Ok, check my logic - am I overthinking this one?

[armoredman]

I am rather anal about trimming and chamfering rifle brass, especially 308 and 223. Right now I have components coming in to build some range fodder stuff, 100 yards or less, steel target hitting practice stuff using 55 grain pull down bullets sourced locally. Trimming and chamfering takes quite a bit of time using my Forster trimmer and hand tools for chamfering - do I need to? See, at 1.760" I let it slide, but a LOT of this once fired brass comes in 1.765-1.785 or so...mostly on the lower end of that range. Obviously they worked once...since I am not loading for a match, what do you think? Rifles used would be AR variants and maybe the BREN 2 MS...but I baby my baby...maybe not the BREN. Chambers used would be 5.56mm and .223 Wylde. It would save a great deal of time and work... I would, of course, continue doing that for my serious hunting ammo and such.

Thoughts?

[Crawl]

As you likely know, the Bren won't really care what you feed it, it'll eat all of it, and it'll eat some that other guns won't take. But, depending on the length of the brass you use to set your crimp, you may run into buckled shoulders or mouths that aren't crimped. Could result in a lot of ammo not feeding in either gun

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[Grendel]

I'd check, trim, and chamfer them. Reloading is no place to cut corners Amigo.

[armoredman]

That's kind of what I thought, I don't like cutting corners, but I was wondering if maybe my trim measurements weren't right - checked several sources after this and yep, they're right. So back to the trimmer we go!

[armoredman]

I found something that might work, if I can squeeze the nickel until the Indian screams...
https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1012719754?pid=628405

It's a Frankford Arsenal power trimmer/chamfering deal, kinda reminds me of an old O'scope in a way. At $160 I might be able to squeeze it out - anyone heard anything good/bad about this one?

[Crawl]

I have it. You'll end up with inconsistent case lengths, but it's better than not trimming. There are lots of reviews online with the pitfalls of using that one and ways to avoid some of the issues.

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[M1A4ME]

Bought one of these last year from Amazon.



Fast once you set it up.  Worst thing for me has been it cuts so fast I get in a hurry and push the brass in too hard/fast and as I go along and my fingers get tired I find the brass may spin in between my thumb and trigger finger and it doesn't take many of those to get a blister on the side of my trigger finger.

I can go through a pretty good pile of brass pretty quick.  The speed of the cutter head is adjustable.  The amount you can take off the neck/case mouth is adjustable.  The cut is so clean you don't see a burr/flat spot on the case mouth (like I do with the Lee case trimmer tools I've used for several years.)  I still chamfer the inside of the brass to protect the bullet base during seating.  The nice sharp corners on the outside of the case mouth haven't yet caused me a problem.

I don't crimp .223 and .308 brass (or .30-06) anyway, so no shoulder/case wall buckling during crimping.

[Crawl]

The Frankford Arsenal one is really loud, really large, and heavy, but it does include motorized chamfer and deburring tools on it.

Not sure whether that makes the Frankford more or less desirable than the Lyman.

If you're not loading with a progressive, you may not need to flare the case mouths or crimp, so precision trimming may be less of a concern.

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[mrcabinet]

I use the Lee Quick Trim with the hex/power adapter in a cheapo Lee single stage press that I picked up for 10 bucks at a garage sale. All in with the press, trimmer, die and rechargeable Black & Decker screwdriver was about $70.00. That's the only thing I use that press for. It's been surprisingly accurate and durable, and I like how you can set the depth from the head so all brass comes out the same length, regardless of variations among them when you start. I started with the hand-crank version, but that got old really, really fast.

I typically get three loadings before I need to trim again.

[noylj]

Unless they exceed max length, don't waste your time. No safety issue as long as you do not exceed rifles actual headspace.
Direct your OCD to important things

[Clueless Newbie]

YMMV when I've used once fired brass I've had more problems removing the crimp in the primer pockets.

[bang bang]

welcome,

fwiw, i used to use a dillon for my trimming needs, but it was sort of variable in the LOA of the case due to the play in the trimmer head.  and before that i had a hornady and some other version.  but when you start processing hundreds and thousands of brass, you change your mind real quick especially when you do it by hand.

So, i opted for a different make/toy.

to me, yes, using what you currently have is a pain to do what you are avoiding, and is why i move up to a motorized version.

If all you have is a handful of brass you want to trim or maybe if you have alot of free/down time to do the trimming, then no big deal, but i bet you dont and is why you are avoiding the chore.  Or having those hand trimmers is great if you want to keep things in control.

iirc, there are some setups where you can do the inside/outside chamfer at one shot if you want to invest in any of them.

And you can also find some trimmers that will do it all in one too.

good luck in your choice/decision

[armoredman]

If things go right, I'll be able to order the Frankford Arsenal machine on payday.
I can and have sat down and hand trimmed 100 brass at a time, doable, but just a pain in the tookas. Thank you for the comments, except the OCD one, much appreciated!