I have a ton of 223 cases that were generously given to me and I began sizing them with my full length die that is setup to move the shoulder 2k on brass fired in my rifle. I went to trim them and found the first 30 or so all ran between 1.735-1.743 but my lee trimmer only does 1.750. I’m loading accuracy ammo so will the case length effect accuracy? I’m wondering should I find a way to trim them all 1.740 or fire them and they will grow?
223 case length
- Thread starter Axis II
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Chuck R.
Member
I agree, I often find short brass in the range pickups I get. My normal practice is to only use certain makes of brass for my accuracy stuff and trim those to the min, the short stuff will grow over time. The run of the mill 3Gun match and practice brass gets FL sized and goes through a Giraud 3Way Trimmer set to 1.750 and an large amount of it never gets touched by the cutter.
The books used to recommend trimming all to the shortest length for he precision stuff. Honestly as long as you're not crimping I don't think you'll see a large impact.
Toprudder
Member
With range brass that was given to you, I doubt trim length is going to make a huge difference as long as you are not crimping. They will grow in length, but if you are only pushing the shoulders back .002" each time, they will not grow much.
Charlie98
Member
That ^^^ ... to answer your question.
If you are actually working up cartridges for extreme accuracy work, I would start with quality virgin brass and work it up from there.
Right now I'm getting under an inch at 100yards so wanted to keep it that way. If it would cause an accuracy issue they would be used in an AR.
rdnktrkr
Member
When I trim 223/556, I have one bin for "trimmed" and another for "not trimmed (short)", that allows me to have the same length cases for my 20" and 24" barrel acuracy guns and random length cases for blaster ammo. I put a LIGHT crimp on my 223 reloads and consistent lengths insures consistent crimps.
AJC1
Member
Use a lee collet die for crimp and just load and shoot. If your using rang brass your not shooting competition so just load and go.
Random 8
Member
You're using mixed brass, so forget the accuracy loading. To wring the most accuracy out of your reloads, you NEED consistency to the largest extent possible. That being said, accuracy is a relative term, and you may get close enough spending some time. You can segregate the brass by headstamp and long/short. This will give you some measure of added consistency, but when I think of "accuracy" loads, I think known brass of high quality...Laupa, Norma, Nosler, etc. The brass being short is not a problem in itself, but mixing it in with long brass may be in terms of accuracy potential.
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