.44 magnum case length question

[sw282]

l am a sorry shot. Been shooting IHMSA Big Bore since the late 70s. l still trim my 44 cases and guess l always W I L L

[Hickory]

Shooting skills are a degenerative skill.
Most people are at their best when they are in their 30's.

[mdi]

Well, here's another "I do it this way..." post.

I have been reloading the 44 Magnum since '88. I have loaded everything from 123 gr. balls over a dusting of Bullseye to 310 grain ingots over near max/max loads of WC 820. My most accurate shooting was done with my Dan Wesson 44 H and I got quite a few sub 1" groups at 50', and many 1 1/4" (I was shooting indoors 80% of the time). I reload for 5, 44 Magnums, now use almost exclusively cast bullets (my best groups were with 429421s). I started with "standard" roll crimps then Redding Profile Crimps, and now split the crimping between a Lee collet crimp and the Redding crimp.I measured about 50-60 mixed cases once to see just how wide the case lengths vary, but I have never trimmed a 44 Magnum case...

[Hickory]

When my nephew got his Springfield Armory 1911 in 45 acp he asked me how often he would need to trim the cases.
I said never. You'll loose them before you ever need to trim them.
And so it is.

[Tripplebeards]

Just depends how tight you do or don’t want your groups. I’m sure when your shooting 50 yards or farther it’s going to make a difference. IMO there’s going to be enough pressure differences at this distance with various case lengths that your groups without a doubt are going to open up VS cases trimmed all to the same length. Probably not much of a difference till you shoot past 30 yards if I had to guess. I trim mine to the same length because I use them in my 44 mag rifles at longer distances. If you check out my home page you can see some of my 100 yard sub MOA cast boolit groups with my Ruger 77/44 and devastor boolits. I agree that trimming is probably not as nessary for minute of milk jugs at 15 yards. But if it were me...which I do...I trim all to the same length after every firing. One less variable I can eliminate. Especially if your at top end of your recommend loads.

The problem your going to have is inconsistent crimping with the various case lengths.

[megasupermagnum]

.002" is nothing to worry about. It won't effect crimps, and I really doubt you could ever measure it on paper. I also trim revolver brass, once fired. I find they grow a lot on the first firing. After the first trim, they don't seem to change length, even after 10+ firings. I swear some gets shorter.