Brass trimming: how close is “exactly” the same length.

[jrcii]

Hello everyone,

I’m just getting started reloading and I’m trimming some 223 Remington brass. I intend to crimp these with a Lee FCD. I read on some forms that in order to get the crimp right the brass has to be trimmed to “exactly the same length”.

My question is what does “exactly the same length” mean? Being as precise as I can, the cases come out between 1.749 and 1.751. Most of them hover around 1.750. Is a piece of brass that is short or long by a thousandth OK?

I realize that this is overkill for 223 but when I start reloading for precision, I don’t think I’ll be able to be any more precise with the trimmer.

Thanks as always,

JRCII

[markm]

I read on some forms that in order to get the crimp right the brass has to be trimmed to “exactly the same length”.

Complete nonsense. Uniformity is always desirable, but that statement is nuts. With the LEE FCD, the trim lengths specifically need not be the same. That's LEE's idea behind the die. I started using it years back because I never trimmed any .223 brass.

Now with a Taper crimp die, length variations will change the amount of crimp. I'd guess my trim variances to be +/- .002" because the Giraud trimmer indexes off the shoulder, and I shoot mixed brass without annealing.

If you're trimming back the really long necks and getting remotely consistent length, you're fine.

[HKGuns]

Agree with Mark.

Where in your reloading process are you trimming and how are you trimming?

[jrcii]

Agree with Mark.

Where in your reloading process are you trimming and how are you trimming?

Thank you both.

I thought that was the point of the FCD.

This is range pick up brass so I resized it now I’m trimming it. I work at a gun store on the weekends and get a pretty good discount. The only real downside is that we mostly sell Hornaday stuff so I ended up with the power case prep center. Once I figured it out it works pretty good it’s pretty repeatable but when you’re talking about thousandths…

I don’t do a lot of precision shooting and I think for planking and hunting this set up will work pretty good. If I ever do start doing precision I’ll have to invest in a different trimmer I think.

[gunnerblue]

Outside of precision reloading I wouldn't worry about trimming to within one thousandth and even then it's not necessary, imo. For general hunting/shooting you'll be fine.

The Giraud is the heat when comes to trimming, albeit at a cost. The Little Crow WTF has a bit of a leaning curve if you want 0.001" consistency but also works very well once set up. If you do get into precision and don't need to trim a large amount of cases, a simple hand unit is hard to beat.

[HKGuns]

Sounds good, nothing wrong with Hornady stuff.

If you weren’t sizing first I was gonna say you might get more consistent results after sizing.

You should be gtg.

[markm]

Outside of precision reloading I wouldn't worry about trimming to within one thousandth and even then it's not necessary, imo. For general hunting/shooting you'll be fine.

You know? I almost NEVER trim precision bolt gun/gas gun ammo. Every so often, I'll get a wild hair and trim up some 308 brass. I never trim 300 Win Mag, and don't even have a holder to trim 6.5cm.

Even when I trim 308, I only knock down the silly long cases. No where near uniform. I'd love a Giraud in every caliber, but until then... to hell with trimming.

[HKGuns]

You know? I almost NEVER trim precision bolt gun/gas gun ammo. Every so often, I'll get a wild hair and trim up some 308 brass. I never trim 300 Win Mag, and don't even have a holder to trim 6.5cm.

Even when I trim 308, I only knock down the silly long cases. No where near uniform. I'd love a Giraud in every caliber, but until then... to hell with trimming.

I just bought all the inserts and cutters from Doug for all the cartridges I currently own.

For the longest time I only had 556 - 762 and 6.5C.

[markm]

I just bought all the inserts and cutters from Doug for all the cartridges I currently own.

For the longest time I only had 556 - 762 and 6.5C.

I need to send my unit back. I think it has a bad bearing. I heard he's got great service and turn around time. My ass is crippled without my Giraud.

[gunnerblue]

You know? I almost NEVER trim precision bolt gun/gas gun ammo. Every so often, I'll get a wild hair and trim up some 308 brass. I never trim 300 Win Mag, and don't even have a holder to trim 6.5cm.

Even when I trim 308, I only knock down the silly long cases. No where near uniform. I'd love a Giraud in every caliber, but until then... to hell with trimming.

It's funny that of all of the time consuming steps that reloading entails, trimming seems to be almost universally reviled.