Which is more important for Brass, Times Loaded? or Times Trimmed?

[amlevin]

Which is more important to track, if at all? The number of times you've reloaded a piece of brass with the idea of tossing it before it reaches it's most likely failure point?

Or is it more important to keep track of the number of times a piece of brass is trimmed with the idea that the case is being thinned with each firing and the excess is "migrating" forward, causing a longer case.

It's been my practice to just trim after every firing if for no other reason than to make sure the case mouth is square with the case's axis.

Other's thoughts???

 

[markm87]

I only trim .223 brass anymore since it gets full length sizing every time for autoloaders.... and I have a giraud.

.308, 300WM, etc... I just don't trim. I started to try to trim the 300, but it never cut enough to make it worth adjusting the Wilson trimmer to do it. I'm not competing with this ammo though... just recreational precision shooting.

 

[jonbearman]

As long as there isnt an obvious thing wrong with it,dont woryy at all as I have 6 mmbr brass that has at least 30 loadings and have trimmed only one time so far.I dont load lazer rounds either.If you have to trim everytime then something is wrong.Keep track of how many firings to gage life expectancy from your brass and if you get over 30 times loaded,you have a good chamber in my mind.

 

[K22]

Absolutely no need to trim after every firing. If you have too then there is something wrong with the headspace or chamber.

I kept track of both the number of time reloaded and the times trimmed. I toss the cases after 12 to 15 reloadings depending on caliber. There's nothing scientific about this, it's just my way of managing my brass so as not to push the brass too far to failure. I check the case length before each reload and trim only when length exceeds max. specified. Reason I noted number of times trimmed is to monitor case expansion.

 

[Win94ae]

I have over 70 firings with my M1917 30-06, and my Win94 30-30. I don't see any issue with the cases, and see no reason why they'll not fire another 70 or more times.

I trim every time I size; because if I wait until the case max length, it is a chore to trim with my Lee hand trimmer.

[EDIT]
What I think "is more important to track," is when last annealed... I anneal on multiples of 7.
[/EDIT]

 

[amlevin]

FWIW, the reason I posed the question to begin with was that I happened to see some Sinclair Ammo Labels. Rather than "Times Loaded" as all the MTM and Caseguard box labels use, Sinclair Labels use the term "Times Trimmed".

Was just curious if there was a specific reason, that perhaps someone at Sinclair thought times trimmed was more important.


As for my trimming practices, I just trim every time because I want to. I probably don't trim more than a "thou" or two each time. Sometimes the cutter just scrapes the carbon that remains on the edge of the case mouth. One thing for sure though, even after sizing, etc., the case mouths are always square.

It also gives me something to do with my evening TV Time. My trimmer is mounted on a "Lap Board" so I can sit in my chair, trim cases, watch the evening news, and say "Yes Dear" at the appropriate times 8)