trimming fire formed brass for use in the same rifle?

[Mongoblack23]

ok, so im just starting out here, (or will be when i get back to the states) and im going to start reloading for my 30.06. the brass i will be reloading will be factory load brass fired from my rifle. assuming the brass was spec length to begin with, will it be necessary to trim the brass before i reload. im thinking no (at least for the first reload) from what ive read and since it will be fire-formed to my rifle. of course i will check my brass beforehand, but i ask now so i can buy the equipment if it will be necessary. ive just spent a lot on componants so far and would like to put off buying a trimmer until i absolutey need it.... (and no i cant measure my brass now as its a bout 6000 miles away...) and following that question, i have one more about the trimmer. i only plan on realoading maybe 100 rounds a month of .06, so im looking into getting a simple manual trimmer to start, heard decent things about the rcbs pro trim with the 3-way cutter? worth the money?
thanks all!

[bcrich]

If you full length size it you will probably need to trim it depends on if they stretch much, can't comment on the rcbs trimmer but I have a Forster 3way cutter on my trimmer with a drill to power it and it works awesome! The rcbs should do the same.

[dw1784]

if it's a bolt action, and you only plan on neck sizing, then no, you probably don't need to trim it.

if it's a semi-auto, and you are full-length sizing, then yes, you will need to trim it.

you should get a trimmer anyways. RCBS, Wilson, Lyman all have nice hand crank trimmers. Eventually you will need to bump the shoulders back and when you do that, ideally you want consistant cartridge length, which you'll need the same case length to begin with.

[Mongoblack23]

it is a bolt gun. late 80's remington 700. i thought i mentioned it up top, guess not. too many thoughts at once. thanks for the replies.

[huckberry668]

Trim them after full length size and before you fire form them. Neck size only after wards. You'll get about 3 reloads/neck-sizing before you need to full length size them again. Every full length size will stretch it about .005". I usually trim my once fired bottle neck cases about .015" shorter than max. On my bolt gun neck sizing cases by the time for 3rd full length sizing the case would be done for.