Trimming rifle cases, have a Q

[Great Crouton]

I began walking the path of reloading rifle cartridges this weekend. Wow...that's a bit more work than reloading my .40 handgun.

I'm pretty sure my question is a dumb one but as I'm still new to reloading, I'd rather ask a dumb question than have a problem.

My first round of reloading for rifles is my lever action .30-30. All the brass I have is once fired factory ammunition that I purchased and is a pretty even mix of Hornady and Federal. I seperated them by brand and the cases I was working on are Federal only.

I have a Lyman manual but use a Lee case trimmer. The manual states a trim to length of 2.028". I measured each case after FL re-sizing and they varied from 2.024 to 2.035 (this is what the Lee case trimmer trimmed down some of the longer ones to).

Now clearly all of the cases passed through my rifle no problem but should I be concerned about that variation in case length?

I like following manuals to the letter and I wonder if I should try to find a machine where I can select the length I want to trim to but wonder if it's worth it? I like the Lee trimer as they are pretty much mistake proof.

Any input/advice appreciated.

**edit**
Sorry, one other question. When I seat the bullets, they stop just short of the canulure on the bullet but I'm pretty sure I read elsewhere that this is common? I do apply a light crimp after as it's being used in a tubular magazine.

 

[HIGHRPM]

No concerns at all. I use Lee case trimmers on all my 12 different calibers and there is never an issue. They will never cut the case too short. Lee's case length numbers tend to vary from others, but again no issues to worry about ! OK, bullet seating depth. There is a max length for each caliber which is designed to be used as a guideline so the rounds will chamber properly. If you are playing with different seating depths like alot of people including myself, and if the bullet you are using has the canulure, it is very common for it to be higher than the case mouth which is fine as long as the round chambers properly and the light crimp is always a good idea, keeps the length from possibly changing. You are good to go !

 

[Tinman204]

Normal case trim length is 10 thousands under max case length. The lee trimmers work well and that's pretty much all I use. If you don't load your rifle rounds too hot you'll find that you won't have to trim them as often. Also I find federal brass needs trimming more often then my other brands of brass.

 

[Great Crouton]

As always, thanks for the input!

Normal case trim length is 10 thousands under max case length. The lee trimmers work well and that's pretty much all I use. If you don't load your rifle rounds too hot you'll find that you won't have to trim them as often. Also I find federal brass needs trimming more often then my other brands of brass.

That's one point I meant to touch on. I found it rather surprising that on the first firing, several cases (out of the 20 I randomly selected from close to 400 spent cases) required trimming. So I guess that would mean that right from the getgo, all cases are not of equal length OR some charges from the factory are hotter than others?

I don't see myself ever wanting to take a charge to full power. No real benefit in it for me I don't think. I'm pretty much just a target shooter.