trimming cases

[tmckay2]

so ive reloaded quite a bit of 45 ammo and obviously pistol is quite easy. im moving on to 223 and have resized, deprimed and primed my cases. i was wondering for trimming, should i inspect all the cases with the calipers to see if they need to be trimmed or just trim and chamfer them all? also, whats the best way to trim them if i don't have a fancy set up? i have the lee length guage and trimmer, and the chamfer tool. can i do it by hand? put it into a drill?

[spleify]

IME, you need to measure and trim before you prime. Especially if you have the lee handheld case trimmer, as the length pin goes through the flash hole. Usually what I do is, tumble, inspect, decap, inspect, clean primer pocket, inspect, measure, trim if needed, seat primer, inspect, bell mouth, inspect, charge cases, inspect charges, seat bullet, inspect, crimp, inspect, and somewhere along the way I inspect the process....lol
And yes you can use a drill to mount the trimmer on to make it easier. I personally just do it by hand, it isn't that hard

HTH

Good luck and have fun

[Hannu]

Generally, I would like to trim cases before priming...

This kind of tool may help to check your brass :
http://www.midwayusa.com/viewproduct/?productnumber=559802
I personally used to put all .223 brass through Gracey: it takes just the same time to trim cases or to measure them :)

If you have shot all of your good quality brass (from the same manufacturing lot) in your own rifle, just measure a few and if they are ok then you can be 98% sure others are ok also.

If you trim just to be sure your ammo is safe, use any tool you like, even a fine file will do. If you want precision, use good quality manual trimmer like Forster, Lyman or electric trimmer like Gracey, Giraud.

[jc121]

what I do may be excessive to some but they work well.

I first will tumble all the brass, second would be to inspect every case with a magnifier for no signs of case seperation and to make sure they are all the same brand I use.
then they go into my sizer die as I set the shoulder back about 3 thousand for my ar15. I use the redding S die and set the neck tension to what my bullets like and what I like.
The next step is to run them all threw my Giraud case trimmer so everything is always the same. it does allow me to find that odd case that needs to be thrown out.
I will then put every case into my wilson case gage to make sure everything was in speck. that helps find any problem cases like the ones that the extractor has dinged up. I will fix the easy ones and toss the really bad ones.

I then weigh all the cases to seperate them by weight. the largest group will then be used for long range and the rest for short range with the extremes for practice or junk them.

Now all the same lots like long range single loading rounds will get loaded first with all powder weighed by hand for each round. They will all be loaded long and reset for the throat length of each rifle they are to used in with most left long to adjust later for throat wear. I use a sinclair arbor press to set them when on the road or at the range with a different wilson die set for each rifle that will get reset as the barrel wears.

My short or so called magazine length loads still get hand weighed for each round and then loaded and boxed up.

Now I am loading for this up coming year and I first loaded like 1k magazine length loads and about 400 long range loads.

now that is done I will start and load some practice rounds for short range. something like 1k rounds. and then start on another group of good loads like the first group.

My good match loads use Berger bullets, vithivouri N540 powder with remington 7 1/2 bench rest primers in either a lapua or japanese military case as they are the same quality.

for practice I will usually use all the same wieght bullets for magazine loads with the exception I use sierra with N140 for powder. long range is always regular match loads.

[SA Friday]

What are you using the ammo for? That will dictate how anal you need to get with your brass.

Ammo being shot out of my AR's: tumble, inspect, trim and debur, straight into the progressive reloader.

Ammo being shot out of a rifle for precision or hunting: Tumble, inspect, resize, trim and debur, clean primer pocket, last inspection, into the progressive.

Super duper long distance sniper quality ammo: don't know. Never got that anal...

[tmckay2]

im just plinking out to 100 yards mostly, although it would be nice to be as accurate as possible. ive always heard to resize before you trim and debur because the resizeing can mess with the length. don't know if thats right or wrong, but really i wouldn't think it would matter much either way. i think ill just it by hand to be safe the first time if its that easy. thanks for the info

[Hannu]

ive always heard to resize before you trim and debur because the resizeing can mess with the length. don't know if thats right or wrong, but really i wouldn't think it would matter much either way. i think ill just it by hand to be safe the first time if its that easy. thanks for the info

Yes, that is correct trim only resized cases, as they will often get little more lenght when resizing.
Other thing is, trimmer pilot will fit case mouth better = better straightness in case mouth = better accuracy.

[earplug]

I don't shot 223 anymore, but having the same case length will help accuracy as to neck tension and bullet pull/tension.
I use a thirty year old foster trimmer. If you have a drill press i would buy a case trimmer that worked off a drill press.

[tmckay2]

ok i checked them and most are within limits as they are. do you guys usually go for 1.750-1.760?

[Tora]

If you fired the brass through your weapon already, then I wouldn't worry about it for plunking.

[tmckay2]

you guys think a normal file would work just as well? the case trimmer is working of but im noticing it chews up the case lip a little even after chamfering it. it also sometimes is all that even

[Hannu]

File is fine, if you trim just to be safe. For precision handloads, you need something completely different ;)

[tmckay2]

which is?

[Hoser]

you guys think a normal file would work just as well?

Without a doubt, no.


which is?

Wilson trimmer with Sinclair upgrades.