Trimming and .223 case length

Greyhunter

Greyhunter

New member
I reloaded a few hundred .223 rounds about 10 years ago and just recently dusted off my reloading equipment, so I'm still a newbie. I just picked up a new dial caliper and it has me wondering about case length. I see my timmed cases are approx 1.55", so I would assume thats near the optimal length.
Measuring untrimmed but full length resized brass I get between 1.60" and 1.75"+ at the extreme end. Since I'm on a pretty tight budget I only have a cheap Lee case trimmer, the hand held $10 type. Naturally it is pretty slow (even with a cordless drill) and I hate trimming the cases, its the worst part of the reloading process to me. Having never had calipers before, I always trimmed and chamfered each case for every reload, but its a pain. I primarily reload to save money, although added accuracy is a plus.

So my question is, what is the longest overall case length I can safely use in .223 (will be running them through a RRA AR-15)?
Do you folks trim your cases every time, and if not, at what point do you?
Also it stands to reason a variation in case length would effect accuracy, but a little or a lot?


Yes, a good reloading manual would probably provide this info, but I'm still waiting on my buddy to loan me one of his so I'm just working on some case prep. Thanks for any info.
Joel
 
Well if the numbers above are correct you sure do not have any cases too long.The recommended trim length for a .223 is 1.750 and max is 1.760 so you have cases that are 1.55 thats awful short. I usually trim once the cases are over length but I really do not think cases slightly long or at varied length are going to destroy accuracy but it is helpful if you plan to crimp that all cases be the same length. Most do not crimp but some do.
 
LOL, sorry, it just occured to me that I was way off on my reported measurments. I meant to say my timmed cases were 1.755" and the untrimmed were 1.760" to 1.775". Sorry for the brain fart.
So the 1.775" cases are safe to shoot? The trimmed cases were all once fired brass, will they continue to stretch that same amount each time after or does the stretching "slow down" after the first firing so to speak?

I do not plan to crimp, nor have a crimp die for that matter.
 
"Streching" slows way down after the second firing.. I trim to unifom the cases for accuracy after that. By the third punch they stay about the same IME. Just remember that if you uniform your brass for accuracy it pays off. If you stay between 1.75 and 1.76 you will be good to go in your AR. Just make sure you judge the shoulder bump correctly or you will hav feed problems. Actually your RRA will probably accept a longer neck but that is at your discretion.
 
If you full length size yes they will continue to grow each time depending on various factors such as chamber size and how hot your loads are.I find that I have to trim about every third reload or so.I would chamber one of the longest and see if it chambers fine then yea they are probrably safe.
 
Bob, that is the trimmer I am using now. To me it is pretty slow, but I imagine any trimmer would be the slow link in the reloading process. Not bad for 50 rds, but 500 rds is a long night.

I really dont know how I got along w/o a caliper in the past, and they are kind of fun to play with. Its funny how .02" suddenly looks like alot when you have something to measure it with.

A side question, the trimming wouldnt be quite so bad if you didnt also have to de-bur the cases inside and out each time you trimmed. I always de-bur, and I assume that its pretty much mandatory after trimming?

I'll try chambering one of the longer cases if the dang RRA ever shows up at my FFL!! 7 weeks and counting. Thanks for the info.
 
if you chuck that trimmer in a drill press and use the base for a cartridge stop it's one of the fastest trimmers on the market. You can get a little bench top 1/2 inch drill press from Harbor Freight for 29 bucks and even with the price of the trimmer that's a bargain for how fast it will trim. I can do 500 cases pretty quick that way
 
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