38 special trimming

JimmyJack

February 26, 2015 20:15

How necessary is it to trim to length the brass for target shooting? I haven't to date and rarely find one too long, but some are a few thousands over.

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  charliemeyer007

  February 26, 2015 20:49

  I almost never trim straight case pistol brass. My first 44 Mag Lee carbide die set had a seating/crimping die in that was very intolerant of varying length brass. I took a tapered reamer to it and fixed that issue.
  
  If I was to take up serious paper punching I'd be trimming my cases to a uniform length and check on them after every 5 goes or so. I like my Forster case trimmer a lot. I chuck the champhering tool in the Unimat lathe to make that job much easier on me. I also use the Lyman flash hole de-burring uniforming tool on all my brass.

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  navc130

  February 27, 2015 05:29

  Not very often. For competition target shooting I would check them once and maybe after five or ten reloads. .38 special cases don't seem to lengthen much, at least with normal pressure loadings.

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  MG1890

  February 27, 2015 05:58

  Part of the allure of shooting pistol ammo - no trimming!

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  bpost

  February 27, 2015 09:44

  I have fired many hundreds of thousands of rounds of center fire pistol ammo. Every thing from 25 auto to 44 mag, 45 Winchester mag and all of those in between.
  
  I have NEVER ever trimmed a straight walled pistol case or a straight walled rifle case for that matter.

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  dcs shooters

  February 27, 2015 15:13

  I only do it when using a tight crimp.
  Did for 44mag, and 357 most.

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  11b6r

  February 27, 2015 18:13

  You will wear the headstamps off of most .38 Wadcutter loads before length becomes an issue.

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  243winxb

  February 28, 2015 09:42

  When rounds no longer chamber, time to trim. Or trim so the crimp is the same on each, so you dont bulge the brass on ones that are too long. This happens when setting the crimp die on the shortest of the brass lot. Taper crimp is more forgiving then roll crimp.

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  papernicker

  March 03, 2015 17:58

  I trim and sort and make real good ammo which gets shot off a rest. The tiny groups (mostly) tell me the effort is worth it.

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  perry shooter

  March 04, 2015 03:58

  If one taper crimps straight walled Pistol cases There is NO need to trim. Ransom rest testing will confirm this . in fact the more you shoot a case in 45ACP the shorter it will get. B Post has it correct.

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  perry shooter

  March 04, 2015 04:08

  if you taper crimp straight wall pistol cases there is no need to trim
  this can be confirmed with Ransom rest testing. in fact the more
  you load a 45ACP case the shorter it will get . BPOST has it correct
  a waste of time.

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