Not Trimming .223 cases

[PTLaro]

Has anyone not trimmed their .223 Rem cases after resized them? If so did you experience any problems?

I am loading for plinking in an AR and since I am looking to do so many, it would save a lot of time not having to trim them. I have always trimmed them in the past so I am not being lazy but more productive.

[xMAC1x]

If there under the maximum case length your good to go.

If you're over it could create a problems.
Stuck case, accuracy, pressure.

[Abenaki]

What he said ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Keep an eye on the length or it will bight you in the face!

I suggest trimming to minimum and keeping an eye on it. This will give you a couple of times
that you don't have to trim.

also adjust you sizing die so that you are not over sizing.
this will slow down the the need to trim as much.
And prolong the life of your brass.

Take care
Abenaki

[smoothy8500]

I agree that trimming sucks and I hate it. It helps if you use a rapid trimmer lke the Little Crow "Worlds Finest Trimmer". I put the drill inside the vise with the trigger locked and just get it done. I also set the trimmer a good ten thou shorter than the listed trim length and pretty much never have to trim again before the case is wore out and gets tossed.

[Strafer]

I also set the trimmer a good ten thou shorter than the listed trim length and pretty much never have to trim again before the case is wore out and gets tossed.

I use the WFT as well. Is your .010" shorter trim for just plinker rounds? I load for precision and would love to save trim time. Wondering if he shorter cases would impact accuracy...

[smoothy8500]

I load for precision and would love to save trim time. Wondering if he shorter cases would impact accuracy...

I don't do "plinking", all my rounds are for 600yd NRA competion. They might be varied lengths but it hasn't affected the accuracy. Everything loaded on a progressive, just follow other rules such as keeping the same headstamp/year.
IMG_1063.jpg

[Strafer]

I don't do "plinking", all my rounds are for 600yd NRA competion. They might be varied lengths but it hasn't affected the accuracy. Everything loaded on a progressive, just follow other rules such as keeping the same headstamp/year.
IMG_1063.jpg

Awesome! Thanks for the info!

[Elgatodeacero]

Yes, you must trim your rifle brass to proper length.

Trimming brass is not fun, so if you save up a 1000 or 1500 just send them off to

https://bayoubrassandammo.com/brass-processing-services

and in 2-3 weeks they will come back uniform and ready to safely reload.

[Sailormilan2]

It's been my experience that rifle cases really need to be trimmed after the first firing. Trim down to the minimum length, and they are good to go for several firings after that. Having said that, I used to trim using a Forster trimmer, with an electric drill adapter. Low tech but worked. However, I upgraded to the Dillon electric trimmer and trim die set up. I use it in my Hornady LNL. Station #1 is for sizing and depriming. Station #3 is for the trimmer. It resizes and trims. Cases then go into the tumbler to clean off the lube and polish them.

[ar15barrels]

Has anyone not trimmed their .223 Rem cases after resized them? If so did you experience any problems?

I am loading for plinking in an AR and since I am looking to do so many, it would save a lot of time not having to trim them.
I have always trimmed them in the past so I am not being lazy but more productive.

As long as they are not too long, you don't need to trim them.
You could measure them and sort them by length and not trim the ones that are not too long.
Personally, I trim on a progressive press and it would take me longer to measure them than to trim them so I just trim them because they all have to go through the sizing and trimming die anyways to get re-sized.

[divingin]

in my Hornady LNL. Station #1 is for sizing and depriming. Station #3 is for the trimmer. It resizes and trims. Cases then go into the tumbler to clean off the lube and polish them.

Out of curiosity, what's going on in station 2 while you're doing this? Nothing? Does the Dillon do a 3-way cut (trim/chamfer/debur)?

[ar15barrels]

Out of curiosity, what's going on in station 2 while you're doing this? Nothing? Does the Dillon do a 3-way cut (trim/chamfer/debur)?

The dillon trimmer screws into station 3 but blocks you from installing any dies into station 2 or 4 so nothing happens in station 2 or 4 that requires a die.
The dillon trimmer sizes and trims.
The dillon trimming/sizing die breaks off any external burrs as you retract the case from the sizing/trimming die.
The dillon trimmer does not decap so you do that in station 1.
The dillon trimmer does not neck expand so you do that in station 5.
The neck expander operation will also break off any internal burrs that may have been left from trimming.
The dillon trimmer does not chamfer inside or outside but tumbling will knock off any trimming burrs that are left after the case makes it through the sizing/trimming/expanding operations.

[ar15robert]

I trim all mine. If you are doing a crimp in bullets with canlure then trim can be important as some cases will be correct others may get over crimped.

[PTLaro]

Thanks for all the replies. I loaded a few without trimming and after measuring to make sure they were under max length I found some were difficult to seat the bullet and some case mouths were slightly crushed after going thru the power die.

So I decided for consistency, I would trim and chamfer all the cases. It really did make loading more consistent.

[smoothy8500]

some case mouths were slightly crushed after going thru the power die.

Assuming you meant the powder die, sounds like you need to adjust the die since mouths with cases less-than max length are still getting "crushed" or banged up.