Topic: Am I cautious or just an idiot?

[TrooperBrian]

Somewhere around the 5000th pull of the handle of my RCBS Rockchucker, I realized that not only could I have done what took me the last two days in four hours with a progressive, but also that my arm really hurt. But it was from trimming every single piece of .223 brass that went through the sizer.

So should I be trimming every piece of brass down to 1.75" like I've been doing, or should I just measure each one to see if its in the acceptable range and just load it?

[Nomad]

 RCBS has can out with a three way cutter that gets to cut the case before loading..
 This is done to insure case length and chamfer the inside so not pull copper off seating
bullets as well as a slight chamfer on the outside for smooth feeding.....

[Kid Sopris]

Shortcuts in Reloading tend to provide inconsistent and unreliable products. For the "Spray and Pray" crowd I suppose that works. Reliability and accuracy is why most of us do this. The fact we can save money, (or at least use to), was a benefit.

I am anal when it comes to my loads and firearms; and it don't matter if it's a single shot or full auto, I want to know that the round produced will duplicate it self round after round, without hiccups.

Your mileage may vary, but the pains taken now will provide you with satisfaction later on. There are easier ways to trim brass and yes those machines cost additional money, but it will save on that arm.

[fj40mojo]

If you want consistent quality loads continue what you are doing.  If you are tired of cranking that hand trimmer an adapter can be made pretty easily and cheaply that will allow you to turn the spindle with a 3/8 drill motor instead of your po wittle arm.  Aren't you in college?  if there is a machine tool tech program at your school they will have the equipment to make what you need and instructors like to hand little projects like this off to their students as learning opportunities.  I load on a single stage as well, so I have been tempted by the allure of the big blue progressive myself, but the fact of the matter is that I've got a Rockchucker and not the money to by a Dillon, so think of it as good exercise and pull that lever.

[NGO]

Plinking up close or just blasting away by children....junk brass and no need to trim to lenght as long as it isn't too long is just fine.


You want to hit something at more than a hundred yards, looking for accuracy and consistancy you will want to trim most everytime.



*
Ammo being created and stored for SHTF days....trimmed , weight , checked and double checked. This is the stuff your life depends on.

[ballardw]

Another $.02 on trimming.

Depending on your dies you might find that the seater/crimper might start crimping a bit further up the bullet resulting in deformed necks or shoulders.

If the cases get long enough then the neck can get pinched between the bullet and the bore causing severe overpressure conditions.

And of course once they're trimmed you might not need to for another 3 to 5 loads.

[zona5101]

I think it takes me as long to measure each piece as it does to trim it so I run every piece of .223 through a Dillon RT1200 sizer/trim die mounted on my rockchucker.  My .223 brass has a good mix of misc range and military brass and  I do not do a meticulous job on separating & tracking my .223 brass as I do my .308. My main concern with .223 is that it loads and goes bang and has reasonable accuracy.

[Nealio]

I check to make sure my case length is within the acceptable operating range, and only trim if necessary.
I shoot > .5" groups @ 100 yards with Winchester whitebox cases that have been fired 1-4 times.

[TrooperBrian]

Yeah I see what you guys are saying. I trim every single piece of brass every time I size it, and from what I hear I should keep doing it. I'm only using it for general blasting, but something about every piece of brass being up to .01" off from each other just gives another place for something to go wrong. And from what I'm hearing everyone else usually trims every piece?

[NGO]

Yeah I see what you guys are saying. I trim every single piece of brass every time I size it, and from what I hear I should keep doing it. I'm only using it for general blasting, but something about every piece of brass being up to .01" off from each other just gives another place for something to go wrong. And from what I'm hearing everyone else usually trims every piece?

So why trim every time....you missed what was said by several of us....plinking = blasting= let it go 2 or 4 times...why do it if only for blasting?

[fj40mojo]

I don't think it is necessary to trim every time, but usually I'll trim all once fired cases after the first time I size them for consistency sake and I always trim to the short side of the tolerance.  After that I don't trim until they start getting over maximum length.  My thought is that similar cases fired the same number of times in the same gun and sized in the same die should stretch at a fairly consistent rate.  So far this has stood up.  I own a couple of .223s and have always kept separate brass for each gun and generally when I begin to find over length brass for one or the other all the brass for that gun will need trimmed.

[High Wall]

Here's what I do with .223 in AR's.  After sizing, I'll set the caliper at the maximum case length - 1.760".  I check each case.  I set aside the ones that don't pass through the caliper jaws.  I then chuck a Lee trimmer in the cordless drill and trim the long ones.  I adjusted the Lee guide rod to cut back to 1.750" when I first got it.  I typically only have to trim 10% or less in any given batch.  This method is fast and doesn't cost hundreds of dollars.  I have been unable to tell any difference in accuracy using this method in the AR.  If I was trying to shoot the .223 past 500, I might have to be a little more particular, but that's what the .308 is for.

[J Mack]

TB
I would load all of your plinking ammo to the length of your shortest chamber (Wylde - 5.56 NATO - .223 REM) and avoid the gun specific crap or just load to .223 REM spec and be safe.

Some good reading for you
http://home.comcast.net/~mattmcginnis/reloading/223_versus_556.htm


I would not load ammo without one of these. This is especially true if loading mixed head stamp or unknown brass
http://www.dillonprecision.com/#/content/p/9/pid/25547/catid/3/Dillon_Rifle_Case_Gages

 
223 Remington blueprint diagram
http://accurateshooter.net/Diagrams/223remx330.gif

[J Mack]

TB

When I prep brass from an unknown source like military or police I always have to bump the shoulder back some before I trim to get the ammo to function properly in my rifles. The reason being they will always have some rifles with headspace at or over max and fire form some of the cases longer than what will work my at near minimum chambers.
I do this first with a full length sizing die set to bump the shoulder to minimum on my case length gauge as noted in my above post.  Any thing at or over max on my gauge will not cycle reliably in my rifles and for this reason I would not trust setting the sizing die on a bottle neck case by running it down to the shell holder and backing it off an 1/8th to a ¼ turn like you do on a straight walled case.

Headspace - The fit of a cartridge in a chamber measured as the distance from the breach face to that part of the chamber that stops the cases forward movement. Insufficient headspace hinders complete chambering; Excessive headspace permits case stretching or separation.

Hope this helps.

[TrooperBrian]

Thanks for the advice. I checked a batch of twice-fired brass using only the calipers this time instead of trimming every single one. I would say probably 80% of them were within 1.75 and 1.753 anyway, anything above 1.755 I trimmed back to 1.75.

[Jeff]

I use a Gracey trimmer so it takes me as long to trim as it does to measure.  So, they all go through the trimmer every time. 

[J Mack]

TB

This is a link to the gauges I was showing you.
http://www.hornady.com/story.php?s=485


Drive safe.