Lc brass

[Catpop]

I was having fun this afternoon trimming some 223 brass (yuck), but somebody's got to do it. I was using my old manual crank universal trimmer.
Anyway I got to noticing that LC up to 2002 hardy required any trimming whereas 2011 and up required a lot of trimming. Has anyone else ever noticed this or is just me.
I sort by year when working up loads and I'm currently using 2010.
Did they do a better job back then maybe?
Catpop

 

[moxie]

Has the old stuff been trimmed before? How many times?

Suggest you get an inexpensive Possum Hollow kwick case trimmer and power adapter and chuck it on your drill. You're done before you know it!

http://www.sjsinclair.com/products.html

 

[Reloadron]

How much you need to trim has a lot to do with what the brass was fired in and if it was previously trimmed.

You take a fired case and size it and after sizing you trim. I assume full length re sizing? I just prepped a few hundred LC cases which were LC 13 so pretty current and all once fired. They required very little metal removal and I trimmed to a nominal 2.005".Guessing I got them after sizing around .002" over at most.

Ron

 

[Ironicaintit]

Ive got LC brass from as late as the mid 60's, up to the 80's, some 90's and a few '06-'09...
And some just stretch more than the others. And some eras that seem to shoot craps long before id expect.
Stuff from the 60s is tough stuff and hardly seems to stretch at all, while anything I have after 2000 is just crap (or seems to be...it could have been used harder than my earlier stuff)
So im not surprised that youd see a trend like that. Just make a note of it, and keep them trimmed up until they qualify as scrap.

 

[Catpop]

Tx guys,
Trimmed before? Hum? That a good thought.
Power trim, I can do with Lee in my drill press, but I hate chucking and unchucking the case with the Lee. I think I am faster with the Lyman universal as I developed a method to my madness.
I went to the sinclair web site as suggested, but could not tell how it works. Want to elaborate for me?
Again tx, catpop

 

[Walkalong]

There is a cutter in the trimmer body. The body has a "shoulder" that the case's shoulder stops on. Adjust the cutter inside the body to get the trim length you want.

Works just like the WFT and other similar trimmers. I have a PH trimmer for .223 that I also use for .222 Mag. I have a WFT for 300 BLK. They sure beat hand trimmers.

 

[Conservidave]

i just did 80 pieces of LC15, it all took a few thousands to get spec. Other than that is seems fine to me

 

[calaverasslim]

I ordered the "Little Crow Gunworks" trimmer for the 5.56. Fast a doesn't vary.

 

[Catpop]

Are yawl trimming back to max or to recommended trim to length?

 

[rcmodel]

Power trim, I can do with Lee in my drill press, but I hate chucking and unchucking the case with the Lee

Don't use the Lee chuck.

Put the cutter & depth stop in your drill press.

Then hand hold the cases flat on the drill press table.

The table becomes to depth stop as the trimmer rod bottoms out on it.

rc

 

[Catpop]

RC,
That is one horse of a different color! Great innovation! That will be done on my next trimming task as I already have the tools.
Tx, catpop

 

[Bexar]

I was having fun this afternoon trimming some 223 brass (yuck), but somebody's got to do it. I was using my old manual crank universal trimmer.
Anyway I got to noticing that LC up to 2002 hardy required any trimming whereas 2011 and up required a lot of trimming. Has anyone else ever noticed this or is just me.
I sort by year when working up loads and I'm currently using 2010.
Did they do a better job back then maybe?
Catpop

My thoughts:

Perhaps...

Different contractor running the LC plant between those dates.

Light Machine Gun fired as opposed to rifle/carbine fired cases.

LC machines wearing over that time period but still in spec.

I'm not sure if I remember this correctly but there was a processor. I think that "processed military brass by rolling it between two steel plates instead of running it through dies. That's just a rumor I heard one time. This "resized" the head/base but not the shoulder.

 

[jeeptim]

WFT.
is the way to go and wont break the bank.