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Checking cartridge length.

mstrblastermstrblaster Member Posts: 243 ✭✭✭
edited January 2014 in Perry Shooter Competition Shooting and Reloading Forum
I saw a post on one of the other GB forums that asked when you should check the length of the cases you are reloading. Someone answered them back and really blasted them like they were stupid and telling them that you always check them for length after sizing bla, bla, bla.

But it really made me think about it. I reload my rifle shells on a single stage press and check their length after sizing. But my pistol cartridges I reload in a Dillon 550B. I have always checked the length before I put them in the press and haven't found hardly any that were too long or didn't fit in my pistols.

So I wonder.....does anyone pull their cases out after they are sized,primed,and charged to check them to see if they are too long before they put a bullet in it? That almost defeats the purpose of having a progressive reloader...

What do ya think??
To my mind it is wholly irresponsible to go out into the world incapable of preventing violence, injury, crime, and death. How feeble is the mindset to accept defenselessness, how cheap, how cowardly, how pathetic. Ted Nugent.
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    charliemeyer007charliemeyer007 Member Posts: 6,579 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I don't worry about straight pistol case length. My bottlenecked Jet seems to care. I took a tapered reamer to the seating die that came with the Lee carbide 44 mag dies. The square edge inside made it critical on case length for amount of crimp, reamer solved that issue. I trim to uniform length most new pistol brass, flash hole de-burr, light outside and good inside chamfer then run them until they split.
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    perry shooterperry shooter Member Posts: 17,390 ✭
    edited November -1
    Please read the two STICKY on top of this forum It might give you insight on why and how to crimp Pistol cases of different types. High pressure cases that are bottle necked will grow in Length .Straight walled Pistol cases will get shorter . crimp can serve two different function holding bullet from jumping forward during recoil and prevent bullet from being pushed back into case on chambering a round
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    noyljnoylj Member Posts: 172 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    With straight wall cases, the "problem" is the case starts out shorter than ideal and shrinks from there. handguns suffer head space that would give ulcers to a rifle shooter.
    Obviously, the question of when to check the case length (not COL) is after sizing.
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    gunnut505gunnut505 Member Posts: 10,290 ✭
    edited November -1
    Since you are using a 550B to reload; you should be certain that your cases are the same length after tumbling, and prior to placing them in the reloader.
    Failure to do this simple thing will cause your accuracy to suffer due to a varying crimp.
    You might even increase pressures.
    I trim after tumbling, since the case has stretched or shrunk as much as it is going to after firing.
    If I were really * about it, I'd be pulling cases out after sizing, checking OAL after crimping, and weighing each case.
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