another noob question..

[texasgunhand]

Iam just gona start a noob question thread becouse iam sure theres more to come from me..lol

What is to short when trimming case, i was trimming some 9mm today for the first time and while getting the trimmer setup i cut some 0.740,,0741 when trim to length is 0.744. It only 2 but i was wondering if those 2 are junk,i can use them for learning to do other stuff so if i mess them up its no biggie and its only 2.

Just wondering..what is to short and what would happen if i used them? I guess those 2 would also crimp different.
I didnt see a minimum spec ..

[Onyx Z]

You should never have to trim 9mm brass. And it's only .004"... you should be fine.

If you really don't want to use them for live ammo, you can seat a bullet in an empty case (no primer/powder) and use it as a blank for setting up your seating die if you ever change things around.

[texasgunhand]

Great idea..none were over spec. But they were over trim to length after resizing..i just sat down and trimmed them to trim to length. Guess its a waste of time but iam learning to setup and use the equipment still.

Thanks..

[m4fun]

Soooo - just to be clear - there is no need to trim 9mm. Sizing...something like an undersized sizing die if using lots of range pickups with glock-buldge or from an open-bolt m11/Uzi.

[texasgunhand]

So does it hurt to trim them to length.(0.744) or just no need to?? Speer manual says max case length (0.754) Trim to 0.744. Sorry new to this..trying to learn on my own,dont have anyone to watch or teach me. It sizes them when depriming.

The lee die instructions said cases needed to be same length so the crimp would be the same..i need to get the factory crimp die. Said with it length didnt matter.

[Leaveammoforme]

Deleted

[texasgunhand]

Lol,,,thanks i take it by center spec. you mean inbetween the max and trim to length,somewhere in the middles good. No need to trim to exactly trim length of .744. I see what your saying and thank you.

When reloading .223 thats next ,is it the same or should i trim to trim length or as long as its inbetween it doesnt really matter? I does take a lot of time to get them all exactly the same. Guess iam to used to building engines were i wanted everything perfect. Once again thanks to you all for helping me out.

btw the .223 will only be shot outa an m4, no bolt actions..

Also iam assuming here that the lee 9mm dies will taper crimp since thats what a 9mm calls for. Not roll crimp.. I really need to get the lee factory crimp die one day for the 9mm.

[Linea_de_Fuego]

No it doesn't hurt anything at 744. Yes, trimming will give you consistent crimps. Consistent crimps are just part of the reloading formula for max overall consistent loaded ammo.

The question is; Will your handgun, or abilities, see the difference between ammo that will shoot a 6 inch group at 50 yards versus a 2 inch group? For most the answer is 'No' and they do not care. They are going to be shooting at 15 yards all day while you are trimming brass, hand weighing charges & uniforming flash holes.

I personally trim my handgun brass to center spec after throwing out short ones. This will put all brass within a couple thousandths of each other. No point in wearing out a cutter on handgun brass.

I would say while you are still new at it, trim away. Take out as many varibles as possible while working up a load.
Once you find your load and get a little more confident in your reloads you can start making reloading a little less time consuming.

Welcome to the addiction.

ETA: I too am self/internet taught on reloading. You said you have a Speer book? It has a very good 'Introduction to reloading' section. Read it a few times. It seems like a lot to take in but it will start making sense.

Good advice...

Rifle brass becomes longer and is trimmed for consistency especially when doing precision match loads.
The target distance for handguns won't necessitate this much trouble for hand gun calibers.

[Onyx Z]

Also remember that rifle loads run at a much higher pressure, so the brass will expand more than handgun loads.

[Leaveammoforme]

Deleted

[markm]

I don't even like loading 9mm as it is. To hell with trimming the crap. As far as UZI/MAC brass. Just toss it. 9mm is too plentiful NOT to be selective on what you chose to load.

[texasgunhand]

Iam just starting with 9mm mark,i know its almost cheaper to buy than to reload,thats why iam starting with it and.223 when i mess it up its nothing to replace..lol ..

