Case trimming with Lee trimmers. Am I missing something?

[hunter64]

Just received the lee case trimmer cutter and lock stub and case length gauge and shell holder for my pistol ammo .38,.357, 44 mag, .45acp. I took the lock stud and secured it in my drill and then turned the shell holder onto it, I took the case length gauge for the .45 and screwed it into the cutter. I removed the spent primers from 5 cases and turning the drill slowly I inserted the cutter till it wouldn't go anymore. Checking with the reloading manual the max case length is .898" and all five of my cases are 8 or 9 under that at .889-.890. The lyman reloading manual says to trim to .896 and reading in Ken Waters book he measured various cases from the factory at .890-.896. At first I thought I couldn't read my calipers correctly and then I found my dial calipers and they are indeed .889-.890. It wouldn't concern me in the revolver calibers but in the semi-auto is this to short, am I not doing it right?

 

[OneBarfly]

It's been my experience that Pistol brass almost never seems to need trimming and in fact they seem to loose a little bit of length with repeated firing/re-sizing rather than to stretch.

Other than trying to keep a uniform case length and with one * personal exception (below) I don't see the need to trim pistol brass.


* I have trimmed .357 cases below AOL in the exception of using 180 grain Silhouette-type bullets in .357 mag cases

 

[Hitzy]

I've lost track of how many firings my 9mm,.38,.357, and .45 brass has been through......30? 40? and never needed trimming.

 

[Claven2]

I trim once to uniform a batch and then never have needed trimming again. I dispose the pistol bras after 20 or 30 reloads and start over.

YMMV

 

[Claven2]

Forgot to add - the lee trimmers are GREAT for manufacturing obsolete cases out of other brass.

For example, you can use a pipe cutter to trim .223 cases to rough length, form them and then zip them with a lee trimmer in a drill to make 7.62 Tokarev reloadable brass.

 

[woodchopper]

I find all my lee trimmers trim to slightly under teh maximum lenghts.

I trim my brass once only and then just check each batch before loading.