Do you trim 45-70 brass?

[dmftoy1]

My friend just bought a new rifle in 45-70 so he'll be borrowing my equipment to do some reloading and I just wanted to double check on whether it was necessary to trim 45-70 brass before you loaded it? I"ve never trimmed pistol brass and seeing as this just looks like a pistol round on steroids . . . .

Any and all advice is greatly appreciated.

Have a good one,
Dave

 

[Starter52]

I never bother to trim .45/70 brass. It's a rimmed case so headspace is not a problem. Most of my .45/70 loads are mild (1500 fps) and the brass hardly stretches at all.

 

[dmftoy1]

Thanks! I'll be loading powder puffs myself. (5lbs of trailboss on the shelf. )

Have a good one,
Dave

 

[Gewehr98]

Something I've noticed about straight-wall cases.

An old gunsmith told me that straight-wall cartridge cases, like .38 Special, .357 Magnum, .44 Special, .45 ACP, and .45-70 were like Mexican women. The older they got, the shorter and fatter they got. I've never had to trim my .45-70 brass, so he may be on to something there.

 

[Bad Flynch]

A dead-square case mouth is a blessing when it comes to getting a nice, even crimp. The Forster and the Wilson case trimmers are capable of this.

Yes, occasionally mine stretch and I have to trim. New cases are not always uniform and even, either.

 

[smallblessing]

I have been loading 45/70 for just under a year. I trim all my brass as a matter of course. There are two reasons. I want to be sure that I maintain the proper internal dimensions, and, in the case of straight sided cases, I want to make sure that when I crimp the case that they all crimp the same. Before I started this, I had a few that buckled.

John Paul

 

[GooseGestapo]

I trim them once before the first loading. I use a Lee trimmer and cordless electric drill and chamfer them at the same time.

This makes them all crimp uniformly for best accuracy.

Not absolutely neccessary, but nice.

It may be helpful after 15 or 20 loadings to forestall neck cracking, which would improve case life.