Trimming before resizing?

[LumberZach]

As in the title, I am curious about weather or not it is acceptable to trim cases before resizing or not.

Thanks guy.

[crbutler]

I wouldn't.

The reason being that I am trying to uniform the cases as much as possible. You squeeze that brass back in shape and it will grow a bit, and it is rather unpredictable. You are better off to clean, resize and then trim to get the most uniform results.

If you just are trying to make sure that you have no pressure spikes, trim first may work for that- but since the effort is the same, do it after and you should see better accuracy as a result.

[LumberZach]

Ok, thanks.

I am just getting started into reloading and I have been trying to read as much, and watch as many videos as I can. One guy was saying that he prefers resizing, trimming, doing all the other case work and then tumbling so that anything that happens during prep work would get nocked off in the tumbler and supposedly achieve the best accuracy. I plan to start out reloading by the book, but I was wondering what people thought of this.

[Nalez]

Ok, thanks.

I am just getting started into reloading and I have been trying to read as much, and watch as many videos as I can. One guy was saying that he prefers resizing, trimming, doing all the other case work and then tumbling so that anything that happens during prep work would get nocked off in the tumbler and supposedly achieve the best accuracy. I plan to start out reloading by the book, but I was wondering what people thought of this.

Hrmn.
One of the reasons to tumble the brass is so the dirt/grime/gunk on the brass does not chew up, scratch up, or get your dies out of tolerance.

Now, I do clean my brass twice. Once before working them so they do not mess up my dies (and keep my hands clean!); and once after resizing/trimming. The second cleaning is mainly to get any lube or other goodies introduced during trimming off.

[LumberZach]

Interesting to hear, I was kind of back and forth as to if that would be a viable option. Are any of you using the stainless steel pins for tumbling media by the way? I found an old rock tumbler that has never been used, and I think that it would work pretty well and decently cheap.

[BigDog58]

Interesting to hear, I was kind of back and forth as to if that would be a viable option. Are any of you using the stainless steel pins for tumbling media by the way? I found an old rock tumbler that has never been used, and I think that it would work pretty well and decently cheap.

I first tumble my dirty rifle brass in walnut shells to knock off the residue from shooting (to keep my dies clean) and then, deprime and resize. I then wet tumble in stainless steel pins and it cleans inside, outside of the brass as well as the primer pockets. I then measure and trim ONLY if necessary. When I trim, I also debur the the flash hole (inside the case).

The wet tumble takes a little extra effort, but it pays for itself by cleaning the primer pockets back to a new look. Everyone that has seen my brass, comment that it looks BETTER than new. It does save a lot of time and effort, if you are like me, and want to work with clean brass. I learned over thirty years ago (in aviation school) that if you want to inspect anything metallic (other materials as well) you need a clean surface to look at. Dirt and grime, can hide cracks and stress signs. Having perfectly clean rifle brass (I also clean my pistol brass in ss pins), has allowed to to find several over pressured cases, that I might have missed, had they been dirty.

If you want any further details, feel free to PM and I'll give you my home phone number. I am in Edina, and you,or any other board member, are welcome to come by and take a first hand look. I am retired, and free most days and times.

[Erud]

Here's how I do it for match brass. If it's already been fired in my chamber:

1. Deprime dirty brass with universal de-capper die.
2. Wet tumble with stainless media
3. Trim, chamfer, de-burr
4. Anneal
5. Lube with Hornady One Shot
6. Size and load
7. Shoot

If new brass, I would skip steps 1 and 2 and instead run it through the sizer before trimming. The caliber I shoot the most never gets trimmed at all, as it just does not grow. I have never seen any reason to clean the brass twice.

I get pretty good accuracy with this.

Good luck,
Erik

[LumberZach]

Here's how I do it for match brass. If it's already been fired in my chamber:

1. Deprime dirty brass with universal de-capper die.
2. Wet tumble with stainless media
3. Trim, chamfer, de-burr
4. Anneal
5. Lube with Hornady One Shot
6. Size and load
7. Shoot

If new brass, I would skip steps 1 and 2 and instead run it through the sizer before trimming. The caliber I shoot the most never gets trimmed at all, as it just does not grow. I have never seen any reason to clean the brass twice.

I get pretty good accuracy with this.

Good luck,
Erik

This is kind of like what I was thinking about. For starting out, I will probably try to get some stainless pins for tumbling before hand before I really go for accuracy. Got my LEE kit today! Very excited about it!

[Nalez]

Here's how I do it for match brass. If it's already been fired in my chamber:

1. Deprime dirty brass with universal de-capper die.
2. Wet tumble with stainless media
3. Trim, chamfer, de-burr
4. Anneal
5. Lube with Hornady One Shot
6. Size and load
7. Shoot
Good luck,
Erik

First of all, never looked in to Anneling; thanks.
Second; So ya do not mind the one-shot lube on the brass gunking anything up when ya shoot it? I know over time that stuff gets pretty sticky.

[Erud]

Here's how I do it for match brass. If it's already been fired in my chamber:

1. Deprime dirty brass with universal de-capper die.
2. Wet tumble with stainless media
3. Trim, chamfer, de-burr
4. Anneal
5. Lube with Hornady One Shot
6. Size and load
7. Shoot
Good luck,
Erik

First of all, never looked in to Anneling; thanks.
Second; So ya do not mind the one-shot lube on the brass gunking anything up when ya shoot it? I know over time that stuff gets pretty sticky.

The One Shot does not gunk anything up or get sticky. After it dries, for all intents and purposes it is gone. I've been using it exclusively for 12 years and have never seen either of those 2 issues. Since 2007, I have shot about 4k rounds per year in competition with an AR-based rifle and it has never caused any sort of trouble. Around another 1500/year with 2 bolt gun calibers for long range matches and nothing with those either. For lubrication, it is as good as any out there and it's a heck of a lot easier to use than almost anything else. I just set my cases up in the loading block and spray them all from one direction, then turn the tray 180° and spray them again. Wait 1 minute and start loading. I will use this stuff as long as they keep making it.

*Edited to add: I only anneal the bolt gun brass, don't bother with the gas gun stuff.

[BigDog58]

+1 One the One Shot. I use it on .308, .243, .300 Win Mag, 30/06 & 25/06 and have had zero problems. However, I do tumble my brass after resizing, which removes the lube.

[Nalez]

The One Shot does not gunk anything up or get sticky. After it dries, for all intents and purposes it is gone. I've been using it exclusively for 12 years and have never seen either of those 2 issues. Since 2007, I have shot about 4k rounds per year in competition with an AR-based rifle and it has never caused any sort of trouble. Around another 1500/year with 2 bolt gun calibers for long range matches and nothing with those either. For lubrication, it is as good as any out there and it's a heck of a lot easier to use than almost anything else. I just set my cases up in the loading block and spray them all from one direction, then turn the tray 180° and spray them again. Wait 1 minute and start loading. I will use this stuff as long as they keep making it.

Thx. I use the same process and I have never noticed it on the rounds; just the block I use. I guess with layer after layer building up; it is more of an issue. I would say I clean that loading block every 500 rounds (10 uses) or so.

[Erud]

Yeah, it'll definitely build up on the block, but it won't hurt anything there. I've never cleaned that either....

[SIGP240]

Pretty important to anneal cases, if you don't, you may not be getting 6-8 reloads out of your brass

[LumberZach]

Pretty important to anneal cases, if you don't, you may not be getting 6-8 reloads out of your brass

Do you have any good references for annealing cases? I am just starting to learn about this and am very curious.