Case Trimming

[docpyzon]

Hello all....New to the forum and just got bit by the USPSA shooting bug. I've pretty much decided on what pistol, caliber, division and all that I'm going to start with and have become a new member of the USPSA. It didn't take me long to realize that I might as well purchase a reloader (Dillon 550) if I'm jumping in with both feet and I have a couple of questions for you folks that have been in it for awhile.

I'm going with a XD Tactical in 9mm production division and my first question is where should I start as far as powder type, bullet weight, bullet type(FMJ, JHP etc).

My other question has to do with trimming the brass after it has been loaded a few times. I have been loading varmint loads for my 22-250 for several years out of my Rock Chucker and always checked and trimmed my brass for length and used the deburring tool to clean them up. Is case trimming required for pistol brass too. I've never loaded a pistol load and I can't seem to find anywhere that it says it's required to trim them.

Also do you just use large or small rifle primers for handgun loads or do they make pistol primers just for this.

Thanks for any help and I'm sure this will not be my last set of questions as I get deeper into this USPSA deal....Dan Bell

[George]

No. Trimming straight wall pistol cases is not required as they do not grow after re-sizing like bottle neck rifle cases do. Differnt' animal altogether.

Good choice on the XD in niner. You will get good case life if you bother to pick them up. At 15-20 bucks a k for 1x 9mm cases you are in phat city there.

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Regards,

[EricW]

Straight wall pistol cases actually *shorten* over time. That's right, they get shorter, not longer. Trimming pistol cases is absolutely unneccessary.

Please spend your extra time reading Brian's book and shooting.

[JFD]

My 3 calipers must be lying to me

I've yet to see my .38 Super cases shrink, and this is with minor PF loads.

For some stupid reason I started trimming the once-fired .45 cases I was buying. Never trimmed them again, but I do it the first time. Still doing this and can't really explain why. That the gun always runs 100% probably means I'll keep doing it.

I did avoid making the same mistake when I started shooting the .40 in Limited. All I do is run them through an undersized EGW die and never look back.

[Paradox]

What's a caliper?

Seriously, just make sure there aren't any split cases or other abnormalities... and shoot 'em.

[shred]

My 3 calipers must be lying to me

I've yet to see my .38 Super cases shrink, and this is with minor PF loads.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

There's your problem . Shoot Major loads and you'll see.

Resizing straight-wall cases squishes the case mouth towards the base and without a neck expander or neck headspace to take up on firing, there's not really any stretching going on.

[NoTenX]

You may want to chamfer new brass particular if shooting lead

[Action Pistolero]

About 8 years ago I order several k of Starlines 9 super comp. The case length was fine until it was sized. After sizing it grew to the point that it was over the max case length. So I set up a Forster case trimmer powered by a drill and went to work. I went out and shot some groups with it and the group size decreased by a good bit.

I shoot Action Pistol so I now only trim cases for the big matches. I weigh the bullets too. If you ever want a tack driver this is the way to do it. It doesn't hurt to have a finely tuned 1911 either.

The accuracy requirement is not great in USPSA so I wouldn't bother. Just get a bunch of once fired stuff and blast away.

[Harmon]

If your gonna trim the brass, you might as well clean the primer pockets too while your wasting time...

really, clean, inspect, load, and shoot....thats all thats neeeded for pistol ammo