Trimming brass for hand guns?

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1972

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I’m fairly new to re-loading for handguns but am setting up a Dillon 650 and all the proper goodies to go with it. When I started reading up on cleaning and managing my brass I noted in the Lyman Pistol Handbook they talk about trimming your brass cases every so often. I know that is common in rifle ammunition, but I’d not heard of anybody doing it with hand gun brass. The say every 4 or 5 times you fire it you should check and trim it, and after it’s been trimmed 3 or 4 times you should just get rid of it.

Do any of you trim your hand gun cases? 9MM. .45 ACP, .45 Colt?
 
21 years (on and off) reloading 38/357, 45 acp and 9mm. Never needed to trim brass. Never bothered to measure case length either. Never had a case length related problem. Yeah, never say never, but YMMV, of course.
 
In days past when my budget was tight, I would use brass longer than common sense dictated and I would trim .38s when the case mouth began to show small cracks. Now, when I need brass I buy it. I also committed the unforgivable sin of cutting down .38 Special brass to use in .38 S&W revolvers, a practice much frowned upon.
 
I never trimmed pistol brass except for 357 Mag, this brass does stretch, especially if you shoot max or near max loads. I trim it because 357 brass is hard to come by and is expensive.
 
scairns said:
Many loaders going for accuracy will trim their pistol brass in order to ensure the crimp on the case is the same from round to round.
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Depends on the caliber and discipline they shoot.
9mm, .40s&w, .45acp - neither needs brass trimmed.
In 99% cases with pistol brass - never bother.
 
I have been reloading handgun ammo for 30 years and the only time I had to trim pistol brass was a small lot of 38 Spl brass that had a wicked crimp applied when factory loaded, not sure why I even bothered and didn't just chuck them out.
 
I have never. As Canuck223 said it tends to get shorter with use. I don't resize new brass either. Another waste of time IMO. One thing I love about reloading pistol cartridges is the fact there is much less screwing around.
 
.45 Colt needs a crimp. Brass varies quite a bit as it comes out of the diferent manufacturies around the world. If you trim all new or once fired brass, it should be good. But, for consistent bullet pull, and therefore consistent accuracy, I think you will find that fans of .44 and.45 do indeed trim. ymmv
 
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