Trim Square and Short or Trim Long and Off Square

[Dill45]

Hey all,

So I recently picked up a new batch of S&W 500 Brass (Winchester) and noticed they weren't cut quite square.  By that I mean one part of the bass was noticeably taller than the other side.  I figured no problem, I'll trim them down to size.  Well my Lee trimmer doesn't quite go low enough to trim them square, but I can take the base out and trim them with out it.  Problem is, this will put it .02 inches (1.605 instead of the max 1.625) bellow the max case length, and lower than I normally trim my cases (1.620).

So would it be safe/smart to trim them down short and square, or deal with the fact the crimping may not be even?

Thanks,
Dillon

[wncchester]

IMHO, a precisely square cut mouth is vastly overrated, ESPECIALLY so for handguns.  

Consider that before the bullet even exits the case, the case walls are firmly blown out against the chamber wall, making a gas tight seal.  I can see no way any normal, trivial differece in a case mouth can possibley have any effect on the path of a bullet then going down the throat.

Trim if they are too long, not to get 'em precisely square because your handgun will never know the difference.

[LaOtto222]

I always trim mine as square as possible. If I am going to the trouble of trimming, why not make them square as possible-is my line of thought. I do not worry about case length as long as it is within reason .010" short or even .025" of recommended trim length, is no big deal, unless you can not get a proper crimp with your die. If you have to seat the bullet a little deep to get into the crimp groove, that is OK as long as you back off your load a little and work back up. I only crimp heavy recoiling rounds intended for a repeating handgun. For instance - I rarely crimp 44 mags for my single shot pistols and rifles, but do for my revolver and lever action. If you are going to be crimping, I personally feel that all your cases need to be the same in length (even if short) and mouth squareness to be consistent with your velocity.

[Dill45]

Thanks for the responses guys.

I was figuring I might as well go and square them off even if it did mean they'd be a bit on the shorter side.  Currently after trimming what I could with the Lee trimmer, they aren't quite square, but much much more than before.

My major concern was that if I trimmed them to short it might affect the strength of the brass in some way, or something like along those lines.

[Catfish]

Why not load some as they are and trim some and load them. Then you can compair accuracy and report back to us if it`s worth trimming them. My guess is that you will see no difference in accuracy.

[chutesnreloads]

When I run into this with the Lee trimmer(happens a lot with new and once fired factory)I just load them unsquare the first load and then square '
em up on the next loading after they've had a chance to stretch

[stimpylu32]

Dill45

With a round like the 500 , its not going to make any difference if their a few thou short , their also not going to grow much if any , so get them square as possable and you'll be golden . 

stimpy

[Dill45]

Thanks again for the advice all.

I leave some untrimmed and see if it makes a huge difference in accuracy.  I think it may since the cases are quite obviously not square when they're not trimmed.  But I load up some and see how it goes.

If it doesn't affect it at all, or hardly any, it would make life easier not having to go through and trim the rest of them up.