case trimming question

[evanse]

first off just wanted to say hi all! first time poster but i have been doing alot of reading on here unlimited info to get everyone on the same page i have a chucker jr press,lee dies,once fired brass in 7mm 08 and hornady v max bullets now for the question i have read that to crimp brass it has to all be the same length but my brass is all shorter than the trim length specs. do i measure it all and trim to match the shortest case in the bunch or am i missing something any help would be appreciated thank you Evans

 

[Mike 27]

It helps to all be the same length that way all of your crimps in the same place in the cannelure. It isn't "required" for safety or chambering if below spec, but you may have to adjust your crimp to get it in the cannelure, making it a little bit of a PITA. Hope this helps. On the flip side you may not need to worry about a crimp, if it is a bolt action rifle I don't worry about it. I only crimp for my 30-30 tube fed rifle.

 

[creeper1956]

Hi evanse, welcome to the forums.

but my brass is all shorter than the trim length specs

Just to clarify what you got going on... by how much, and is that fired brass, or sized brass you're under spec length on? Have those cases been trimmed a few times, or is this the first time?

Next question... why are you interested in crimping the necks? Are you having bullet setback issues with your current dies?

Cheers,
C

 

[GLOOB]

If you're after a perfect crimp, then you must be after the best possible accuracy.

So you ought to leave all your brass the way it is. Sort it out into batches by length. Set your crimp just right for each batch, successively. Then go out and shoot them on a calm day at 600 yards to see which one shoots the best. Then trim them all to that length. Duh...

Seriously now, there's no harm in trimming a little shorter. I have ground down a Lee trim guide or two in my day to make my brass shorter for the sole reason of trimming less often. No ones gonna miss a hundredth of an inch or two.

 

[ArchAngelCD]

Your post states it's once fired brass. You are measuring the length AFTER you resize, right? It's the resizing that lengthens the brass so after resizing is when you measure.

 

[gamestalker]

Just to make your world of reloading a little easier by removing unnecessary steps in the process, don't bother crimping bottle neck cartridges unless you've got a specific need for it, there is likely no need for that cartridge. I haven't ever had to use a crimp for bottle neck cases, and never will I'm sure. crimping bottle necks almost always causes more problems than could ever make it worth the effort. Neck tension on a properly resized case will provide all the neck tension necessary with few exceptions.

As for trimming, you'll measure and trim only after having sized that brass.

GS

 

[evanse]

the reason i was crimping was the bullets had a crimping groove and the die set had the crimper in it. so i thought that you had to crimp it and i was measuring it after i had resized it the brass had been shot one time where it was factory loaded i wanna thank everyone for the quick answers Evans

 

[BYJO4]

I think it's odd that all the cases are too short. Are you sure that your caliper is accurate?

 

[gamestalker]

I find that the cases are all shorter than SAAMI minimum to be unusual as well, BYJO4? I don't recall ever seeing brass that came up shorter than SAAMI minimum with once fired brass after it's been resized.

GS

 

[rcmodel]

You don't need to crimp for a bolt-action rifle if it's less then a super hard-kicking elephant rifle caliber that will beat bullets back in the cases in the magazine. Or for a tube magazine lever-action.

And I would not recommend that you do.

rc

 

[blarby]

Hornady brass.....Shorter than minimum is common.

What is the headstamp of your brass ?

 

[Jaxondog]

It's pretty simple with me. With a bolt action I do not crimp. With semi's, lever's and hard hitter's I will crimp.

p.s. Brass shorter than saami spec's is not uncommon as I have run across that many time's.

 

[Cemetery21]

All "normal" seating dies have a crimp feature.
In 40+ years of reloading, I accidently set up a bottleneck seater to crimp one time. What I got was bulged shoulders on rounds that would not chamber.

 

[beatledog7]

I have crimped (using an FCD) a few 223s on which the desired seating depth happened to put the center of the bullet's cannelure right at the case mouth, and left some of the same lot uncrimped, just to see what the difference might be. Come to think of it, I never did make it to to the range with those, so I still don't know.

 

[ArchAngelCD]

Hornady brass.....Shorter than minimum is common.

What is the headstamp of your brass ?

Actually, the only Hornady brass that's shorter than "normal" comes from their factory Leverevolution ammo. It's trimmed slightly shorter because the tip of the Leverevolution bullet would result in a COAL that would exceed SAAMI limits for that cartridge.

 

[hentown]

Don't crimp the brass. Why would you want to do that, anywho?? I don't crimp any of my rifle rounds, even when loading for my ARs.

 

[George44]

I don't crimp any of my rifle brass in my bolt guns,AR's or Garand and have never had a problem yet,and I have been reloading for 38 years.

 

[blarby]

Actually, the only Hornady brass that's shorter than "normal" comes from their factory Leverevolution ammo.

I guess all of my 308's and 7-08's with SST bullets are an anomaly then.

I knew about the lever ammo, I was hoping it didn't carry across all of their stuff. My hornady superformance brass is normal length- the SST stuff is all .002 shorter- at least in the three boxes I have. YMMV.

 

[Hondo 60]

I find that the cases are all shorter than SAAMI minimum to be unusual as well, BYJO4?

I had some FC stamped 223 brass measured at 1.748
Trim to is 1.750, so it does happen.

And yes, my mic was working perfectly.

My questions would be,

What's the SAAMI length?
What's the trim to length?
And what is the shortest piece of brass? are there a lot of 'em that short?
If just 1 is well under and the rest are close, just pitch the short guy.

 

[icanthitabarn]

I will guess that at least 1/3 of every caliber that I load is shorter than trim to length. I go to the shortest length for rifles, and revolvers, unless an anomaly, and try to keep semi handguns as long as possible.

 

[ArchAngelCD]

I guess all of my 308's and 7-08's with SST bullets are an anomaly then.

I knew about the lever ammo, I was hoping it didn't carry across all of their stuff. My hornady superformance brass is normal length- the SST stuff is all .002 shorter- at least in the three boxes I have. YMMV.

.002" is either a measuring mistake or they made a mistake. When they shorten the brass for Leverevolution it's usually .05" shorter on some, slightly different on others.