Are you supposed to trim pistol brass?

[Elk_Sniper]

a member on Facebook group made a comment to me a few days ago that I was talking about reloading 9 mm and trimming the cases and he said you do not trim pistol brass which would be great I just don't know if it's true?
I do not load pistol for precision, but I do load them for safety can somebody squash or verify this statement?

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[Carguy]

9mm and other auto pistol cases headspace on the case mouth. I measure all my brass after case mouth expansion and trim those that exceed maximum spec. A lot of times I find the case mouth isn't "square". I had a friend that loaded a lot of ammo on a DIllon, never trimmed his brass, and he was constantly having malfunctions.

Edited my original post to say "maximum" instead of "minimum". It was late and I was tired. Sorry.

 

[DizzyJ]

I have never trimmed straight walled pistol brass. If you're roll crimping into a cannelure for a revolver cartridge you might need to if you're not using the same manufacturer and lot # of brass.

Otherwise it should not be needed.

 

[WillametteWill]

The only handgun brass I have ever trimmed is 44 Mag after multiple reloads. I've never trimmed "volume" brass such as 9mm, 38 Super or 38 Special. As @Carguy noted, I'm sure you get a better finished product if you do. From seeing posts here, I'm getting more to the stage where I'm going to just load certain brands of cases for 9mm. It seems this might be more of an advantage for me than worrying about trimming, but that is just me.

 

[dangerranger60]

I don't load much 9mm brass. when I do its on an old set of steel dies. to get a reliable and precise crimp I do trim for these. My kids who load a lot of 9mm brass use a more modern 4 die set that finishes with a crimp die. They never trim. We share ammo back and forth, and both systems work just fine. So I think if you work the system you have, either is fine. DR

 

[VinnieBoomBah]

When I started shooting 45acp back in 1981 I was sold a case trimmer along with all the other stuff I "needed" I still have it and it's still as sharp as the day I bought it, mostly because even though I have reloaded some of the cases countless times over the last 45 years I have never had a case long enough to reach the cutter
I would expect 9mm to be the same

 

[roseburger]

You'll likely lose your auto brass before it needs trimming. You'll want to on revolver brass though, especially if you use a crimp.

 

[Mikej]

As said above, you'd do well to check case length on brass that require a roll crimp. If your using the roll crimp feature on the seating die it pays to be within .002". If using a separate crimp-only die you can go a little more than.002". At least that's my experience. The cases don't generally vary much after being trimmed the first time.

 

[JuglansRegia]

You only need to trim it once, for revolver brass, I trim it again but just a little after its been reloaded 10-12 times, the brass gets real thin at the mouth and wants to split.

 

[thorborg]

In my opine a roll crimp on 9mm is not good, it removes the ability to properly provide seating as it relies on the rim not the base. This can allow it to seat to far in the chamber and can increase the head space also adding stress to the extractor. Instead use a taper crimp if needed. this too should be just enough to remove the slight flaring needed to start the bullet seat but still allow the rim to properly seat the case.

 

[gmerkt]

I've loaded lots of 9mm over the years. There was only one gun type that I needed to pay attention to trim length on 9mm brass, and that was the Smith & Wesson Model 547 revolver. Examples of which I owned were very precise devices and had close tolerances. A slightly long case wouldn't allow the cylinder to close.

Otherwise, I never seem to have any issues with case length on 9mm.

 

[kmk1012]

I've loaded lots of 9mm over the years. There was only one gun type that I needed to pay attention to trim length on 9mm brass, and that was the Smith & Wesson Model 547 revolver. Examples of which I owned were very precise devices and had close tolerances. A slightly long case wouldn't all the cylinder to close.

Otherwise, I never seem to have any issues with case length on 9mm.

Dang, I've never heard of that S&W revolver, now I'm on the hunt. I have an affection for S&W revolvers and have more than I need but what's one more? It'll compliment my 929 and 646 real well. Auto cartridges in revolvers are cool, I shoot high volume but hate picking up brass. These solve both issues.

 

[gmerkt]

Dang, I've never heard of that S&W revolver, now I'm on the hunt. I have an affection for S&W revolvers and have more than I need but what's one more? It'll compliment my 929 and 646 real well. Auto cartridges in revolvers are cool, I shoot high volume but hate picking up brass. These solve both issues.

The Smith & Wesson 547: Ahead of its Time? – RevolverGuy.Com

revolverguy.com

About 10,000 of these were made. About a third were three inch, round butt. About one third were four inch, square butt. The production run was in 1983-84. I've had one with with the RB, and three with the square which I prefer. They have a heavy barrel. The S&W serial number format was changed during this time, so they will be found with both types. As much development went into these (initially proposed for the French police), they weren't successful commercially. In the middle 1980's these were being sold new at a discount. They are fairly expensive now as collector's items.

I typically take pictures of guns that come into my possession, but my digital files came later than the time I owned the 547's so those aren't handy. If I run across them, I'll post them on NWFA but you can find others by Googling.

 

[kevlujano]

How often do you guys actually end up trimming pistol brass?

 

[VinnieBoomBah]

How often do you guys actually end up trimming pistol brass?

Been shooting for 45 years, never trimmed a single one

 

[DizzyJ]

Been shooting for 45 years, never trimmed a single one

Same

 

[JuglansRegia]

How often do you guys actually end up trimming pistol brass?

Before l load them the first time then every 10-12 reloadings

 

[VinnieBoomBah]

Before l load them the first time then every 10-12 reloadings

How hot are you loading them!

 

[Steel Head]

I have 45acp brass with the headstamp shot off from so many loads, I've never trimmed straight wall pistol.

 

[JuglansRegia]

How hot are you loading them!

They don't get longer, the mouths get real thin from belling, roll crimping and chamfering for revolver brass. I don't think auto loader brass makes it to 10 reloads before it gets lost.