Trimming .44 Rem Mag Cases for consistent crimp?

I think some sound like consistent seating depth wouldn't matter either, as long as it chambered. Reminds me why I don't shoot other reloader's ammo.
 
You can dismiss it if you don't care about consistent crimps within meaningful tolerances, especially an outlier you can tell at a glance.
 
With the ten's of thousand's of rounds that I have reloaded I have not found inconsistencies that would warrant trimming case with regards to crimp.
 
44 AMP said:
I will admit there is no "needless extra work" when you are doing it for the love of the hobby. :D

on the other hand, doing extra things for a result you are not going to get seems rather pointless to me.
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Exactly. I don't reload to save money. I don't reload because I have odd or discontinued ammo. I don't reload because I have to. I reload because I like to.

If I want to do "waste of time" processes to my ammo, it's all good. If I use "bench rest" techniques for ammo to hunt tin cans, it's all good. I spend time in my shop that pleases me. I spend money on components because the end product pleases me (and that's a little better than spending my money on booze and broads). I get great satisfaction loading some hand made ammo into my guns and seeing the results on a target. I think all the negative posts about what some other reloader does is a "waste of time"...

BTW; my bullet seating is very consistent and case length has very little to do with that .002"-.003" variation in my OAL...
 
If I want to do "waste of time" processes to my ammo, it's all good.
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Absolutely :) . No argument there. Just don't take it personal :) . We all have our own opinion. My waste of time, is someone else's quality time ... All good :) . Garage sells have the same saying, one man's junk is another mans treasure... Applies to collectors vs. shooters -- one man's cardboard box is junk, but to a collector it is worth something... And so it goes.
 
Do you need consistent crimps? That is totally up to you.

No matter what you think or anyone says, If you want consistent crimps for any reason you have to have consistent length brass.

This may take trimming.
 
If I want to do "waste of time" processes to my ammo, it's all good. If I use "bench rest" techniques for ammo to hunt tin cans, it's all good. I spend time in my shop that pleases me. I spend money on components because the end product pleases me (and that's a little better than spending my money on booze and broads). I get great satisfaction loading some hand made ammo into my guns and seeing the results on a target. I think all the negative posts about what some other reloader does is a "waste of time"
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The negative replies are answering the OP's question as "is it necessary" and why do you take it as being negative replies?
 
Reloading has a large personal preference influence. Negative posts ("waste of time") is in fact attacking one's personal choices. The only "waste of time" for my reloading is trying to modify my reloading methods to be "just like the other guys"...
 
mikld
I do get alot of satisfaction out of reloading along with booze and broads , life is good . To bad I couldn't do all three at the same time . Tuff getting old .
 
Don P
With the ten's of thousand's of rounds that I have reloaded I have not found inconsistencies that would warrant trimming case with regards to crimp.
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Since I think it unlikely that a person shoots "tens of thousands of rounds" of revolver ammo, especially magnums, dealing with a crimp groove in the bullets, I wonder if you are including semi-auto ammo, which is not what we are talking about here.
 
A couple FWIW thoughts. I have been reloading since 1969 and 95% being revolver handloads (total of 10 guns in 38, 357, 44 S, 44 M, 45 Colt) and 98% cast bullets. While I don't count there's a very good possibility I have reloaded/fired tens of thousands of rounds in my reloading/shooting career.
My all time favorite cartridge is the .44 Magnum and I have 5 guns chambered for it. For a few years (?) I reloaded and shot the 44 almost exclusively...

Yesterday, just for my own info I measured about 100 44 Magnum cases. My once fired Starline brass varied .003" in length, 1.279"-1.282. Some new unfired, unsized Starline measured 1.277"-1.279". My many times fired R-P brass measured 1.280"-1.284". Some Hornady, 1.279"-1.282". After digging in my stash for the oldest (I think) brass I found some very old WW and they measured 1.279"-1.285". So, my stash of 44 Magnum brass, even if I used the shortest and the longest mixed in a batch would only be .006" difference in length and how "inconsistent" would the crimp be with that little variation? All the brass I have is from about '90 reloaded numerous times to brand new purchased a few months ago (I only closely counted one batch of cases, Federal, and stopped at 13 reloadings of med.-heavy magnum loads. Others have gone beyond that I'm sure.)...
 
