Hi guys,
a quick question for you, I am reloading .222 rem, and obviously I know there is a maximum overall lengh for an empty case, usually about 43mm for .222 depending on what manual you read, but what I want to know is, is there a minimum lengh for a case too, ie, what lengh would you not trim past.

cheers

1.687" roger

Good question. I find pressure can go up with some powders significantly when you lower your COL to a certain point.

My stupid answer is until the bullet falls in the case or you have compressed the load to where you can compress anymore. But common sense should prevail here. And visually you should see when you went too deep in the case.

But, there is a big but, when doing this, you should slowly work up your load from minimum.

Max load at one COL is not the same as another.

Oops, forget the previous post. I see you meant trim length. I think min should be .02" from max. Some people who hate trimming do .03"

quote:

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Originally posted by bigcountry,
I think min should be .02" from max. Some people who hate trimming do .03"

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.03
As far as I know there's no minimum length. The .22 short is commonly fired in a .22 LR chamber and we don't get excited about that!!!

I'm one that hates brass trimming and try to do it only once.....
If you cut the .222 back .10", I don't think there'd be anything unsafe about it....it might not hold the bullet as well but it would still work.....I can find no advantage however to do so.....so be your own judge.

Well, there is a practical minimum trim-to length, which is the length shorter than which the neck will not dependably hold the bullet reasonably firmly and in reasonably straight alignment.

Theoretically, you could trim off all of the neck but the last 2mm or so and you would suffer no ballistic ill effects. However, the shorter the neck, the less grip on the bullet and the more easily the bullet can tip off of concentric. I suppose if you trimmed the neck all the way back to its juncture with the shoulder, you might get gas leakage back around the body of the case.

The important thing for accuracy and consistency is that the necks are all trimmed reasonably close to the same length.

many thanks for the replies fellas, the reason I ask this was because I have been given a whole pile of lapua brass from a guy who has given up reloading and asked me would I like to have it, the only thing is , he has gone a bit nuts with the de-burring tool on the inside of the cases (no idea why) and I thought to get some uniformity out of them I could trim them back a bit, the thing is they are already bang on for the correct lengh ,and I just didnt know how much if at all I could take them back before accuracy would degrade

I would shoot them as is. A mouth bevel that reaches all the way to the outside of the neck wall is actually something of an advantage in keeping your bullets from being shaved by the neck as they are seated. I like a good, strong bevel on my cases, provided the bevel is reasonably consistent.

Anyway, try them and see what you get.

To get the correct specs to your question you must take a chamber cast of your chamber and trim several thousands below that measurement, I would not go much further than 10 thousands short of chamber, least you will possibly damage your rifles throat..

Just shoot those cases you have until they need trimming, it won't hurt anything and the brass flow from firing will correct the situation you now have as you go....

Ok will do, thanks for all your help, incidently I sized all the brass last night then ran it through the trimmer set at the correct trim lengh and that pretty much removed the whole bevel, maybe it just looked worse than it was.
Took it out and shot a pile of it today , loaded 22 gr of N133 with 52gr speer hpbt and it shot lovely, so no complaints there.