30-30 brass trim to length...

[Shinbone]

Hello all.
I have a large bag of 30-30 brass that I bought at a local gun show quite awhile ago. I'd like to reload them, but they have been trimmed down to on average about 2.021". Some are right around 2.025".
I have several reloading manuals and they vary a little in trim to length as listed. I've seen 2.03", 2.029" and 2.028"; all manuals list a length longer than the cases I have. Can I still use them?
Thanks.

 

[Charlie98]

Should be OK as long as you aren't pushing a maximum load. Personally, I would true them all up to the same size, so you know what you are dealing with, then develop your load for those cases. I've had to do the same thing with my .348WCF. Assuming you are using those in a tubular magazine, you will want your crimp uniform.

 

[Shinbone]

Thanks Charlie. I assume you mean to trim them all to the shortest length?
Yes, they would be used in a tubular magazine and not to a maximum load. Probably a starting load.

 

[joneb]

I have trimmed some 30-30 Win brass to 2.025" to get all the cases to the same length and to get the case mouths square. With some batches I have achieved this at 2.030", I have not found that .005" makes much of a difference.
I do seat and crimp in separate steps.

 

[FROGO207]

Yeah the difference in brass will not matter as long as they are all the same and using the same load you work up. Still the necks on 30-30 are short and thin so keeping batches long will help with bullet tension. I have not seen a measurable accuracy difference using different length brass, probably due to the stacking tolerances in all the variables in the lever gun lockup.

 

[ArchAngelCD]

A difference of only 0.005" could easily be a measurement error since its so small. It is 100% safe to use 30-30 brass with a length of 2.021" . That brass might be from Hornady Leverevolution ammo. Hornady recommends a trim to 2.019" when loading the FTX bullet and they would not recommend that length if it were all unsafe.

Load them up as usual, they are safe. You might want to keep some for loading FTX bullets too.

 

[Charlie98]

Well, my concern is the varying case length will cause troubles at the crimp process. .30-30, because of it's thin necks, is more likely to deform or crush... at least in my experience. That's one of the reasons i like to crimp in a separate step...

 

[1KPerDay]

Size them before you trim.

 

[frankmako]

yes you can use them. size them then recheck them. but no matter they are okay to use. later if you need to trim them then i would sized before trim. i go with the 2.028 on my 30-30 brass. the 30-30 is very forgiving so don't worry to much about brass length. i use the 30-30 nin nra bigbore lever action metcallic silhouette matches. i shoot a lots of 30-30 reloaded ammo each month and check case lenght once a year. i don't have many that needs trimming. i have found some factory bass is short from the start.