[Colt shooter]

How many of you find it necessary to trim your cases? Perhaps it would be beneficial to just trim the cases once to make them all uniform. I understand that the cases do not stretch like bottle neck cases do and may even have a tendency to shrink. Any comments?

Also, I read in the Nosler reloading manual that it is not recommended to debur the outside of the case due the fact that the case headspaces on the mouth of the case. Any comments? (I welcome all comments and opinions, but please do not respond by saying that the case does not headspace on the case mouth but instead headspaces on the extractor. I do not believe this to be true.) However, I do believe that if the cases are trimmed they should be debured. Any comments?

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[shane45-1911]

I only use Starline brass, and have found that their brass is usually a consistent uniform length. I do chamfer (deburr) both inside and outside when I load the brass for the first time. It's not necessary to do it with every reload.

Deburring on the outside will only ADD to feeding reliability. It in no way prevents headspacing. Make sure that when you deburr inside and out, that you only round off the sharp edges - you do not want to create a knife edge on the case mouth.

 

[fremont]

Trimming?? Deburring?? On a 1911??!! NAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!

 

[Silver Surfer]

Never had to trim or debur handgun brass. Rifle, thats another story.

 

[JohnL]

I used to check every piece of 45 brass. I think I found on ethat was long some years ago - probably a A-MERC. I don't any more and my case trimmer is covered in dust. I do deburr new brass but don't bother after that.

 

[Roshi]

I reloaded some .45 ACP brass over 15 times and have never had to trim it.

Trimming isn't an issue with .45 brass unless you are going for max accuracy (bullseye target shooting) and then all the cases should be the same length but that's only so you load them all to the same length and crimp.

 

[Eddie]

Never had a long case. Have noticed shrinkage on occassion. Trimming for uniformity may be helpful if you're into ultimate accuracy.

but please do not respond by saying that the case does not headspace on the case mouth but instead headspaces on the extractor. I do not believe this to be true.

That's probably one of those, "You can't prove either theory" situations. I've loaded cases as much as 0.030" under minimum length and haven't experienced any primer stebacks. How far the round falls into the chamber is indeed limited by case length. However, if the case is to short the extractor will limit chambering depth. I guess we could call it headspacing if the case limits the depth and "extractoring" if not.

Eddie

[This message has been edited by Eddie (edited 08-07-2001).]

 

[Fred]

Have never trimmed or chamfered .45ACP brass.

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[Walking Point]

I trim all my .45 brass to make sure it's the same length. It's then chamfered and deburred.

While I've found that it will stretch, I can't imagine how long it would take to reach max OAL, if ever.

 

[Edward429451]

Trim 45 brass? Never. Deburr? Yes, especially with how many times I typically reload it. The extractor and ejector smush the brass and it will lead to malfunctions occasionally. I use an auto "ignition file" for this to round off the burrs.
I'm still not sure how we 45 reloaders got along ALL THOSE YEARS without tapercrimp dies, either!
I do lightly chamfer the inside of case mouths on new brass, to ease bullet insertion on my minimal belling adjustment.

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"Always place your clothes and weapons where you can find them in the dark"
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[Wit]

I have enough work already on the rifle rounds. Don't get me started on the handgun rounds with the same procedures.

 

[Steve333]

So THAT's what that little whirlygig thing is they include in the Rock Chucker kit!

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Steve

 

[Ken Neal]

I have never given my .45 brass such kind treatment. Its tumble,load and shoot, then do it again.

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No man is above the law and no man is below it. Nor do we ask any mans permission when we require him to obey it.

 

[banjobart]

I would not deburr a .45 auto or any other pistol case, it would loose some of it's bite for a taper crimp.

I would not trim either, just buy new brass, keep it together in a lot and reload it at least 20 times. Put in on paper, it will be just as accurate as the first loading.

If you want to endlessly fiddle with brass, load for accuracy in rifles. There will be plenty to do.

 

[pogo123]

trimming .45ACP brass?

If I didin't already have a life, it's something I might consider . . . for about 5 seconds. I already single stage all my brass prep (decapping and resizing) for both pistol and bottle-neck cases.

In the case of the pistol cases, I headspace check them all with a gauge before priming; if they don't pass, they go in the brass recycle bin. Only then do I put the good ones thru the Dillon 550 for the remainder of the reloaidng steps. Then, I headspace check them again after reloading. Those that are marginal in terms of meeting headspace test go in the junk loads for range practice. I run something on the order of 1-1.5% 'reject' rate; my gun problems in competition in terms of FTF or FTE have been non-existent since taking those steps.

For rifle brass, it's a little more laborius. Mostly .223 range brass with crimped primer pockets. Lot's of work, but still worth it. At least for my varmint rifle rounds, the rounds get small-base full-length resized, checked for length, trimmed (if necessary), de-swaged (if necessary), case mouth beveled inside and out. And I chamber check all rounds before taking them into the field - nothing worse than 'sticking' a round in the chamber in the middle of a 'hot zone' and having to take the time to clear it. I seem to get about the same 1-1.5% reject rate on finished rounds there too.

 

[steveno]

why spend the time trimming on a case that you will probably lose the next you go to the range

 

[redrooster2]

I usually buy once-fired mixed .45 ACP range brass. I give it an initial trim and deburr just to get it all on the same page for a Lee FCD. After that, it only gets a good tumble.

 

[JeffVN]

I check their length periodically (after 2 or 3 reloads), and trim to the trim-to length if they ever get exceed the max limit. So far, I've never had a case grow that far - then again I shoot pretty soft target reloads (4.5 grains bullseye & 200 grain Hornady or 200 grain Montana Gold fMJ), and most of my brass has been reloaded at least 10 times per case so far.

For the hot ammo, I tend to shoot factory loads.

JeffVN

 

[pstew]

Never trimmed. I check for crack or split cases and load em up.

 

[Maj Tom]

If it ain't the same length it ain't crimped the same. A loose crimp can lead to setback and a Kaboom (short case). A tight crimp (long case) will increase the pressure as well. I don't trim but once or twice during the life of a case. However, I do ensure that all start at the same length and I use that 'batch' until they wear out. I check length at random after sizing to see where they are in relation to each other. If the difference is more than a couple of thousandths trim time. Just my penny and a half