I have three Little Crows. My gunsmith faults them because he says it may or may not cut squarely, or some such. They read off the shoulder and I trust them. And they are quick and easy. If you size and bump the shoulder first I don't see how there would be a problem. Have you found any downsides??? Personally, I think they are an excellent choice.
Agreed.
No doubt they are not the most accurate method, Im sure Sinclair makes something that will cut each individual case to the nearest .001 inch, but I rarely find that necessary. With .223, it is darn hard to set it to exactly 1.750 trim to length, but 1.74 to 1.753 or so is close enough for AR work with Lake City Once fired brass for me.. In my bolt gun its good for less than 1 MOA, closer to 1/2 MOA.
That said, I am making more precision brass for bolt guns and will use Lapua for that....so I am eyeballing a really precise cutter, one with micrometer adjustment for rounds that really need to be spec on. Now with that said, my shooting might not show the difference!
One thing is for certain, if your friend wants to do 1000 .223 brass one at the time, he can certainly do so, his choice. The speed with which the little WFT can dispatch them is WAY faster. As to not cutting them square, if it is off it likely isnt enough to lose sleep over...after knocking off the ridge, they stand straight enough on a flat surface by the eyeball method. When you start worrying to that degree, you might really get upset at the basic manufacturing tolerances in some brass.
I use one for .300 Black out too, and worry even less with it.
If you are a big F class Benchrest shooter, buy the best, forget about how long it takes and carry on, sleeping soundly at night knowing you have done all you can equipment wise in your preparation. On the other hand, with my bolt guns and more accurate AR platforms doing better than 1 MOA, I sleep fine anyway.
Russellc