Am I being too anal sorting my 9mm bass by length?

[gonoles_1980]

I like to make my rounds from the same length.

I sort it by 19.10-19.15mm, 19.04-19.09m, 18.98-19.03. I trim anything over 19.15 and toss into my brass bucket anything under 18.97. I do this to try and keep the same COL in each batch I make.

 

[tightgroup tiger]

You totally lost me. What 9mm has an case that is 1.9 anything?

Case length of a 9x19 is 0.750".

Are you talking about 9x23 which has a case length of 0.900"?

 

[ColtPythonElite]

Yes

 

[gonoles_1980]

Sorry, measuring in milimeters and I put the decimal in the wrong place

 

[plmitch]

Interesting .........

 

[bluetopper]

Yes.....life's too short for such.

 

[twofifty]

Probably.

Here's how to find out for yourself if it's worth your while:

Sort into batches by length as you have been doing, plus a batch of unsorted random brass. Reload and shoot each batch at your normal shooting distance(s). Shooting from a stable wrist rest would help you shoot consistently. If you don't have a rest, shoot bigger batches.

Compare the results and let us know what you find out.

 

[FROGO207]

YES--- a waste of time IMHO. But if it makes you feel better to do it I would just goferit.

 

[Walkalong]

If you can shoot well enough, I imagine it would help, as well as sorting by head stamp, as 9MM brass lengths and weights are all over the place.

I can't shoot that well.

 

[gonoles_1980]

Walkalong, that settles it, I'll quit bothering about measuring the cases (I shoot well enough to hit the target, bullseye sometimes). I was just concerned about the difference in seating depth.

 

[rcmodel]

Case length has absolutely no bearing on seating OAL.

OAL is determined by shell holder contact on the base of the case, and die seater plug contact on the ogive of the bullet.
Case length doesn't enter into it at all.

And what's up with the mm case measurements?
We don't use that in USA reloading measurements.

rc

 

[twofifty]

Seating depth isn't affected by case length, as the seater pushes the bullet while the case is supported from the bottom (by shellholder). However, how you stroke the press will minimally affect seating depth.

Case length, however, somewhat affects the taper crimping done on straight-walled pistol cases. In my experience of taper crimping 9mm with a Lee seating die, the slight differences don't affect performance or accuracy.

In revolvers, case length is an important safety consideration.

 

[gonoles_1980]

RC it is a 9mm and not a 35 Caliber

 

[twofifty]

lol

 

[mustbe]

I have never trimmed 9mm. How is it going to stretch? You will loose it long before that is an issue.

I do like your attention to detail though, you are ripe to reload some highpower my young Jedi.

 

[Mike Kerr]

Yes. Life is short.

 

[fguffey]

Mike Kerr, you have a couple of very disciplined reloaders for neighbors, they match cases and trim to length. I do not crimp bottle necked cases, but if I did I would trim the cases to the same length.

Their reloading works, it could have nothing to do with discipline, then again, discipline is a good thing to have, I believe when reloading become boring they will quit.

F. Guffey

 

[tyeo098]

The length of 9mm varies? Didn't know that.

But then again I'm the guy who didnt know you had to trim 223 until my rifle starting jammin' like Bob Marley.

 

[sexybeast]

Yup you're crazy! People will sort by length, headstamp, times fired, nickel or brass, etc.
Some people sort their pennys by the date stamped on them!
There is help out there, maybe some meds.
When you come around you will just load and shoot them.
Probably the best theropy!

 

[1SOW]

I prefer to sort by headstamp due to .005"+ oal variations between say WIN cases and Blazer or FC case with the same handle pull on a turret press---same as a single stage press.

Even the .005" variations make little or no differences, but offends my reloading ego. It does matter some with max/max+ loads.

Long cases, .0750"+, do increase the pressure and speed over a chrono very slightly with hot loads. The bullet has more "case neck retention". Again with 99.9% of loads it's NOT an issue.

 

[Swampman]

Unless you're shooting a 16+ pound "bench rest" 9mm, I'd have to say yes.

But if it makes you feel better about your handloads and the results you obtain, there's certainly nothing wrong with doing it.

 

[32_d3gr33s]

Yup you're crazy! People will sort by length, headstamp, times fired, nickel or brass, etc.
Some people sort their pennys by the date stamped on them!
There is help out there, maybe some meds.
When you come around you will just load and shoot them.
Probably the best theropy!

I sort by times fired, but my stash is big enough that I only have 2 boxes, once fired and twice...

 

[Khaot1c]

Seating depth isn't affected by case length, as the seater pushes the bullet while the case is supported from the bottom (by shellholder). However, how you stroke the press will minimally affect seating depth.

Case length, however, somewhat affects the taper crimping done on straight-walled pistol cases. In my experience of taper crimping 9mm with a Lee seating die, the slight differences don't affect performance or accuracy.

In revolvers, case length is an important safety consideration.

Lets say I set my dies up with a piece of brass measuring .9 inches long and the bullet is being seated .25 inches into the case for an OAL of 1.5 inches. If i keep using the same shape/style bullet through the entire batch that I used to setup the dies, but I slip a case into the batch that is 1.1 inches long, how could there NOT be a deeper seating depth?
The ram is going to travel the same distance with the bullet held as the same place but the case is longer. Since the die is holding the bullet in the same place, the longer case will extend further into the seating die.

Sure, that's a pretty extreme example. I'm also guessing that such an extreme difference in case length would also allow the bullet seating die to impart a crimp on the brass as well. IF the bullet seating die were a seating/crimp die. Some are, some aren't....

I think typical variance in auto loading pistol cases would be closer to .01 and probably even a lot less than that. (Does anybody ever trim their auto loading cases).

So if the theory of seating depth is true and there is a slight difference in pressure; it can be deduced that accuracy could be effected, but on a 'typical' pistol range probably not enough to warrant the painstaking duty of binning hundreds of pieces of brass by size.

That's probably a philosophy practiced by distance/ bullseye shooters.

 

[JRH6856]

The only time I really worry about case length on 9mm or .45ACP is when I'm concerned about proper headspacing. Not generally a problem unless I'm loading range pickups for the first time.

 

[rondog]

As long as it ain't me, I'm happy!