newbie questions

[GH1]

 Everything I've read about case trimming seems to refer to bottleneck cartridges, do I need to worry about trimming my 38/357 rounds? Won't inconsistant length affect crimp, or is it not that critical?
 Do I need to deburr the flash hole?
 Do I need to lube the cases for flaring and bullet seating?  If I lube the inside of the case will it not ruin the powder?
 Too many questions I know, but I couldn't find this info in any of my reloading books and I'd like to know.
 Thanks.
GH1

 

[wncchester]

" I need to (trim) my 38/357 rounds? Won't inconsistant length affect crimp, or is it not that critical?"

Consistant crimps do require consistant case length.  But, it's really not highly critical so the decision is yours to make.


"Do I need to deburr the flash hole?"

If you are striving for half minute rifle accuracy, it may help.  It means nothing to handguns tho.

 
"Do I need to lube the cases for flaring and bullet seating?"

If you mean internally, NO.  External lubeing handgun ammo is for sizing and it's not needed for that unles your sizer is steel.  Most handgun sizer dies are carbide these days. 

[moosie]

Lubing the case mouth of straight wall pistol cases is generally not necessary, but if you do feel the need to do so, try some mica powder as it will not have any effect on powder.

Trimming cases is generally also not necessary unless you are shooting very hot loads.  Most of the time, the case mouth will begin to show splits before it grows enough to need trimming.   That is where my trimmer comes into action.  I take my .357 cases with small splits and trim them down to .38 special length and then continue shooting for many more reloads.  I bet I have some .357 cases that have been reloaded at least 10 times, then trimmed down to .38 length and reloaded for even more times.
Moosie

[Savage]

Agree with Wincchester's post. Buy carbide dies your your .38/.357 and load away, no lube required. Forget the trimming and flash hole work, it accomplishes nothing on a straight wall pistol/revolver case. Load and shoot, repeat as needed. Nice to have a tumbler tho to clean the cases.
Savage

[mdi]

I trim new brass only. I don't think it may be absolutely necessary, but I like to start out in spec. I bought a bunch of new Magtec brass (.44 Mag.) and a few were a bit too long (.005" or so.). I'm sure there would be no problem if I forgot this step, it's just my "perfectionism"

[GH1]

Well that pretty much answers all my questions, thanks everybody.
GH1

[Graybeard]

I've been reloading straight wall pistol cartridges since roughly the late '60s. In that time I'm sure I must have loaded a quarter million or more of them. Todate I've never trimmed the first one. From that I guess you can deduce how important I feel it is.

[calvon]

When I first began loading for the 9mm Luger round, I set ten once fired cases aside, numbered them, and measured the length with an electronic micrometer that reads to four decimal places. Then I resized them and prepared them for reloading. Measured them again, after which I loaded and fired them. Measured the fired cases again, resized and measured again, and again fired them.

Repeated this process through ten firings. Bottom line:

After ten repetitions of the above, not one round was outside SAAMI length limits. Beginning then, I quit worrying about case length in straight wall pistol brass. Now and then I check one and have never felt any need to trim. Incidentally, there was a slight amount of shortening when the cases were fired and a slight amount of lengthening during sizing.

[cwlongshot]

Everything I've read about case trimming seems to refer to bottleneck cartridges.

 1) Do I need to worry about trimming my 38/357 rounds? Won't inconsistent length affect crimp, or is it not that critical?
 2) Do I need to deburr the flash hole?
 3) Do I need to lube the cases for flaring and bullet seating? 
 4) If I lube the inside of the case will it not ruin the powder?

 Too many questions I know, but I couldn't find this info in any of my reloading books and I'd like to know.
 Thanks.
GH1

1) This is kind of multi faceted... there is a spec length for each caliber and cases need to be this length. Generally strait walled cases do not "grow" very fast. So trimming is not needed very often. But YES it is needed.

2) NEED TO, No. I do, it helps with uniformity. Uniformity = consistency, more consistency = accuracy. Accuracy = 

3) Buy carbide dies and forget about lube.

4) No. The correct sizing lube, used appropriately,  will not contaminate powder. BUT, I clean my cases after sizing, just to be sure. 

CW