[JTJ]

I have never bothered reloading 9mm because I could buy practice rounds cheaper than I could load them. I now need to load some. 9mm max case length is .754" I am finding length variations on mixed once fired brass from .740" to .752". Unfired Remington brass was .747". Fired Remington is running .747" to .749". 19mm=.748" What is your minimum case length? Fiochi and GFL are running short while Winchester is all over the place. I have been segregating the brass to over and under .745"

 

[robocop10mm]

WAY TOO WORIED ABOUT NOTHING. I do not bother checking case length of handgun cases. There is a substantial amount of tolerance there. Load em and shoot em. In over 35 years of handloading I have NEVER trimmed a handgun case. Bottleneck rifles are a completly different game.

 

[NotMormon]

It you don't care about getting a consistent taper crimp, do what the moderator above does. It you care about making quality reloads, trim them all down. .744 is the minimum.

 

[JTJ]

I am more used to rifle cases. I have been loading quite a bit of 38spl and they have not been that inconsistent. Probably chasing my tail since they were all fired. I was mostly concerned with the crimp being consistent. I use a separate taper crimping die. I will eliminate anything under .745" and trim or toss anything over .750". Probably not enough brass to worry about in those sizes.

 

[sdiver35]

As others said no worries. I've never measured my 9mm cases either. Make sure your COAL is correct and start at the minimum charge and shoot em.

 

[robocop10mm]

It you don't care about getting a consistent taper crimp, do what the moderator above does. It you care about making quality reloads, trim them all down. .744 is the minimum.

Huh? I do not trim and I crank out ammo that shoots at least as good as I do. And for your info, I am a B class IPSC shooter, NRA/FBI firearms instructor. You will not be able to see any appreciable difference by succumbing to your OCD urges.

 

[JTJ]

I set my trimmer to .748". The cases are picking up .003" on sizing so not many rejects. I am trimming anything over .750" and culling anything under .746". I figure I can live with +-.002". Only culled 4 cases so far. I am loading 1k shft ammo. 124 grain HP. Not for carry unless everything goes to hell.

 

[tri70]

I don't load and shoot as much as I used to with my pistols but I just load and shoot with a Lee Progressive press, no trimming and no problems.

 

[NotMormon]

Huh? I do not trim and I crank out ammo that shoots at least as good as I do. And for your info, I am a B class IPSC shooter, NRA/FBI firearms instructor. You will not be able to see any appreciable difference by succumbing to your OCD urges.

WOW! I am impressed!! It has nothing to do with accuracy. It has everything to do with safety. Go back and read your manual if you have forgotten the reasons for being OCD with semi-auto reloads. But hey, it's your world and I just live in it. Nothing has happened to you in 35 years so it should be safe practice for everyone else out there.

 

[rjd3282]

WOW! I am impressed!! It has nothing to do with accuracy. It has everything to do with safety. Go back and read your manual if you have forgotten the reasons for being OCD with semi-auto reloads. But hey, it's your world and I just live in it. Nothing has happened to you in 35 years so it should be safe practice for everyone else out there.

Buddy I've been loading pistol rounds for 30 years myself. I've measured pistol brass of just about every caliber and none of them have ever exceeded max length. In fact 90% of the time they aren't even long enough to trim. A few thousandths of an inch isn't going to make enough difference in your crimp to amount to anything. It certainly isn't going to make it unsafe. I suggest you pull some bullets on new cartridges and see for your self that even factory loads have brass that varies in length. If you want to make sure that every piece of brass you load is exactly spot on good for you but it certainly isn't necessary.

 

[DaTexanBoy]

Me personally, I trim all brass. I figure that the best way to stay in the routine. With pistol brass, I just make sure that my 9mm brass is trimmed to the "trim to" length that is in most manuals, which is .750. If its under that then no worries, over that then it trims it down a bit, to make sure it doesn't get squeezed in the chamber.

Saying that though, I have found that most of my 9mm brass does not get trimmed, as most of it is under the .750 trim to length. I feel better myself in ensuring that it is under the spec max case length though. Just my .02.

 

[Sport45]

I don't measure or trim .45acp, 9mm, .40s&w, or .38spcl.

I don't measure much .45Colt, .44mag, or .357mag. I only check those when I'm going near max with H-110 and a uniform roll crimp is more important.

 

[NotMormon]

OK, I reload a lot of 10mm....9mm, not nearly as much. The pressure difference is only 2500psi according to the book. In the real world, who knows what the difference is as the 10 is loaded to max. I don't like taking the chance of that 24lb spring helping the slide seat the bullet deeper causing a pressure issue. Small chance of it happening but there is still a chance. If everything is trimmed the same, crimped the same, then everything is consistent. This also helps when trouble shooting a malfunction as you can rule it out. The 9mm probably doesn't run quite the risk but it's consistent. OCD or just good reloading practice?

I admit, sitting down and trimming 1k cases blows the goat but, I only have to do it once with that particular batch of brass. For me, it's about being consistent with all of my reloads.