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Since I think it unlikely that a person shoots "tens of thousands of rounds" of revolver ammo, especially magnums, dealing with a crimp groove in the bullets, I wonder if you are including semi-auto ammo, which is not what we are talking about here.
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It is really quite hard to understand how you can make such a statement.

I bought my first 44 Mag (Ruger SBH in 1974). I has never witnessed factory ammo.

We would shoot 500-1000 rounds per month up until late 1984. That is 6,000-12,000 rounds per year in 2 different revolvers as my Dad was my shooting partner.

Do the math and see if you still have doubts.
 
Pardon my incredulity, but why were you shooting that many rounds and choosing to afford it?
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1) we like to shoot
2) because we could
3) I shot Handgun Silhouette back in those days as well.

It was a home range. My Dad doesn't shoot any more. At 89 yr old, he keeps the garden going and the yard mowed.

Now, our monthly consumption is much less than half of what it was.

To keep within the context of this thread, I have never trimmed a straight wall handgun cartridge case.
 
Pardon my incredulity, but why were you shooting that many rounds and choosing to afford it?
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I bought my first 44 Mag (Ruger SBH in 1974). I has never witnessed factory ammo.

We would shoot 500-1000 rounds per month up until late 1984.
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In 1974, primers were less than a penny apiece, powder was around $8 a pound at retail, and premium jacketed rifle bullets were about $.06 handgun bullets around $0.04, and home cast bullets might only cost 2 or three cents, or even less.

Not counting the cost of brass, (and remember that cost gets divided every use) you could conceivably load 1,000 rnds for $10 or so.often less.

The cost of a tank of gas in a mid size car. Or one family dinner at someplace other than a fast food joint. Yes, we made less money in terms of dollars than we do today, but costs were lower then too.
 
And, to add a little to that, you could buy a box of 100 Hornady JHP 240 grain for about $3.75-4.00 per 100. I had powders that were less than $5.00 per lb.

Speer bullets were about the same cost.

I spent nothing on my cast bullets as an old man that owned a tire shop gave me all the wheel weights that I wanted and some cable splicers that I knew would give me lead cable jackets and 9lb bars of 70/30 solder and once in a while some bars of 50/50 solder.

So, 44AMP, we have both "been there".
 
Yep, reloading can be really inexpensive. I had access to all the wheel weights I could carry so my cast bullets were really cheap. I picked up a lot of brass at the range nd bought "once fired" brass many times. I remember paying less than $1.00 for a sleeve of CCI primers (I usually just bought 4 or 5 sleeves at a time). Powder was the big expense and although I don't remember the actual cost it was around $15-$18 per lb. I was making $8.43 per hour and averaging 4 hours per week overtime, so I was able to afford, quite easily, 250-300 rounds of 44 Magnum per month, and often more. I did that until I got 4 more 44 Magnums and my round count increases to mebbe 500 per month. I did this for 20+ years. Reloading is my hobby and I sometimes doubled that count with the addition of a new gun and sometimes that number shrank to half that. So, a large round count is easily affordable. I dislike the "money thinking" about my reloading because I like to reload...
 
Since I think it unlikely that a person shoots "tens of thousands of rounds" of revolver ammo, especially magnums, dealing with a crimp groove in the bullets, I wonder if you are including semi-auto ammo, which is not what we are talking about here.

I shoot and reload 38 spl and 38 short colt using 160 grain bullets with NO CRIMP GROOVE. a solid crimp and I have zero bullet creep. And to answer your question "I do shoot tens of thousands of rounds or revolver ammo" shooting revolver in USPSA and ICORE;);)
 
The good old days really were good . I started reloading mid 60,s and shot a bunch . At the time gas was cheap cars were cheap and reloading supplies also cheap . I shot trap two or three nights a week and center fire rifle/pistol also . I was working 5/6 days a week making $14.00 dollars an hour . A new Chevy Pickup truck in 1969 was about the cost of sales tax on one now . I feel sorry for the younger people now every thing cost a lot and no one is making much more money then I was then .
 
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