Sore fingers

[Dimner]

I'm not 100% certain that this is the right place for this, but...

My fingers are a bit sore today. I sized all of my 30-30 cases. Then I hand trimmed them (no machine, just a hand tool). Next I deburred 100 of them and used my RCBS universal hand primer to install the primers. Tomorrow night (or sometime this weekend) I plan on loading them. Wish me luck because this is my first solo batch of cartridges using my own equipment. I'm trying to decide on a starting powder charge right now. It might take me a couple of days but I think I'm going to end up settling on 28.3 gn of powder. It's a little towards the high end of the middle of the minimum and maximum. IMR 4895 w/ Sierra 150 gn round nose bullets.

Attachment 253730

I started out with the same tools and the same cartridge the good ol 30 wcf. I had so many blisters from that hand trimming tool. I would have to wear carving thumb protectors because I was processing 250 pieces of brass. One hint though. You don't have to trim your brass as long as it's not over the max brass length. The max brass length is much different than the trim to lengths the reloading manuals tell us to trim our brass too.

Once I learned that, my fingers healed up very quick.

So for the 30-30 the max brass length is 2.039

The trim length from the book is 2.029. Personally I only trim anything over 2.040 and i trim it down to 2.040.

[Tom W.]

I turned mine into an A.I. and haven't had to trim since!!!!!

[smithnframe]

I would use a cast bullet!

[gumbo333]

My 30/30 brass has never grown much to need trimming. Even the 170 gr Speer's loaded with LVR. But my most accurate loading is not the fastest as listed in the manuals. That's a plus for lever action or lower pressure type cartridges.

[Rich/WIS]

My trimmer is an old Forster with the handle that screws on and removing the handle let me chuck it into a battery drill. The Lyman hand tool is nice but cutting about 1 1/2 inches off the tip end of a scrap cleaning rod lets you screw the various chamfer tool into it and then chuck the rod in the drill and go for it. Not sure what you use for trimming but the Lyman trimmer has a power tool attachment that will let you use a drill.