Does 45 ACP Brass Need Trimming? - VR to Randall Hodges 

traxxastrucks36 - And thanks for posting comment...Good reloadin' to ya, FC Steve

FortuneCookie45LC I have a ton of mixed 45acp’s that are ALL measuring out at 0.87 Are these ok to shoot out of a 1911 or are they too short? Thanks

Edward Petty - Did you one more step also - actual testing of ammo trimmed (even though the brass was not over the max OAL, they were trimmed to the trim to length) and untrimmed showed no advantage to trimming the brass. Better accuracy and lower standard deviation ammo with trimming could not be demonstrated. Have a great day, FC Steve

OneSimpleSolution Good question...That is excellent brass...use it with full confidence. The marks are factory cannelures usually to help prevent bullet shifting during recoil on revolvers or during feeding in semi-auto or automatic weapons. Good reloadin' to ya

Thanks for the response, I'll load some up tonight!

bnighter - Your 9mm should pass the muster and not need trimming easily...Best to ya, FC

L Krueger - Yes, determination of need to trim is done after sizing. Your brass is still under the max OAL of .898". The brass used in this video have been reloaded multiple times, some since the 60s, without ever exceeding max OAL. Our straight sided handgun brass simply do not lengthen to exceed max OAL before or after sizing. I have encountered one renegade 357 expanding die that was so tight, cases did stretch a bit after sizing though, but turning that expander down .001" fixed that. Rifle bottleneck cases do stretch on firing and also on sizing however, so we always need to check them after sizing. And rifle cases over the max OAL is commonly encountered. If so, we need to trim to the trim to length according to the manuals. The manuals say to trim if max OAL is exceeded, but any reloader is free to trim pistol brass to the trim to length anyway in the belief that uniform crimping is worth the effort. I certainly would never tell anyone to trim their handgun brass because no one I know trims their regular straight wall handgun brass. I recently got standard deviations of reloads using range brass in the single digits without trimming. Good reloadin' to ya, FC

thanks

Here is the issue, your brass needs to be consistent for crimping reasons. Brass that is shorter won't get much or any crimp. Brass that is longer will be over crimped causing more pressure when fired. I took my shortest case and sized them all within .02 and my group's tightened up considerably

shananagans5 Always great to hear from the Shaz!! The more the venturi into the smaller and smaller hole, the more the velocity of the gasses pushes on the venturi shoulder leading to case lengthening. The interesting thing is that brass stretch caused by the expander ball in rifle reloading dies is as big if not more of a problem - that's why we are told to lube the inside of the case necks on our bottleneck cases before we resize them - no need to lube the inside of case necks on our straight wall cases - the expansion of the neck there is done on the in stroke, not the out stroke that lengthens our rifle brass. That is why we are told to trim rifle cases after we resize them, not before. Have a great day!!

shananagans5 Shaz - it occurred to me that you know this stuff already. When I reply to your comments, it's because you have neatly brought up issues that can be expanded for the benefit of newer reloaders and shooters out there - thanks for your comments being "lead ins" ... Best Regards

+Ferber b -- Your caliper readings should be somewhere around .888 - .898" So if you are getting .994+ readings, you might have a totally different cartridge that the 45 ACP. There is no way that standard 45 ACP brass gets to be .994-.998" Take some of your brass and your caliper to your local range the next time you go to shoot and show the readings to other pistol shooters - you'll get your answer pretty quick...Thanks for your comment, and Have a great day, FC

+FortuneCookie45LC Hello FC and I found the problem I don't know how this happen but the caliper I got was reading the brass wrong I remember and ask a friend that use to work in a machine shop and he had some spare digital calipers he had 2 mitutoyo from 2002 old ones he told me to take them and buy the batterys and keep the one that works better started to check the brass and for my surprise that the brass was in spect and I checked with both calipers and the measurements were right thanks for your help and for writing back it was very helpful FC thanks.

+Ferber b -- I'm glad you got that straightened out...good calipers are very important in what reloaders do...Have a great day, and please drop in again for other comments or questions... FC

Walter Palmer - When I first began reloading, it was the 38 Spl for my father's revolver. But my first handgun was a Colt Series 70 1911 45 ACP. I started reloading and casting for that gun. In the early 1970s, I visited the gun store often, and every time I did, I would buy fired 45 ACP out of bins - just open up a paper bag and choose what you wanted to buy - 2 cents a case for military and 3 cents for commercial brass. I'd buy a couple hundred every trip to the store. That brass had RA and TZZ headstamps - I haven't bought any of those since, but those keep turning up in my reloading on a routine basis. Hard to say how many times they've been reloaded. Some necks split every so often, but I have a lot of that brass. Have a great day, FC

Wow, thank you kindly for your replies. You're a great fellow to do so and the videos are most helpful..

Walter Palmer - Thanks for your comments...and please feel free to comment or ask questions at your discretion... Best Regards, FC

toy collector - That is always the best way to check for need of trimming. Measuring brass straight from the range is OK, but after resizing, the expander ball can definitely drag the case longer on the way out especially with bottleneck cases...I have a video idea on this in my cue - now that I'm talking about it, might just move that up in the cue and do it sooner. Anytime a reloader feels a lot of drag on case pull out, the possibility of case stretching is happening. Steps need to be done to guard against that as it is a very destructive event in our reloading. There should be minimum or no drag from that expander ball - lube on the inside of the case necks is done to reduce that. The Lee Neck Collet resize die produces no drag...If necessary, David Tubb used to recommend turning the expanding balls down a thousandths or so to further reduce that drag. Straight wall cartridges get very little drag. Good reloadin' to ya... FC

Cases should always be check for length after resizing. If shooting hot loads, they will stretch more than light loads. You will eventually have to trim your cases. Cases will stretch, I don't care what anybody says.

Edward James - The max OAL of 45 ACP brass is .898" What this means is that as long as your brass does not exceed .898", no trimming is needed. But if any are longer, that batch of brass should be trimmed to the trim to length of .888". Your brass is on the short side at .883 and very short at .880. The 1911 firing pin will still set off the rounds, but other guns might have misfires from firing pin cushioning effects from the excessive headspace. Otherwise, the rounds are still safe to shoot. Best is not to trim shorter than .888" in the future. I have never trimmed any straight sided handgun brass as they never get too long to be problematic. Have a great day, FC Steve

AK Janitor The cannelure was used either or also on the side of the bullet to act as an internal crimp to keep revolver bullets from shifting forward or at the base of the bullet to act as a stop in auto pistol rounds to keep bullet from setting back. A cheaper version of the cannelure is the "spike" crimp - a dent punched into the side of the case to help hold the bullet. There was a time many years ago that a die was available to roll our own cannelures, but no one bought it. I think you are right about the TZZ...RA from 1932 is just before the Army accepted the M1 Garand rifle... Best Regards, and thanks for the great comment.

Shawn Tannehill Ha, ha, har...good one, Shawn Tannehill!!