New to Rifle Reloading - UPDATE

Houston1944 · Post by **Houston1944** » Mon Sep 04, 2006 12:55 pm

I am not sure were you are reading the .001 trim dimension. I double checked the Speer and Hornady manuals and both have the following:
Max case length: 2.039
Trim to Length: 2.029
The normal practice is to trim .01 (10 thousandths) below max. Most of my reloading is for bolt action rifles and I do not crimp them. I reload the 30-30 but not a lot. In theory the crimp will be different for the shorter cases but I do not adjust my crimp die for only .01 or less difference in case length.
I would not recommend trimming below the book dimension of 2.029. However, I have often loaded brass that was slightly below minimum and never had any issues with them.

longtooth · Post by **longtooth** » Mon Sep 04, 2006 3:28 pm

You will get a wide range of advice here. Until my rifle brass for guns that do not have to be tack drivers gets over the max lengty, I load & shoot them. The 30-30 cases for the kids gun usually get trimmed once & loaded until they split.
My hunting ammo for my .308. Springfield M1A w/ battle sites. The same.
.300WSM. I shoot that one at 500 yds. Hunt w/ it at long range. Those get a lot more atention. I keep a + or minus .005. I have a manual trimmer. Some guys will hold a closer tolerance.
opinion: Even .010 difference on the case length will probably not effect my hunting accuracy to any noticable degree as long as they are not to long to begin effecting lockup. Some guys shoot accurate enough that it does.

KBCraig · Post by **KBCraig** » Mon Sep 04, 2006 6:31 pm

longtooth wrote:The 30-30 cases for the kids gun usually get trimmed once & loaded until they split.

Do you FL resize your .30-30, or neck size? Rimmed cartridges usually last much longer with neck sizing. I know that with .303 British, FL sizing will get you 2-3 shots before splitting, while neck sizing will get you 10, 12, maybe up to 20 with quality brass. Then again, military chambers tend to be "generous", and FL sizing means a lot of stretching with each shot.

I also recommend annealing rimmed cases should you need to bump back the shoulder (every 4-5 shots or so). Line them up on the edge of a bucket, heat to cherry red, and dump them in the water. (Non-ferrous metals harden when cooled slowly, and anneal when cooled quickly, the opposite from ferrous metals.)

Kevin

JLaw · Post by **JLaw** » Mon Sep 04, 2006 7:12 pm

Houston1944 wrote:Max case length: 2.039
Trim to Length: 2.029
The normal practice is to trim .01 (10 thousandths) below max.

You are correct, Houston 1944. I was reading TEN thousandth, but somehow interpreting in to ONE thousandth.

Well, got one box completed. All want well (after the whole TEN vs ONE thousandth thing), and I'm looking forward to getting to the range to try them out. I did end up throwing away two cases because I had set the die for too much crimp and it killed the cases. Man, I really don't enjoy setting up dies. But all is well, thanks to all for your help and input.

Now I've got to shoot lots more 30-30 so I can reload some more.

JLaw

longtooth · Post by **longtooth** » Mon Sep 04, 2006 9:05 pm

I only have a full length size die. I never thought of the annealing & came out of a foundry.

Good reminder.