I didnt get coaght with my paints down when the ammo crashed happened, iam trying to make sure i dont when it happens again. And i think it will. I want to make sure i can produce ammo when the SHTF again.
In the end i want to be able to load for 9mm,.45,6mm,30.06 .... Right now iam just trying to learn,i lost all my brass i been saving in a fire a couple years ago,at that time i didnt reload i just saved all my brass becouse i knew one day i would start.
To this day when it rains hard i find melted .45 brass washing up outa the ground.I had 20 years worth but know i have to start over.When the lawn mower hits a rifle case you know it...
When the fire happened i drove back into the worst fire in Texas history to get my guns, ammo and dog out,my place went up 2 hours after i left,we lost over 1700,,if i woulda stayed to get anything else i wouldnt be here, almost sounds like a country song..lol My guns My dog and my ammo..

Thats why i bought my wife the berreta 92 to replace her gun that got burned up i forgot to get it,it was a cheap .380 her dad gave her. Since shes shooting 9mm i bought a glock 19 to shoot with her. Ok and i wanted a glock.. I got her hooked on saltwater fishing years ago when we lived on the coast,now shes shooting and loves it..So umm no bitching..lol when i wana go. I used to shoot around 10k to 20k a year of everything pistol, rifle,.22 to magnum. And ive been shooting for over 40 years. I stopped about 7 years ago and iam gona start up again. Since i lost everything hobbie wise in the fire iam gona stick to 1 shooting, and now iam setting up to do it come hell or high water..lol

[TomMcC]

Max. case length on a 9mm is .754. I haven't really ever seen data on the min, but keep in mind that the 9mm headspaces on the case mouth. So too short or too long can effect chambering. I would think that 4 to 5 thou would be sufficient.

Now for me I have never trimmed a 9mm case from the 1st one I loaded 35yrs ago to ones I loaded last Sat. and that's been 1000's. I do gauge all my pistol ammo and any that don't gauge are almost always because the rim got out of line with the body, length was never the problem. Straight wall pistol cases just don't grow.

[texasgunhand]

This is very confusing i bought the new hornady book today..it say trim to o.749 and try to use ne or little crimp becouse as u said it headspaces on the case mouth..

The speer says to trim to 0.744 and to taper crimp ...hmmm. I guess books have differnt specs. So i guess the ones trimmed to .744 will have less of a jump to the rifleing in the barrel..

[ace4059]

I have never trimmed 9mmbrass. But I have never had a problem with 9mm brass stretching or lengthening from shooting it. I only trim rifle cases.

[T2C]

This is very confusing i bought the new hornady book today..it say trim to o.749 and try to use ne or little crimp becouse as u said it headspaces on the case mouth..

The speer says to trim to 0.744 and to taper crimp ...hmmm. I guess books have differnt specs. So i guess the ones trimmed to .744 will have less of a jump to the rifleing in the barrel..

It is correct that a straight wall pistol case headspaces on the case mouth. Changing your trim length won't change bullet jump, but changing C.O.L. (Combined Overall Length) will.

It's good that you are paying attention to what you read in the reloading manuals, but I have never had to trim straight wall pistol cases. Some crimp is necessary to avoid bullet set back in a handgun. A bullet can set back from either recoil or while feeding from the magazine to the chamber. If the bullet sets back, it shortens C.O.L. and raises chamber pressure.

[TomMcC]

This is very confusing i bought the new hornady book today..it say trim to o.749 and try to use ne or little crimp becouse as u said it headspaces on the case mouth..

The speer says to trim to 0.744 and to taper crimp ...hmmm. I guess books have differnt specs. So i guess the ones trimmed to .744 will have less of a jump to the rifleing in the barrel..

I was looking in a Nosler book and didn't find anything on pistol case trimming, maybe I missed it. It's just been my (and the guys I shoot with) experience that case trimming for pistols is just not necessary. With the load I've been using lately I don't even use a crimp. No crimp made a huge difference in accuracy. You just have to experiment a bit.

[Tigereye]

As others have said, I've never trimmed 9mm or 45acp brass. I also use only enough crimp to avoid bullet setback. I was lucky to have a friend help me set up my Dillon when I started reloading. I started with 45 then 223 and later 9mm.