Case trimming, How necessary is it?

Do you case trim?

  • Yes its a must!

    Votes: 128 84.2%
  • No I dont do it

    Votes: 13 8.6%
  • Whats case trimming?

    Votes: 11 7.2%

  • Total voters
    152
Once you use a Giraud you will regret all the time spent and money wasted on lesser trimmers. I don't think anything else will allow you to accurately trim and debur up to 1000 cases per hour.

I hated trimming brass so much I would have happily paid someone else $50 per thousand for trimming.
 
Or get a case length gage from Sinclair and cut a case neck short so you can use the plug and measure it yourself. From what I have seen, factory chambers are pretty generous in this area, like I have seen 308's measure 2.045" to 2.050" when the manuals say 2.015"
 
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None of the above.

You trim cases when necessary. If they are within spec and uniform, why trim?

Exactly! If/when any of my cases measure out over the cartridge design length, I trim to 0.005" under that length. I believe the suggested trim amount is usually 0.010" under. I've found, if I trim to 0.005" I may have to trim a little more often but that seems to help eliminate the start or beginning of small cracks.
 
1. Auto calibers - never, most shorten over time

2. Revolver - only if I think it is necessary to have a consistent crimp and then only once. Straight walled revolver cases don't lengthen or shorten over time.

3. Bottle neck rifle, when necessary. Neck sizing only reduces the need to trim.

Poorly written poll so I didn't vote.

Take Care

Bob
 
My brother and I just got the Hornady lock & Load Kit for christmas. We also got hornady lock & Load dies. When resizing with these dies, how do I only resize the neck and not the whole body? I do realize that I will need to read more in the manual. Is it the lyman reloading manual that is also very informative as I only have the Hornady 8th edition right now.
 
Once you use a Giraud you will regret all the time spent and money wasted on lesser trimmers. I don't think anything else will allow you to accurately trim and debur up to 1000 cases per hour.

I hated trimming brass so much I would have happily paid someone else $50 per thousand for trimming.

I think a Giraud is on the list for future purchases.
 
I wonder why that is?In my Marlin I am starting to have cases wear out because of neck cracking, but they haven't grown a meaureable amount.

:confused:You & me both. Shooting and reloading for my Marlin 1895GS or either of the two Pedersoli's in 45-70, and even when using a heavy crimp, the need to trim has been minimal at best. The same holds true for any other straight wall cases like the 444 as well as a number of handgun cartridges.
 
:confused:You & me both. Shooting and reloading for my Marlin 1895GS or either of the two Pedersoli's in 45-70, and even when using a heavy crimp, the need to trim has been minimal at best. The same holds true for any other straight wall cases like the 444 as well as a number of handgun cartridges.

Strange, I wonder if its in relation to my rifle or does it have anything to do with my FL die adjustment :confused:

Ill have to measure my case just after shooting next time before i resize.

Im shooting a No. 4 Mk1 Lee enfield .
 
I don't know why mine causes cases to stretch. It may be a larger diameter than normal chamber making fat cases, which then turn into longer cases once they are re sized. Maybe my dies are smaller than normal diameter? Maybe my entire batch of Win brass is soft? Maybe my loads are hotter than yours (almost equal to 450 Marlin)

I don't know.

I have some different Win bras and some Remington to try. I should also measure fired and re sized diameters to see if there is a large discrepancy. I did throttle my load back and found I still had to trim.

I hate trimming
 
With full-power loads I have to trim both 45-70 and .357 cases, usually every 2nd or 3rd firing. "Plinking" loads are a different story and as mentioned the case mouths usually crack before they lengthen too long.

I don't know where the old "don't have to trim straight-wall cases" idea came from but it is just not true all of the time.
 
I have to trim 45-70 cases every second time as well, using full power loads that is. I have owned six different Marlin 1895's and every one has acted exactly the same in regards to brass stretching. I haven't shot too much of anything else other than full house loads so I cant comment on that.

I have also found pretty much the same results with full power loads for .357 mag, 41 mag, 44 mag, 45 Colt in many different revolvers. Maybe not as frequent but close...
 
If you are reloading just to have cheap ammo to shoot, then following the guidelines of trimming in your manual, as well as all of the advise that has been posted so far should more than answer your question.

If you are reloading to make the most accurate ammo you can, then I'll expand on a few things.

Trimming new brass is important for a couple of reasons, including ensuring that your case mouth is square. As the bullet leaves the case, any uneven contact with the case mouth can cause the bullet to pitch in the throat, which will throw off your rifling.

As someone else already mentioned, some chambers are reamed long in terms of case length. For my .300 WSM, for example, SAAMI specs are 2.1" for max case length. Measured with a Sinclair Max Case Length Tool, I find that I can fit brass measuring 2.127 before I will run into chambering problems.
In theory my brass will wear out for other reasons long before I need to trim.

I still trim anyways, every couple of firings. Individual peices of brass will stretch at different rates, even if from the same lot. If you follow your reloading manual, some brass may be at the trim to length while others have stretched to the maximum length. This would give you a variance of up to 0.01" within your lot. Using the Max length of my gun, that could increase to 0.037". That will certainly cause accuracy problems.

Uniform brass is a key ingredient to accuracy, so how accurate do you want to be?
 
My brother and I just got the Hornady lock & Load Kit for christmas. We also got hornady lock & Load dies. When resizing with these dies, how do I only resize the neck and not the whole body? I do realize that I will need to read more in the manual. Is it the lyman reloading manual that is also very informative as I only have the Hornady 8th edition right now.

READ:) (sorry to yell) THE MANUAL! All of it from front to back before you reload your first ammo. And by manual, I mean the manual that came with the press, and a reloading manual. Seriously, to avoid problems and/or damage to your body and firearms, please read the manuals and come back and we will be happy to offer clarifications to anything you don't understand.

But coming here and asking a bunch of basic questions that are answered in the manual indicates you have not read it. There will be things covered in the manual that you will not think to ask.

I guess, in the end, I don't want to hear about you or your brother getting injured. Got it?

So READ THE MANUAL!;):)
 
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