Lee Quick Trim for 450BM?

[fatbastard]

Two questions for you all;

What are your likes and dislikes about the Lee Quick Trim? I recently ordered one for 500 S&W and would like to buy dies for the rest of my straight wall calibers if it works out.

Has anyone here figured how to use one on the 450BM? Lee doesn't make a specific die but I know that hasn't stopped the industrious folks here from getting things done.

[Hoot]

Welcome Aboard OM!

Not sure what the Lee Quick Trim is but I'm assuming a case trimmer. I trimmed the first 20 rounds I ever reloaded that used new brass. They got shorter after I fired them. The next 2480 or so reloads did not get trimmed. This was using an AR platform. Early experiences from other members at the time suggested the same result. I have heard of some folks having hot loads cause the cases to grow longer. I asked myself, "Where did the extra brass come from?" Hopefully you don't ever need to trim your brass.

Hoot

[fatbastard]

Good point. I am using an AR. All of my brass was new Hornady with the exception 2 boxes of ammo (also Hornady). I got 250 cases when I assembled the rifle so except for those 2 factory boxes everything has been handloaded (with your 225 FTX Lil Gun recipe). I am just getting into the second firing and haven't bothered to check the brass yet.

[plant_one]

likes on the lee quick trim system

its efficent, consistent and affordable
3 function (trim, chamfer, debur)
trim time is between 4-6 seconds per case, depending on the caliber (with power trim adapter). I find that for example a 308 case will take about 1.5-2 secoonds longer to trim than a 5.56 case will. i suspect its based on the neck thickness we're dealing with. roughly speaking once you get in the groove you can do 400-500 cases an hour pretty easily.
doesnt require the user to hold anything other than the press handle and the rotation device. very user friendly on the hands!



dislikes:

that cheap ass plastic adjuster collar they give you. (buy like 5 of them to have on hand, especailly if you'll be using a power adapter)
if you really wanna get it working well it does take a litle tweaking of the engagement bearings inside the cutter

see the following vid for the tweaks i've used (following the posters method)
https://youtu.be/H_9jDh2cK8o?t=407


hth

[fatbastard]

Thanks for the info!
I have a WFT 2 and all the chambers for my necked calibers (except .357 Sig... had to take a step back from reloading that caliber before someone got hurt) and I love it. I was looking for something similar in efficiency and accuracy for all of my straight walled calibers as well. Those case gauge/ trimmers are stupid simple and cool, but hard on the fingers after a while. Lee's website, shipping, and customer service have always done me right (although QC has dropped the ball a few times) so my fingers are crossed. I ordered a manual and a power adapter to ease into it.

Still nobody using this for the 450 Bushmaster? My Lyman universal is a PITA. I know one of you sumbitches has cooked up something, SPILL IT!!!

[Hoot]

Since you won't need to trim your cases, I recommend giving them a pass once with something like a Lyman Case Prep tool to make sure the mouth is deburred, especially the inside.

If you just have to cut on something, wait until the 3rd reload cycle before you trim the length. The Lion's share of shrinkage is done by then. Measure each one before trimming them. SAAMI spec is 1.695. This caliber doesn't behave like my bottleneck calibers, many of which do occasionally need a pass through my RCBS case trimmer.

Hoot

[fatbastard]

Thanks Hoot. I grabbed a handful and measured them and they are all just under but they are haven't been resized yet. Looks like I will also not be trimming for a while.