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Old June 28, 2009, 02:20 PM   #1
Bioman
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Resizing and Trimming in Which Order?

Which to do first? Full length Resizing or Trimming. I am using once fired military .308 brass. I have a Dillon 550b; if I size/de-prime then trim, I will need to run the same cartridge through again later to seat the primer. I am concerned that the second time through the die will change the length
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Old June 28, 2009, 02:33 PM   #2
Unclenick
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Size first. The trim length is what it has to be inside the chamber and about to fire. The case will be resized at that point, so you trim it as it will be used.

That said, a second time through a sizing die will usually only grow the case a couple thousandths at most. The .308 trim tolerance is 1.995"-2.015". Most trimmers hit 2.005", which is half way in between. If you grow a couple thousandths after that, it wont hurt anything since it will still be well under 2.015". By the way, you can take the sizing die out of the press for the priming and other loading steps.
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Last edited by Unclenick; June 28, 2009 at 02:39 PM.
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Old June 28, 2009, 04:24 PM   #3
azredhawk44
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+1, size then trim. That expander ball pulls the case "up" and makes it longer as you bring the arm back down.

I trim my .308 to 2.005 because I HATE TRIMMING. I use an X-die to eliminate growth as much as possible during sizing, and it seems to be helping. I can go 2 firings instead of just 1 now.

I get away with my first retail factory firing, a second reload, then a trim to 2.005, then two more reloads. By then my M14 has devastated that brass to the point it ain't good to hang on to anymore.

Every now and then I get an itch to brew up some more consistent stuff and I end up trimming to 2.005, weighing cases into batches, babying flash holes and verifying bullet weights while trickling exact powder charges. Not real often though.
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Old June 28, 2009, 04:29 PM   #4
MADISON
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Resizing and Trimming in Which Order?

My order is with an adition:
[1] Clean the brass.
[2] Resize the brass, to bring it back to "factory specks".
[3] Gage the brass and trim it if needed.
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Old June 28, 2009, 05:27 PM   #5
wncchester
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Yeah. You don't really care how long a fired case is, you do care what a reloaded case is.
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Old June 28, 2009, 06:20 PM   #6
kiwi56
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Resizing Trimming

If you are using the ammo in just one bolt action I would dispense with full length resizing once the cases have been fired in your own chamber. Just neck size and your cases will last a lot longer as well as having cartridges that fit your chamber to tighter tolerances which should help with accuracy too.
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