Trim AFTER you resize. Keep the length between 1.750 and 1.760.O6nop wrote:Currently, being new at reloading, I am trimming cases 100%. I know it's not necessary, but I am working on consistency until I feel more comfortable. However, I'm not sure where in the cycle that trimming takes place.
What I'm doing is decapping and resizing clean brass as a first step. Then I use a case length gauge and trimmer (attached to a variable speed hand drill) to get them to the right length. Am I doing this backwards? Can you trim it before you decap it? should I resize it again after I trim it? Am I missing a step?
I'm just a range shooter right now and the ammo in question is for .223 on my AR.
And if you intend to shoot a lot of .223 do yourself a huge favor and get the RCBS X-Die.
It freezes the length wherever you want it. I have mine set at 1.752.
Once you trim all of your cases down below your selected length the X-Die will not let them grow
more than a thousandth or two beyond it. I chose my length to ensure that my cases never got
near to the max of 1.760. It has worked perfectly for many years.
I have X-Dies for every caliber that I shoot lots of. It has saved me hours of trimming time.
Kind Regards,
Tom