Trimming 308 brass, too short-still usable?

[bobotech]

I was setting up my Lyman trimmer the other night and trimmed about 7 peices too short.

The min trim to length is 2.005 but I was shooting for 2.008-2.009. 5 of the brass are around 2.002 and 2 are way under at 1.996.

Are they still save to use or would I risk too much headspace and a possible blow up?

This is going to be used in my Saiga 308.

 

[JDGray]

Your gonna loose some neck tension, load some up, and check if they slip. If your bullets have a crimp groove, dont seat any deeper to try and reach them.

Bottleneck cases headspace off the sholder, so your safe there.

 

[rcmodel]

Case length has absolutely nothing to do with headspace on a bottle-neck rifle case.

Headspace is totally controlled by the distance from the case head to a datum line on the shoulder.

As noted, the only potential problem will be with crimping.
Nothing else.

rc

 

[mkl]

In your case with the 308, head space is determined by the shoulder, not the neck length.

You will probably be okay to shoot the "shorties" as long as you can get proper neck tension, but don't plan on super accuracy if you are into target shooting.

 

[bobotech]

Oh doh.
I was thinking that the round headspaced on the rim of the case mouth ala a semi-auto round would and forgot that the headspace was on the shoulder of a rifle bottle neck round.

 

[33rowdy]

I done the same thing with my .270. They are like 2.522" - 2.525". Not sure what I'm gonna do with them.

 

[bobotech]

Well I loaded mine up and used the Lee FCD on them. They still crimped.