40 S&W cases length.

[Hardatwork]

Cases for 40 S&W are according to the reloading manual should be 0.850 in length. When are they to short for reloading? I have some that are 0.839. Thank You

 

[rcmodel]

That .850" is MAX length.

Hornady says "Trim too" length is .845"
Speer says it is .840".

Another .006" or .003" shorter isn't going to hurt a thing.
Shoot them!


rcmodel

 

[Hardatwork]

IF 0.840 is OK should I trim them to the same height so I will get the same crimp?

 

[Walkalong]

It is not going to make any difference you will see on target. I have never trimmed any auto brass.

 

[rcmodel]

I assume you are taper crimping them in the standard seating die, or using a Lee FCD.
Regardless, length will not matter on any straight-wall pistol caliber.

Just sort them by brand, or length, or whatever, and load them.
At most, you might have to give your seating/crimping die a slight tweak, but probably not.

And I'm with Walkalong.
I have never trimmed, or worried about case length, on any straight-walled auto pistol brass in 45+ years reloading them.

For anything else from the .25 ACP through the .45 ACP, I've never trimmed or measured one in my life.


rcmodel

 

[Hardatwork]

OK Thanks just wanted to Be safe.I have loaded these a few times and noticed that they were different lengths.Thanks for your help.