midway recently got the basic version back in stock so I ended up ordering that + the separate deluxe cutter assembly.

I already have the dies in three different calibers so I have been chomping at the bit to try them out.

Thanks for the awesome review. I used one for the first time last night and trimmed about 50 cases of .223. My observations:

1. There is that variance that you mentioned. For me, it was +/- .003. This number is actually deceiving because it actually means that if you are shooting for a specific length, it will vary from that length by .003 either +/-;

2. The cutter is not sensitive enough to provide clear feedback to the user to let the user know when the cutting process is completed. Since the case is inserted into a die, you cannot see the cutter cutting and when it is not.The system is also not sensitive enough for the user to feel when the cutting process has completed...at least not with the inexperienced user. The end result is that your case may still be too long after running it through. The only way to determine if the case has been cut sufficiently is to measure it. That means measuring each case twice: once to determine if the case requires trimming and the second to determine whether you cut enough material off of the case mouth. This potential for this problem decreases with increased rotation of the cutter just for good measure; and

3. My cutter will not allow me to cut my .223 cases to the maximum SAAMI spec of 1.76" at the longest setting. This is probably not a problem for most since 1.75 seems to be what most are striving for.

The problems I've experienced (if you can call them that) may be due to my inexperience with the system. I'll try a few more cases before drawing my conclusions.

I got the regular as bonus with a reloading kit and ordered the parts to upgrade it to the deluxe. I'm thinking of hooking up a electric screwdriver to it.

It's a good thing I looked at the original date on this one, I was going to tell you to throw that case in the trash.

I picked one up to trim my .223 cases with when I started reloading this caliber earlier this year. Never loaded rifle cartridges before. I was impressed with the ease of use. I had trimmed a few with a different system at my buddy's before I got this system. I didn't like the additional steps of chamfering the inside and then the outside of the mouth.

Measuring the case twice is much quicker than chamfering the mouth. Still, I don't worry as much about speed with rifle cartridges. It's a much more low volume activity for me.

I.C.H.S???

Scotty: She's gonna blow Captain!

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Still Running Against the Wind

Yes, from the picture it looks like a perfect example.

No longer incipient.

I have only encountered one in 223 Rem LC brass it was a little higher up.

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Still Running Against the Wind

That mark is from the die body. It's not a weak spot. That and the case still had lube from sizing. I don't clean them up again until they are ready for loading. I still run all new to me brass through a primer and flash hole uniforming tool and they all go through the Dillon SS600 to make sure they all load a primer with ease. It's really a bit much just for AR blasting ammo but they all go bang every time, feed and eject with ease, and I have yet to rip the case head off any of them. It helps to not load them at max levels. Paper punching doesn't need 3K fps.

Thanks Bob,
I've never used one so I'll take your word for it.

One thing though, incipient case head separation isn't just from high velocity loads, excessive headspace will get you there in a hurry. Even with reduced loads.

I have them for my 223 & 243 they are very easy to use. It does 3 things at one time. THANKS LEE

Look at the first pic. The little black and white cut away that shows the case in the die body there is a small area towards the bottom where the o-ring is. That's what holds the case from rotating in the die while you trim it. This is why you don't want to cam over and crush the brass into the rubber and ruin anything or slowly wear out the rubber. I just wanted to see if it would work with the Imperial case wax that I use and it did. But it leaves that ugly black mark behind. I really should have mentioned that since as you point out it does jump out as possible case head failure in looks. Sorry about that.

No need for apologies Bob, since you knew what caused the mark I'm sure it never crossed your mind that the photo might look like something else.

I was just looking at this set up in Lee's last product catalog because I don't have anything to trim my .50 AE brass. Looks like I might have to rig something up.

All the same thank you for pointing it out as it does look rather shocking since you mentioned it.

Well, in that case, it was my pleasure.