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Author Topic: Trimmed brass too much - toss or keep?  (Read 725 times)

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Offline PowPow

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Trimmed brass too much - toss or keep?
« on: April 15, 2010, 02:33:38 AM »
got a trimmer and a micrometer.
got some gently used 30-30 brass.
meant to trim it to .01 less than max trim length 2.040 - .01 = 2.030
simple math right?
missed a decimal point in my head and trimmed to 2.04 - .1 = 1.94-ish
when i realized the mistake, i also realized this brass did not need trimming to begin with.
just goes to show when all you got is a hammer, everthing looks like a nail.

planned to use this brass for very light loads using cast bullets to obtain "minute of barn" accuracy and a hours of shooting fun.

is the any safety concern with using this short brass in my Handi with cast bullets at ~1500 fps?
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Offline wncchester

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Re: Trimmed brass too much - toss or keep?
« Reply #1 on: April 15, 2010, 03:57:52 AM »
"is the any safety concern with using this short brass in my Handi with cast bullets at ~1500 fps?"

No.
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Offline LaOtto222

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Re: Trimmed brass too much - toss or keep?
« Reply #2 on: April 15, 2010, 06:41:27 AM »
+1 on the Safety

You will have .090" more bullet sticking out of the case, if you load to a standard COAL, if you seat it further in to cover grease grooves or what ever, it will cut down your powder capacity slightly, but at 1500 fps, there should still be no problem. BTW - as you know the neck on a 30-30 is generous, so that makes it even less of an issue as far as bullet tension is concerned. If you trimmed .090" off a .223, it would still work, but your bullet may not reach the lands, because you would have to seat the bullet deeper to get proper bullet tension. I am starting to ramble :(
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Offline Steve P

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Re: Trimmed brass too much - toss or keep?
« Reply #3 on: April 15, 2010, 10:18:12 AM »
Shorter brass will increase jump to rifling if you crimp in crimp groove as is typical with 30-30.  If you don't crimp (for a handi you don't really need to.....but I would) just seat bullet for your chamber.

Third vote for no safety concern.

Steve :)
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Offline Sweetwater

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Re: Trimmed brass too much - toss or keep?
« Reply #4 on: April 15, 2010, 10:27:59 AM »
Again, Steve +1 and others on the safety issue.
In a different light, you should never have to trim them again  ;), AND if you have other "normal" 30-30 brass, you will only need to keep seperate if you choose to crimp, which I believe you should not for your Handi. I haven't Chrony'd these, but I built some "zero recoil" loads for my Marlin 30-30 using 120gr cast bullets and Bullseye (like a lightly loaded 38Spcl) The kids and my wife really like them, like shooting a BB rifle. and quiet...
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Offline mcwoodduck

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Re: Trimmed brass too much - toss or keep?
« Reply #5 on: April 15, 2010, 10:52:08 AM »
Sounds to me like it is a perfect time to think of a wild cat round.
35 -30, 338 -30, or something like that.
 :D
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Offline PowPow

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Re: Trimmed brass too much - toss or keep?
« Reply #6 on: April 15, 2010, 10:54:27 AM »
Less case capacity should not be an issue ; I am using 50-60% case capacity of IMR SR-4759, with whatever Lee dipper that is.
Jump to the rifling should not be an issue for "minute of barn" accuracy.
Segregating brass should not be not an issue, as all my current 30-30 brass is mostly junk.
As wildcats go, about as wild as I plan to get is my 22-250.

Thanks for the feedback. Time to go shoot'em.


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Offline 41 mag

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Re: Trimmed brass too much - toss or keep?
« Reply #7 on: April 17, 2010, 04:20:14 AM »
The only issue you might run into is going form these shorter cases to the standard lenght or a bit longer case. This might give you an issue if you build up a carbon deposit in the chamber ahead of the short case, or if used often enough with certain powders, or high end loads, it might score your chamber. It happens at times with shorter cases used in magnum handguns, like the 38's in .357 and 44 spl in 44 mags or 45 Colt in 454's. It might happen a bit faster using the cast loads due to them burning a bit dirtier than normal jacketed loads.

Just be sure to use a brush to clean out the chamber good after a range session and you should be fine with normal cast or low end loads. An easy way to check it would be to have a dummy round made up with no crimp using a standard jacketed RN bullet seated a bit long. If it is hard to get to chamber or doesn't readily drop right in all the way, you need to scrub the chamber.

Other than that load them up and go have fun.
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