Case trimming my 223.

[holdover]

OK the length for the 223 case is/was stated to be at 1760 or less. Anything over has to be trimmed .Now, none of the brass I have was loaded or shot by me. I got some from the range, some from friends , some from trade Some I bought. ALL brass. no ammo.various head stamps Now I cleaned and deprimed them and they are ready for trimming . and heres where I have some questions Most of my case lengths are in the area of 1740- 1748.

Im pretty sure I could load them as they are , but for accuaracy , should I trimm them down to a consistent length ? Some would have to be trimmed down from 1755 to 1740. seems like quite a bit to take off for consistency.

Should I load them as is and not worry so much ? MY main concern is really for accuracy. Whats your thoughts on it?

 

[kev74]

If you’re looking for super duper accuracy, sort by head stamp, and trim all of the same types of cases to the same length.

For .223, I can load mixed head stamp brass to sub MOA by being careful with powder weight consistency and using quality bullets. I don’t think the case length is the biggest (or big enough for me ) variable that effects accuracy.

I’ve got shoe boxes of .223 brass, ready to load, that was trimmed a few thousandths less than max (or weren’t trimmed if they were already shorter than that. As long as its less than max, I’m OK with it.

 

[Carlos Hathcock]

^^^What he said.^^^

 

[holdover]

If I could get sub MOA from an Ar . Im going to pack up my bags and call it a win!


You know, I kinda figured that,But I need some input from you guys to be sure, Id hate to load a bunch up and then someone ask me if I trimmed them all . I know the book states you dont want them to long , makes sense.

Right now I have some 70 grain VDL Bergers and 77gr Sierra match kings .

Im going to try 23.5 gr Varget. in both . I know johnny reloading bench was shooting 77 SMK with 24.5 Varget. But I couldnt find it in any of the books I had.

I also have some IMR 8208 xbr powder. Id like to try tommorrow

 

[Tisto]

You said that you deprimed the cases, but did not state that they were sized. I'm assuming that you used a full length size/deprime die for this, yes ? Cases need to be sized before trimming to length ( contrary to some reloading manuals ) because the sizing operation is part of what stretches the neck. Trimming before sizing will only result in cases of differing length. As far as the .223 goes, most of the reason you want cases to be all the same length is so that your bullet can be crimped properly. Yes, it is important that the case length be no longer than X.XX" so the case does not protrude into thethroat of the bore, but trimming to a certain length shorter than that is what provides you uniform sized cases which will yield more consistant crimps. The reason you need to crimp your .223 rounds is so the recoil does not alter the seating depth while the rounds are in the magazine. It is far less important to crimp if you're using the rounds in a bolt action.

 

[holdover]

I did use a full length die . But I have never used a crimp die before, seems interesting .

 

[1075tech]

If I could get sub MOA from an Ar . Im going to pack up my bags and call it a win!

I can fairly consistently get sub-MOA from my AR. With factory ammo. Usually around .75 on 5 rounds at 100 yards.

You can do it!!

 

[kev74]

I did use a full length die . But I have never used a crimp die before, seems interesting .

Some people crimp with the bullet seating die. Some use a crimp die. Some don't crimp at all. There are reasons for doing all 3, but there is no one right answer.

For what its worth, for punching paper, I will start with the minimum load for the powder I'm using and work my way up in even increments (say 3 grains) making 10 or so of each. Then I'll head to the range and see how they shoot. First I note which loads will reliably cycle the action, then I go for accuracy. I settle on the lowest load that gives acceptable accuracy. I don't need to beat up my rifle or burn extra powder for no good reason.

If you were so motivated, you could find the best of the first batch then start working up loads in between those increments (ladder loads). There's no limit how far down the rabbit hole you can go!

 

[Acer-m14]

i reload for 270win and resize 30-06 brass to 270 .. bolt rifle ... the neck length is really short doing this .. but they all hit where i want them to at 100 yrds .. just like actual 270 brass trimmed to length .. using the same powder load imr4350 and bullet .. and i seat them all to same length
and don't worry of the 06 short necks

just what i have experienced ..

 

[dsdmmat]

For my match brass (read that as sorted by head stamp and weight and trimmed) I always trim to the shortest case. If the shortest is below min length by a few thousands it doesn’t make a difference.

I sort for auto, bolt and single shot. I will typically leave the longest of the batches for my autoloaders and the shortest for my single shot.

so if you have a few different guns in the same caliber you may want to resize in batches according to the chamber of each and then trim each batch to the same size. If you are just loading for volume then size to the maximum headspace that will chamber in all three and trim to below max length. You won’t be shooting bug eyes but it still should be less than an inch.