The only pistol rounds I reload are .40 S&W.
The RCBS combination bullet seater and crimp directions said to trim all cases to the same length if you were going to crimp. That got old in a hurry.
I got a separate Lee crimp whose directions said that the cases didn't have to be the same length. That still left me with the choice of what case to set it on. I measured a dozen or so, noted the average and used that case to set the crimp. Better, but it was still an extra operation.
So I did an experiment. I loaded five uncrimped rounds, measured the overall cartridge length and put them at the bottom of a magazine with factory ammo. I fired the magazine less my test round and then measured the overall cartridge length again. No change on any of them.
Now I don't bother crimping them at all.
Not sure if you'd get the same result with .45 ACP.
And having read the advice above, I'll probably stop cleaning the primer pockets too!
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