I have both a Lyman trimmer and the Lee trimmer for my .223. I find the Lyman to be a pain to set up, not always consistent in trim length and much slower to use. I use the Lee tool almost exclusively. Wanting to only trim my brass once, I took a about .010 off the arbor length so it would trim a little shorter. I then put the cutter in my lathe, made a wood handle for the shell holder and went to work. By having the cutter in the lathe I can turn it on and leave it on. I then place a case in the shell holder and run it over the arbor on the cutter and trim away. Much, much faster that way, 500 cases in just a couple of hours. I do my deburring the same way, with the tool in the lathe. Since I neck size by brass only, I figure when it gets long it is time to get rid of the brass.

I'm trying to improve the quality of my.223 reloads that I shoot in my Remington 700 VS. How often does one need to trim cases? Also, I have two trimmers - a Lyman that holds the case on the left end and the arbor guided cutter slides over from the right and is turned by hand. The cut-to length is controlled by a locing collar on the shaft that holds the cutter head. My second trimmer is a Lee that uses a drill mounted cutter and the trim-to length is controlled by an arbor that extends all the way through the case and flash hole. What do you prefer? Any advice on how to get the best results? Thanks in advance.

You may not like this reply but.....here goes.

Accuracy and consistancy of length of case has very little to do with accuracy of ammunition. I use a forester holder and trim with a forester trimmer mounted in a drill press.....it goes faster that way.....

I just hate trimming cases so when I do I do it for the life of the brass.....I buy military brass and trim it to .03 under max length. That way I don't have to trim it again ever! I check lengths and when they get too long I toss them and get new ones for $.04 each.

This is not by the book.....but it works for me very well. For those that believe this is a bad practice just invite me to a dog shoot....

Seriously...I believe folks work way too hard on case trimming and other case prep things.....flash hole deburring, primer pocket uniforming....

If your cases vary +/- .005 in length there will not be a noticible effect to accurascy at all, as long as they are under the max length.

I use the Lyman with an electric drill, its one task I dislike a lot.

For .223, I buy LC brass from TopBrass http://www.scharch.com/, it is totally processed (crimp removed, resized, cleaned, and trimmed). The brass is very consistant in trimmed length, so I set my RCBS X die up to its length, and dont ever have to trim again. To me the X die is the best thing to happen since...

I had (have) the Lyman trimmer - albeit in its motorized form. I could never get it to work very well. It always seemed a bit of a lottery what exact length you got out after trimming. Besides, I'm not very convinced the cases were actually squared - which may be as much a reason to trim as any.

As far as I know, the best trimming tools are the Wilson and some of the expensive power units such as Gracey and Gireaud. Can't comment on the Lee, never had one.

How often to trim?? Some people trim every time, others trim as little as possible. If you fall into the second category, get yourself a Sinclair "chamber length gauge" (I think the gizmo is called). They only cost a couple of $ each, and apart from having to "overtrim" a case and full length size it, the gauge only takes about 2 minutes to use (insert gauge in case, insert case in chamber, close gun, reopen, extraxt, measure). That way you'll know exactly how long your chamber will safely allow the cases to get (usually a good deal longer than SAAMI specifies) - presto, less need to trim your cases.
- mike