trim lengths... what do i do?

[chache]

my question involves trimming lengths of cases.

what do you guys do when the cases you are using have not stretched enough to require trimming, but trimming them would make them probably pretty short.

after sizing and depriming today i noticed that all my brass in the lot of .223 were different lengths..(1.747, 1.748, 1.752, 1.75) normally i would trim this caliber to 1.75 since 1.76 is the maximum length listed in my books.

my first thought was to trim to the shortest case, but that would be more than my rule of thumb of .01 less than the max.

what would be the advisable route on this? just wait until they stretch...? i'm not sure.

also, what is a good rule of thumb for the minimum trim length? the max is always listed, but not the minimum.

thanks.

 

[bigeye]

chache, sort your brass and check length. You might be surprised how little difference, in each group, there is after it is sorted. I run .001 or .002 under max. Anything shorter, unless really outside the usual numbers, I normally leave as is. The weird stuff is tossed. Not worth the possible problems. Good luck. Reloading is as much therapy as anything I can think of.

 

[twofifty]

in my Lyman's, for 223, 1.750" is the trim-to, and 1.760" is the SAAMI spec length.

If your rifle has a long leade -the unrifled part of the chamber ahead of the case neck- there should be no harm in letting your brass grow to say 1.770" or more. Many factory stock rifles have longish leades, but does your rifle?

To find out you could make a chamber cast. Then you'll know exactly what your chamber dimensions are, so you'll know when to trim. Premature or too frequent trimming pushes brass to early retirement as the metal will quickly flow from the base to the neck area to replace what you've trimmed off.

edit: chache, if you don't cast your chamber and its dimensions happen to be on the small side of the SAAMI specs, you must trim once your cases reach 1.760". Necks that are too long will impede the bullet's release and cause dangerous pressure spikes. Your rifle's manufacturing tolerances can play for or against you in terms of how much useable elbow room there is.

 

[Randy1911]

I trim my brass when it reaches 1.760. I trim to 1.750. If it is under 1.760 I don't worry about it. It shoots fine. Since the bullets I use don't have a crimp canalure, I don't have to worry about consistant crimping.

 

[Sidewinder72]

I trim cases as Randy does. .010 under max.

 

[Walkalong]

Yep. Trim to 1.750. Don't worry about the ones that are a little shorter. I like to trim them when they get to 1.755, but it isn't really a big deal unlesss you are loading match ammo. I spot check my fired brass, and if any are 1.755 or longer, they all get done. I am using a Possum Hollow trimmer, and it is fast and easy. The nice power trimmers like Giraud etc make it really quick and easy, but I am too cheap for those.

 

[mongoose33]

I'm using the RCBS X-Die, which requires an initial trim to 1.74". But after shooting, I even had some which had actually shrunk to 1.735 in length.

Naturally I called RCBS to see if there would be a problem in using the shorter lengths. They're answer? "Shoot 'em."

Since the .223 headspaces off the shoulder, I doubt it matters much if you're a bit under recommended trim. The only effect I can think of is that it might affect case neck tension on the bullet a bit. Too short and there's nothing left to hold the bullet in place.