Henry Rifle Forums

Hi there
I just wondered how accurately everyone trims their brass and how often. With my 30-30 i trim to 2.030” for the lyman bullet and it really bugs me because the cutters I have ( lyman and lee) seem to vary by up to .002” no matter how carefully I set up. Am i being too picky? Is it necessary shooting out to 100 yds with a lever action to be this OCD on case length? I trim after every firing and spend an age trying to get cases to within a thou and I am wondering if this is actually needed.

No it's not necessary to be that OCD for shooting out to 100 yards. Make sure your brass does not exceed max case length nor is it less than minimum case length. This is for safety. Make sure your brass is all the same length within reason for consistency both for accuracy and for ease in bullet seating. If your brass varies from 2.029 to 2.031" you nor anyone else will notice unless you measure it. BTW, most calipers are not capable of repeatable accuracy of 2 thousandths. I have a couple hundred dollar (1990 dollars) Starrett and I doubt it's repeatable to 1 thousandth.

I trim my brass occasionally. I do not reload any bottleneck cases. I use the inexpensive Lyman E-ZEE Trim. Probably not near as good as other trimmers but works for my needs.

Twotone wrote:Hi there
I just wondered how accurately everyone trims their brass and how often. With my 30-30 i trim to 2.030” for the lyman bullet and it really bugs me because the cutters I have ( lyman and lee) seem to vary by up to .002” no matter how carefully I set up. Am i being too picky? Is it necessary shooting out to 100 yds with a lever action to be this OCD on case length? I trim after every firing and spend an age trying to get cases to within a thou and I am wondering if this is actually needed.

No, no it isn't.
For 30-30,(and everything else) I use a Wilson Cartridge case gauge that measures headspace and OAL. I only trim when the case exceeds the maximum case length. Then I use the Lyman E-Zee trim and then chamfer the neck inside and and out at same time.
Using cast lead as you do, your pressures should not be stretching your cases as much as using higher pressure (usually) jacketed loads.
I also crimp my cartridges using a Lee factory crimp die. It's more forgiving than the roll crimp on my Hornady seating die.

I just wondered how accurately everyone trims their brass and how often.

After every shot with bottleneck cases - never with straight wall pistol. I use the basic Lee case length gauge & trimmer so I am limited to trimming to the prescribed length but it has never been a problem.

I don't always run them through the tumbler every-time either.

I am using low pressure loads , no where near factory that I have shot. I do have some cases measuring 2.025” and was not sure whether to bin them or shoot them with some unique , 9 gns or so hoping they grow a bit. They were undersized when I bought them compared to the rest of the batch.
Thanks so much for the help, having only been reloading 30-30 for a couple of months I am just trying to stick religiously to published info at the moment for all aspects of what I am doing.

I check my bottleneck cartridges every time. If they are over trim length by much, I go ahead and trim them. I do recommend using a Lee FCD crimping die. The rifle caliber FCDs use a collet style crimp which is not sensitive to case length. With standard roll crimp dies, variations in case length will give variations to the amount of crimp. With a standard roll crimp, I would trim every case to length.

Its the worst job in the reloading room. I hate it. But the guy at the Worlds Finest Trimmer has made it a whole bunch easier for me. Chuck that baby up in your favorite battery powered drill and get er done. I have several of them and I love them. I dont trim every time. Never have and never will. This nut behind the butt doesnt own a benchrest gun and I dont shoot like those guys do either. Al

I'm very OCD reloading. I always run the brass through the vibratory polisher and check each case after sizing for length. I also check with the Lewis cartridge max gage to make sure that there's no problems.

If ya don't already have one I highly recommend a Lee factory crimp die - especially with 30-30. If after checking length and if some are a bit short load them anyway. Unlike roll crimping the factory crimp die does not require exacting length to crimp.

+1 on the Lee FCD for rifle calibers. They are the way to go in my book. Just keep in mind the pistol caliber FCDs are a different animal. IOW they are not collet style crimp dies, they are either roll or taper crimp with a sizing ring. The rifle FCDs are collet style. You get consistent crimps without regard to case length. As long as it is in specs, you are good to go.

On straight walled cases I don't trim them very often. On tapered cases I check and trim if needed. I trim and chamfer the case clean them and neck size them if I am going to shoot them is the same rifle. if I am going to shot in another rifle I will full resize them. Each round I load is given a crimp both pistol and rifle. I use all Lee reloading equipment. I reload 380, 9mm, 38spl, 357mag, 40 S&W, 44 spl, 44mag, 45 acp, 45colt, 7.62x 51, 5.53, M1 carbine, 7.62x39.

Mistered wrote:

I just wondered how accurately everyone trims their brass and how often.

After every shot with bottleneck cases - never with straight wall pistol. I use the basic Lee case length gauge & trimmer so I am limited to trimming to the prescribed length but it has never been a problem.

Sorry to pluck a quote out of a thread from 9 months ago, but I'm still doing my due diligence research on reloading, getting very specific to my situation, which is that I would start by reloading my Henry's only - 357 Mag, 30-30 and 308.

None of these beginner "Kits" come with trimmers, and BigAl has turned me onto The World's Finest Trimmer as the likely solution for my 30-30 and 308 trimming, but finding much online about trimming 357 Magnum for rifles is proving difficult. This thread, in fact, has more current info than anything I've found (at least from actual users).

I'll be starting out with a batch of NEW, unfired Hornady 357 brass (200 rounds), and about 200 rounds of once-fired 357 Fiocchi brass (that's been fired in my BBS).

The questions seem to be:
1. Do I need to double check all that new brass for length and trim anything over X case length?
2. Will I need to check the Fiocchi once-fired and trim it, too, if it exceeds some case length?
3. If Yes is the answer to 1 or 2 above, is there a decent straight-wall trimmer to look into, since it will be just for this caliber for now (I may look at reloading 45 ACP down the road, but no time soon)?

Seems like even many wheelgun shooters who can run into problems with 357s that are too long interfering with cylinder rotation never give trimming a second thought and never do it. Is the Henry chamber even more forgiving and I don't need to either?

Thanks in advance, as always!

but finding much online about trimming 357 Magnum for rifles is proving difficult.

Probably because few reloaders ever trim pistol brass. It does not ‘Grow’ like bottleneck rifle brass and if you use a collet style crimp die (factory crimp die) then length with pistol brass is not an issue.

but finding much online about trimming 357 Magnum for rifles is proving difficult.

Probably because few reloaders ever trim pistol brass. It does not ‘Grow’ like bottleneck rifle brass and if you use a collet style crimp die (factory crimp die) then length with pistol brass is not an issue.
The chamber length of most any pistol round rifle will be long enough to virtually never have a problem with untrimmed brass.

Mistered wrote:

but finding much online about trimming 357 Magnum for rifles is proving difficult.

Probably because few reloaders ever trim pistol brass. It does not ‘Grow’ like bottleneck rifle brass and if you use a collet style crimp die (factory crimp die) then length with pistol brass is not an issue.
The chamber length of most any pistol round rifle will be long enough to virtually never have a problem with untrimmed brass.

Thanks, Ed. I'll scratch this off my list.

Pistol brass like .45 A.C.P). or 9 mm that headspaces on the case mouth, need to be kept trimmed to specs.

Travlin wrote:Pistol brass like .45 A.C.P). or 9 mm that headspaces on the case mouth, need to be kept trimmed to specs.

Yep, I figured. Not crossing that bridge yet. For me, that'll be Reloading 2.0!

Pistol brass like .45 A.C.P). or 9 mm that headspaces on the case mouth, need to be kept trimmed to specs.

Do you actually trim all your.45 ACP and 9 MM you reload?