Oddities when processing 45ACP brass

[looking4reloadingdeals]

I’m currently processing a bunch of 45 acp cases and it seems like a ton of my brass is coming in way under the case gauge minimum lip (shown below). There was also very minimal of the die needed to resize cases (a couple turns off the shell plate would still pass gauge and be undersized). The brass was actually easy to insert into the gauge before being resized at all (needed to be pushed out however). When measuring the brass before being resized the length was 0.884-0.895” where the “case length” in my hornady book says 0.898”. 
 

Comparing that batch of brass to some once fired factory brass, the die needed to be moved down to touching the shell plate like normal to resize once fired brass. 
 

So I know the notches in the case gauge for pistol is not as important as rifle brass since it just goes off the case length. Are these short pieces ok to shoot? If they cycle in my 1911 are they good to go? Or should I worry about the “headspace”?

 

 

[Farmer]

Just set your die to barely touch the shell plate while sizing a piece of brass and call it good. I’ve seen book lengths from .892-.898. The higher end means it shouldn’t go over that and most won’t. Always measure your brass after sizing as it will generally grow but after many reloading’s it actually gets shorter. I have noticed that the newer brass seems to be a little under what older stuff was in the past. I’m thinking they are making it closer to save on waste.  I personally wouldn’t worry about them as long as they fire. If they get too short it can put some stress on the extractor but I’ve never seen yet where that’s caused a problem. Dropping a round in the chamber and releasing the slide is far worse. 

[looking4reloadingdeals]

Thanks for the input. Iv never really worried about if some are a little under on 9mm, but they’ve never been as far off as some of this 45