Well, aren't I having fun! I'm reloading for an antique S&W in .44 Russian. I'd picked up a box of Fiocchi ammo which I'd banged off at the range and not being content with only 50 cases, I bought a bag of Starline brass. Being a meticulous reloader, especially when it comes to pistol, I think it critical that the cases be uniform length. It took me a while to get the pilot for my Forster case trimmer but when it arrived, I got to work trimming all my brass. The manual calls for .965 as the "trim to" length but all my cases were short of that so I'm trimming 10 thou. under to keep them consistent. With the Starline brass, no problem. With the Fiocchi brass, the pilot jams in the casing. I ran them through the resizing die again and the problem persists. I can only assume the brass is slightly undersized or thicker walled. So just a heads-up for my fellow reloaders when using Fiocchi pistol brass. Has anyone else encountered this?
Reloading Fiocchi Brass
- Thread starter LawrenceN
- Start date
I admire your attention to detail but to be brutally honest I think trimming straight walled handgun cases is a complete waste of time and even more so with rimmed cases where the cartridge does not headspace on the case mouth. I've been handgun shooting for over 40 years and never observed case length having any measurable effect on accuracy. But hey, whatever floats your boat.
As for case thickness, different brands certainly do have varying thickness dimensions. That's why I try to stay at least within the same brand for the handgun calibres I am reloading and within the same brand AND case lot for rifle cartridges.
As for case thickness, different brands certainly do have varying thickness dimensions. That's why I try to stay at least within the same brand for the handgun calibres I am reloading and within the same brand AND case lot for rifle cartridges.
So, you guys don't think that when you flare the case mouth to accept the bullets (I'm using soft cast), set them in the seating/crimp die that it may pose a problem if some cases are either too short to crimp properly or overcrimped leading to a potentially higher pressure curve?
Straight walled handgun cases grow or shrink so little that the difference between the longest and shortest will usually be inconsequential. This means that the difference between a strongly crimped bullet and a moderately crimped bullet will also be minimal. Handgun cartridges typically are not loaded to pressures great enough that a slight difference in the crimp will affect them significantly so unless you are already loading them to absolute max pressures (never a good idea) the extra pressure generated by a slight difference in the crimp should not push you into the danger zone.
Thank you all. There's about a 12 thou variance in the case lengths. I'm loading for a Smith & Wesson Mod.3, so a break-top revolver that's 140 yrs. old. Even though it's in great shape and has been thoroughly refurbished at some point, I want to remove the possibility of anything that may even potentially cause a failure. I don't load to recommended max in any case. I trimmed all the cases to .955 except for 5 which were too undersized and ended up in the scrap bin. Outside of the potential harm done to a shooter, I can't afford to replace the pistol, especially at today's prices.
Reloading can be just the means to the end of ammo to shoot. or, it can be an interesting hobby in it s own right.
Also, the time on one's hands can vary a lot.
I see no harm in taking the time to uniform the case lengths. For99% of my pistol ammo, i would not bother. But in this case, given the small amount of brass for a rare caliber, no harm in uniforming the lengths. This will make the crimps much more uniform.
Also, the time on one's hands can vary a lot.
I see no harm in taking the time to uniform the case lengths. For99% of my pistol ammo, i would not bother. But in this case, given the small amount of brass for a rare caliber, no harm in uniforming the lengths. This will make the crimps much more uniform.
