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Old February 24, 2011, 07:10 PM   #1
poline
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Must do?

Just as some don't think that you have to clean primer pockets, on hand gun brass, I wonder is it a must to chamfer the brass if it was not trimed?
Any thoughts and reponse to this thread are appreciated. My apology to any who are annoyed by such a question.
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Old February 24, 2011, 07:13 PM   #2
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I dont
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Old February 24, 2011, 07:34 PM   #3
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Except for meticulous bulls eye shooters who sort cases by weight, nobody that shoots a lot of ammo each month (IDPA, IPSC, etc) cleans primer pockets or trims and chamfers pistol brass. Most just clean it, inspect them for splits and load them. For match ammo, checking with a case gauge is also a good idea. Bill
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Old February 24, 2011, 08:36 PM   #4
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On handgun brass, chamfering case mouths is usually not done. It is necessary on rifle brass, where the case mouth is left the same size as the neck by the expander ball, and the bullet needs to be set into the mouth to start it. But, the expander plugs on handgun cartridge dies have a wider section that flares the case mouth out past bullet diameter, while leaving the case diameter below the mouth at something like 0.002" less than bullet diameter. That is usually enough to prevent problems with the bullets.

HOWEVER, if you do trim cases (which is not normally necessary), then it is important to chamfer just a little to remove any burrs that built-up on the inside edge of the mouth, ESPECIALLY if you are shooting plated bullets. Otherwise, the crimp drives the burr into the plating, and, when fired, it can scrape off enough plating to give you bore leading.

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Old February 24, 2011, 08:52 PM   #5
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"I wonder is it a must to chamfer the brass "

No. In fact, it's not a "must" if the cases have been trimmed. Advisable, YES, but nothing will blow up if you don't.
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Old February 24, 2011, 10:41 PM   #6
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Rifle cases yes, after they have been trimmed.


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Old February 24, 2011, 11:44 PM   #7
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Not for straight walled handgun cases.
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Old February 25, 2011, 08:50 AM   #8
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Quote:
on hand gun brass, I wonder is it a must to chamfer the brass if it was not trimed?
Despite early loading manuals showing chamfering the mouths of handgun cases, it is not only unnecessary, it is something that should not be done.
Handgun cases need not be chamfered because belling of the case mouth makes it completely unnecessary.
The usual failure mode for hand loaded pistol cases is splits from work hardening that begin at the mouth of the case. If the case has been chamfered it is then thinner at the mouth thus promoting cracking.
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Old February 25, 2011, 10:12 AM   #9
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Quote:
Except for meticulous bulls eye shooters who sort cases by weight, nobody that shoots a lot of ammo each month (IDPA, IPSC, etc) cleans primer pockets or trims and chamfers pistol brass.
... You forgot About folks like me who can go through 500 - 700 pistol rounds a week-end, with warmer weather and friends.

When I first started reloading, I used the chamfer tool on every piece of pistol brass I had (Straight walled). I could not figure out why I had to chamfer the cases when I was going to expand the mouths anyway, but none of the reloading manuals explained why it was required, just said you needed to do it.

I finally figure out I needed to do it on rifle cases, but not pistol cases.
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Old February 25, 2011, 10:24 AM   #10
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Chamfer? Probably not. Deburr? Yep.
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Old February 25, 2011, 10:28 AM   #11
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I do trim straight walled cases to get a consistent roll crimp ,then spin em over some 000steel wool to remove burrs but not a "real" chamfering tool.

& most of the time ya first trimming is all that`s needed for the life of the case.
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Old February 26, 2011, 02:01 AM   #12
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"...chamfer the brass if it was not trimmed..." Nope. New bottle necked rifle brass needs to be FL resized, checked for length, trimmed as required and chamfered and deburred. Case mouths on bottle necked rifle cases only get chamfered and deburred after trimming. The chamfer takes the place of the flare on a handgun case and is done for the same reason. It doesn't go away during firing.
Handgun brass doesn't get chamfered, but it does get deburred if you ever have to trim it. Primer pockets should get cleaned enough during tumbling.
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Old February 26, 2011, 06:55 AM   #13
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I have not trimmed a single case of straingt walled pistol brass in the year I have been reloading. Over 20,000 of them. I tumble bucket brass from the range to get the crud off them. Size, then flare, then prime, then charge, then seat a bullet, crimp if needed. I shoot them, pick up the brass if I feel like it (For .45 auto, and 9mm luger I have a 5 gal bucket of each sized/decapped, and flared). Go home and repeat the process.
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