I just recently bought 250 new Winchester brass for my .300 Win Mag. Thinking I was going to keep everything consistent. Well, I adjust my trimmer after the initial run through the sizing die to true up the necks and set it to 2.610". I do about 50 of them one night, come back the next and to a few more and so on. Anyway, I start on some last night and get my calipers out and notice it is cutting them to an average of 2.603. That is a little short of the trim to length on this cartridge. I quickly adjusted my trimmer back and finished up what I was doing, but now I have an undisclosed amount that are shorter than recommended trim length. Obviously this is going to take away the consistency I was trying to achieve . Other than that, will I have any adverse effects of my casing being that much to short (unsafe etc.)? If not, would I be wise to trim them all that far?

Any help would be appreciated.

Also, I noticed that the tightening screws in my trimmer sure haven't held up. It is getting very difficult to get them tight enough to trust them because they are so soft and have burred.

I doubt if you will ever know the difference, unless you are using bullets with a cannelure and trying to crimp them.

quote:

will I have any adverse effects of my casing being that much to short (unsafe etc.)? If not, would I be wise to trim them all that far?

You should see nothing whatever as a consequence.......as the above post says unless you want to crimp and there's little reason to do that.....If you wanted to trim all to the shorter length that would work well too.

If you happen to enjoy driving yourself crazy, then the Lathe style Case Trimmers fit the bill. They are all notorious for changing the cases length without you doing a thing to them, or so it has been for me.

Some of it has to do with the way the case is held in the Lathe prior to cutting and some of it is apparently due to the cutter slipping ever so slightly from time to time.

The are indeed outstanding for shortening necks though.

The cheap old Lee Case Trimmer works great and you get consistent case length. As a side benefit, you can trim the cases over a trash can while watching your favorite show on TV, deburr, chamfer and polish without having brass trimmings tossed all over the place.

This is one Tool that Mr. Lee maks that I really appreciate.

I really don't think that a difference in the third decimal place for a case that is 2.6 inches in length will make any noticeable difference.
peter.

250 cases with a manual case trimmer? Yikes, my hand hurts just thinking about it!!

I'm with you HC, can't beat the Lee Zip Trim system.

300winnie, the cases necks should grow after fire forming so you may gain back the length that you lost and be able to get them all to uniform length again. Twer me, I would have Midway overnight a Lee Zip Trim,

http://www.midwayusa.com/eproductpage.exe/showproduct?saleitemid=515804

a Lee Cutter with ball grip,

http://www.midwayusa.com/eproductpage.exe/showproduct?saleitemid=136199

and a Lee case length gauge and shell holder.

http://www.midwayusa.com/eproductpage.exe/showproduct?saleitemid=695045

You could do all 250 in one night and they would be the same length.

quote:

Originally posted by Hot Core:
If you happen to enjoy driving yourself crazy, then the Lathe style Case Trimmers fit the bill. They are all notorious for changing the cases length without you doing a thing to them, or so it has been for me.

Some of it has to do with the way the case is held in the Lathe prior to cutting and some of it is apparently due to the cutter slipping ever so slightly from time to time.

The are indeed outstanding for shortening necks though.

The cheap old Lee Case Trimmer works great and you get consistent case length. As a side benefit, you can trim the cases over a trash can while watching your favorite show on TV, deburr, chamfer and polish without having brass trimmings tossed all over the place.

This is one Tool that Mr. Lee maks that I really appreciate.

I agree. The Lee hand trimmer is a great tool, especially for the money. Never used a Zip trim, but maybe will have to try one.

It would be amazing if you noticed any difference in consistency from the shorter cases, except if you crimp, as mentioned above.

I have done this too, as I'm sure just about everybody has who reloads, and I could find no difference in my reloads.

After you re-size them a couple of times, you'll be happy that you don't have to trim them!

The way I like to use my Lee trimmers is to chuck the cutter and caselength gage in my half inch drill motor and hold the cases up to it.
One dosen't have to stop the motor to change cases. I can trim a hunderd cases in about 15 min including setup time.
Lyle

quote:

Originally posted by YUMAN:
The way I like to use my Lee trimmers is to chuck the cutter and caselength gage in my half inch drill motor and hold the cases up to it.
One dosen't have to stop the motor to change cases. I can trim a hunderd cases in about 15 min including setup time.
Lyle

The case length gauge is a caliber specific length and is made so that when the pointer on the inserted end bears on a hard surface in the same plane as the case head, the case is trimmed to an exact length. Do you put the case head against a hard surface or are you guessing about how much to trim? On the Zip Trim when you put the case length gauge in, it passes thru the flash hole and bears on the anvil of the bolt that the shell holder screws on to. That's what trims the cases the same length everytime. With a drill, wouldn't you have to use your calipers to measure how much to trim? I suppose you could stick the case down on a hard surface, but it wouldn't be as accurate as the Zip Trim.

If I'm missing something here, let me know.

If you use a Lee case trimmer you will never be able to over trim them. Also...you can put it in a cordless drill and speed up the process.
Mike.

For pure accuracy only the file trim die is accruate IMO...but I only use it on big bore calibers where I want each case to get the same crimp in the cannalure....

Woods,

What Yuman is saying, is that instead of chucking the case holder into the drill and holding the cutter and pilot/length guage, he chucks the cutter into a 1/2" drill press and holds the case holder in his hand. So instead of the case turning, the cutter does. So he does not have to monkey with turning the drill on and off, it can just spin away while he switches cases on the holder. Of course you cannot polish the case but that is a small price to pay for being able to trim 20 times faster.

quote:

For pure accuracy only the file trim die is accruate IMO...but I only use it on big bore calibers where I want each case to get the same crimp in the cannalure....

I'll guess that Mr. Ray has never tried the Lee Case Trimmer.

If a rifle case is so much as .001" under max it doesn't get trimmed. I've grown weary of this exercise over the years. If it's within .010. on the short side I'm satisfied. I've never noticed any difference in my accuracy. I don't like however for the case to exceed the max. You could get into problems there. Best wishes.

Cal - Montreal

quote:

Originally posted by 300winnie:

Also, I noticed that the tightening screws in my trimmer sure haven't held up. It is getting very difficult to get them tight enough to trust them because they are so soft and have burred.

I had the same problem. What I did was remove the screws and hit my local hardware store and got replacement hardened Allen (hex)head screws. End of problem.
Paul B.
Paul B.