I am currently building the 50-55 Bowman sets, and have found a small pct of the 50-53s that do not measure up. The cards in my set are typically in a mid grade condition that would yield a grade of 3-5....IMO, not likely that anyone would take the time to trim up a bunch of common cards in this condition that are likely worth $2-$10 each, but much more likely that these cards came from the factory in this condition. With the 54-55 Bowmans (55's especially), I have come across a higher percent (than the 50-53s) that are slightly short. The 55s that are short, are mainly short l/r, but a few have been short t/b. With the 54/55s, my cards are also in mid grade shape (4s/5s), so I do not feel it is likely they have been trimmed, just miscut at the factory as I also have a small percent of cards that are longer l/r.
With all of these years of Bowman cards, I have also found some cards that measure up slightly longer too...for me that is a good indicator of cutting issues at the factory.
Since my goal is not to have these sets graded, having a handful of cards in each set that are slightly short (or long) due to factory miscuts is acceptable for me. Topps is really no different(in regards to finding a small percent of cards cut short/over at the factory) as a small percent of cards in my raw Topps sets from 52-mid 70s have this same concern.
A month ago there was a similar thread :
http://www.net54baseball.com/showthread.php?t=186803