45 acp brass length

[Fathead]

I know you do not have to trim brass all the time

but if I trim what would be best length

max is .898 would .010 be recommeneded or not that much

i have some that is .890, .894 and some ,888 to make them uniform will
.888 be to short

any help would be highly appreciated

thanks in advance

[Jammer Six]

I've never trimmed .45 ACP brass.

[tlen]

Originally Posted by Jammer Six

I've never trimmed .45 ACP brass.

+1. I keep shooting them until they crack or I loose them. Generally it's the latter.....

[RickCF]

SAAMI standards show the case length at 0.898" and acceptable up to 0.010"
shorter or 0.888". 0.888" is the shortest that you should go, but anything in between 0.888" and 0.898 should be fine. I wouldn't mess with them if they fell in that range.

[SCAGNETTI]

+1 on the stay within .010" from max. length, i have never trimmed any case of .45 yet. Just be on the look out for short ones, proper oal and crimp can't be achieved.

[MSgt Dotson]

SInce most straight walled pistol brass shrinks, feel free to trim any that mysteriously grows beyond max spec or will no longer fit into your pistol after resizing....

[herd48]

haven't trimmed acp in 25 years.

[CherokeeT]

Never trimmed 45 ACP cases in many thousands over 44 years. Shoot them until you lose them, primer pockets get loose, or they don't have enought neck tension. Never had one split on me.

[RainDodger]

In 41 years of loading .45 ACP, I have never trimmed a single case. They generally get lost or split first.

One time in my foolish youth I bought a case holder for .45 ACP for my Wilson case trimmer and I have never used it. Want to buy it? It's about 30 years old and it's never been used.

[tchostler]

Never trimmed any straight wall cases, just bottle neck cases.

[RickB]

I don't think anyone's ever claimed an improvement in .45 ACP rounds if loaded in brass that's the same length. I might expect an improvement if all were max length, but there's no point in trimming them all the same.

[nking]

Originally Posted by RickB

I don't think anyone's ever claimed an improvement in .45 ACP rounds if loaded in brass that's the same length. I might expect an improvement if all were max length, but there's no point in trimming them all the same.

The only thing I can think of is that varying case lengths could result in uneven crimp in some dies.


Nate

[herd48]

It might if it was a roll crimp you were using. But since it's a taper crimp the varying case length has no effect.

[drail]

My experience with .45 ACP cases is that they never grow longer. They seem to get shorter. Almost all of the new factory cases I have bought measure shorter than the SAAMI spec. The difference in lengths when using mixed type of brass will affect how much crimp is applied. If you have sufficient case neck tension the only crimping necessary is to remove the flare from expanding. Don't worry about it. You can sort your brass by brand and length if you want but I haven't seen much difference on paper when doing that. Most .45 ACP pistols are headspacing off of the extractor when fed a short case. This is not how it's supposed to work but it does. Make sure that when you seat a bullet you can't push it any further into the case before you apply any crimp.

[NonPCnraRN]

Is this just plinking ammo? If you're reloading for hunting or self defense I would cull the short brass and set them aside for practice. If you are anal like me you want everything to be uniform, but as others have pointed out you will probably be wasting your time. As long as the taper crimp is uniform and all loaded rounds go bang, spend your time shooting and not trimming brass.