Case trimming- how many times?

Leon

Member
Joined
Jul 13, 2004
Messages
10
Location
U.K
I was reading the Lyman reloading manual last night (boring git I know) according to it you should never trim cases more than four times, is this right or wrong I thought brass
was usable untill it developed a defect that warranted it being thrown away.
What are your thoughts on this?
 
Leon,

I failed to read that statement, and made the mistake of trimming some of my brass 5 times. The Trimming Police were at my door the next day and pinched me for excessive trimming. Of course they had to confiscate my entire cabinet full of brass, roughly 10,000 cases. The guys at the gun club found out about me trimming 5 times and voted to eliminate me from the club. I had to sell my guns as I had no place to shoot them.

When my boss saw my name in the paper (court records) I was fired from my job. I had a nervous breakdown and started using drugs and soon lost everything. My family disowned me and I am living out on the street in a city that I don't even know the name of. (Oh ya, I still got my computer)

I guess you could say I am the "poster child, person" for the "Four Times and Throw Association."

Jim
 
Have had loads that required tossing the case after 3-5 firings in 223. Also have loads that you can run 20-25 firings in them. I think they are assuming max loads and being trimmed each time you shoot them. Though I only trim about every 5 firings..... YMMV
 
Leon,

My original post was only an attempt at humor. I was not making fun of your question.

Competition shooters often trim every time they reload. They know neck tension on the bullet has an affect on accuracy and necks that vary in length can cause accuracy problems. For these guys, discarding their brass after four trimmings would be foolish.

I routinely discard brass (for one of my rifles) after 10 reloadings, because I have found out through experience with that rifle, problems with the brass may arise. In all the years I have reloaded, and for all the guns I have reloaded for, the number of times the case has been trimmed has never been the deciding factor in case life.

Jim
 
How many times you have to trim a case has little if any bearning on case life. What you want to be looking for are not how many times I've trimmed the case, but that shinney pressure ring (streach mark) forward of the web, loose primer pockets, splits anywhere on the case, yes even the neck. Now you will find cases with 35 and 40 deg sholders don't grow vary much, I've never had to trim these cases more than twice before they had given up the ghoast anyway.
 
Depends - Like how often do you change your underware ? :)

If you gun has <font color="red"> EXCESSIVE </font> headSpace - or you over FULL Length Resize it see Partial Full Len Resizing - It will grow <font color="red"> EXCESSIVEly </font> with each firing - which should be a <font color="red"> red </font> flag

Measuring Headspace

I can just picture the attorny saying "we need to prevent the stupid from suing us here"

I doubt you could get 5 trimmings before failure if you shot your hot 308 load in grandpa's '06 /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
In 1972 I got 100 17 Rem cases which have been partial neck sized and trimmed about 7-8 times each ( I have to type in a hurry because the trimming police are breaking down the door) with no case failures. In larger calibers for large game, really, really hot loads - Above max recommended -with heavy bullets may generate case failures within one to two firings. These failures typical occur in three places. Primer pockets too loose to hold a primer, split case necks, or as noted above, case head separation which is foretold by the shiny ring above the web.

Every case gets "looked" at after firing and "looked" at again before reloading. What I do is take 0000 steel wool and polish the neck with a couple of twists to clean any powder residue off it. This is a good time to look for case neck split and head separations. All of that said, the worst series of mistakes I every made was with "reduced loads" . Do not fall asleep reading that section nor forget whether you did or did not put powder in a reduced load case and charge it twice. If you do not wear glasses get some and wear them when shooting, I still have both eyes.
 
nice post buffalobob

We 50 BMG folks always check the inside (near the web) with a dental pic for impending web failure- not sure this is necessary to do with other brass (or very easy).

All the RUM reloaders here tell me to double check the brass and toss after max of 4 reloads.

I always use powder that fills &gt; 85% of the case so I can't get double throws. When your dyslexic/ADD like me and GW Bush - you expect to screw up so live defensively.
 
Leon ,
Waltech Jim makes some good points . However ,if you are like me and trim only when cases reach maximum recommended length the I'd say fling them after 4 trimmings . That brass you are trimming off has got to come from somewhere and the real danger is case head separation .
Shooter head separation is what worries me . If you don't place great value on your head (or other attached parts) then I'd say you could keep using those cases for the rest of your life . /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif
 
all are good remarks but one has to start somewhere : good brass is good brass- bad brass is and will remain bad brass so all the neck turning and or reaming may help some . When I turn I ONLY do the HIGH SPOTS., now. Trim , again how good was / is the brass and if pushing it- well you know the answer to that one.
I'll check my brass prior to loading each and every time- but not trim till it grows to a point ( depending on the gun if TARGET-HUNTING etc )
 
I bump shoulders on every firing, only trim when I reach MAX case length, and also abide by the 4 trimming rule because the cases didn't get longer by magic, the brass is getting thinner somewhere. That being said, I've NEVER had a case make it to 4 trimmings before the primer pockets got loose or the necks split. I HAVE however had multiple case separations in two trimmings or less. All of these happened to be the same lot of 5.56 brass (LC18) and they all separated at the shoulder/body junction (two separated in my rifle and one in my FL die). I will now be culling ALL LC18 brass from my circulation. Use common sense and take extra caution when creating hand-held explosives.
 
I shoot basic every day brass. Only stuff I trim is my 223 and 308 range brass the first time. Only because of the crimp. Then I can't remember how many firings even if I ever trim it again. Never had an issue because brass was too long. I'm not a bench rear champion just need to kill the animal first shot.
 
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