Stupid Q?: Do you have to trim pistol brass?

T

tburdek

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I have reloaded for rifles for about 4 years now and am just looking at getting into reloading for pistols (.45 Auto), I hope this isn't too dumb of a question but, do you have to trim straight-walled pistol brass? If so, how often?

T
 
Im just a newbie to pistol reloading but here goes ( correct anything if im worng) ...you have to to check the length of the casings and size/trim accordingly. The die manufacturer should give you the measurment with the dies. Generally straight walled pistol cartriges dont expand as much rifle casings do but if so they can be trimmed. As for myself...i only reload .40 brass for now. i discard the brass after a few loads as its easy to find once fired .40 cal around. But to answer your question, yes if it expands it must be sized back to case length specs...hope this helps...
 
I have never had to trim brass. I can't say how many time it has been reloaded though. Some of the 45 ACP brass I have has different lengths but I have had no problems yet. I guess once the length gets beyond the acceptable limit I might do something about it.

Also if you are only shooting target loads you are not going to get much stretching anyway. I have some old brass where the case mouth is cracking for numerous reloading but the length is still fine.
 
I've yet to trim a piece of pistol brass in 16 years.

Come to think of it, I've never measured one either!:p
 
I am sure I read somewhere that pistol brass gets shorter rather than longer after firing. I just can't remember well enough if I checked this before. I have not had to trim yet however.
 
No the more you shoot it the shorter it will become,
Years ago i loaded a box of ammo over and over again and found it got shorter .This was a big surprise everyone had told me it got longer.When i asked them if they had measured their brass before and after firing.they sayed no. Dont take my word for it try it. This was with stright walled cases.
 
Usually the only reason you would trim is if it is revolver brass and you are roll crimping--is much more consistant with uniform length brass.

44Bore
 
My .45's get some high milage through them. I never trim them and never had any problems. I sometimes will trim my 44mags if i got oddball casings.
 
Good thread, I just ordered one of the Forster drillpress trimmers with .223Rem adapters only. Won't worry about pistol brass.
 
Straight walled auto cases do shorten overtime. I have yet to find any .45acp cases that even meet SAMMI specs (.898) for length yet and that includes new unfired Winchester brass.

Your .45acp brass will last for a very long time.

Take Care

Bob
 
It's not a stupid question, because there are pilots for trimming pistol brass. But like everyone says, you won't need em for most circumstances.
 
Thanks for the replies! This is what I thought but as I am somewhat new to reloading for pistols I figured I would ask.

With lower pressures in rifles, I have observed rifle brass to shorten before and I figured that since pressures in pistols are quite low that this might happen as well.
 
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