I have been reloading for close to 6 months now but mostly I load 45 ACP for my 1911. I recently purchased a revolver and started reloading 357 and discovered that many of the once fired brass I acquired were slightly different lengths. Now with 45 ACP cases rarely stretch and even if the cases are slight different lengths it doesn't matter much but I wondered about 357.

When reloading 357 last night I noticed that several rounds either didn't crimp as much or over crimped which caused inconsistencies with uniformity. I am sure they will all shoot ok but if the cases is too long it could deform due to over crimping or to short and I could get bullet setback. Just curious what other people do in terms of trimming 357 cases. Should I do it or not worry about it?

I usually have to trim the once fired cases. Subsequent reloadings I'll measure the cases, and find I usually don't have to trim them.

I trim rimmed revolver cases so that I get a consistent crimp on all my rounds. Its a matter of safety for me.

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-John

I trim all my brass to a uniform length so I will get the same amount of crimp on each round. I only re-trim if I find that some brass has 'grown' at a much different rate than the others.

I do know that several revolver reloaders never trim. But I like to keep my case lengths within a few thousands of each other.

the only time i trim mine is when the mouth splits from to many reloading's, and then i make 38's out of them.

I trim before loading them the first time , but have never found it necessary to trim more than once.

I brought out my Lee trimmer and started to check my 357 brass last week and got bored going through it. I could not find one that needed trimming. I guess if you don't do the hot loads the case does not grow, but it gave me an opportunity to check for cracks.

I have never trimmed any pistol brass. I have loaded .44 Mag all the way down to .380. Now perhaps the .480 and .500 cartridges would need to be trimmed but not most pistol.

I haven't trimmed any of my pistol brass, and hope I don't have to on .357--just got over 1800 pieces along in some stuff I just bought.

Another option would be to obtain a Lee Factory Taper crimp die. The taper crimp will be more tolerant of differences in case lengths.

I've been at it for about 6 months too. From what I've learned here on this forum, if you're doing load development and trying to find an accurate load for your specific gun, or if you want accuracy (POA = POI) from your reloads, you need to measure everything and everything should be uniform. New cases vary, once shot, twice and three times even more. Assembly also needs to be uniform. Otherwise, multiple differences add up and you don't have a box of accurate rounds. I used to sort 357 case lengths so each batch that went to the seater and crimp die would be uniform, and I adjusted the die for each length. But then I learned that I couldn't compare batches with other batches. Each batch would have an intentional incremental powder charge difference, but since the cases were of different lengths; case volume, pressure and velocity wouldn't necessarily have an consistent incremental change - so the carefully measured powder charge difference was a waste of time. So I found that case trimming is an easy step to add to the reloading process. One more inconsistency removed. I found that the Hornady Cam-Lock Case Trimmer works great.

On the other hand, if your not on a quest for an accurate round you can use the approach if you miss - just fire another round.

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I'd like to agree with you BUT

Few people trim their handgun brass. Like stated above pick up a Lee FCD and forget about it. The FCD will swage your bullets down but this isnt a problem for most 357's. 45LC is another story.

I have trimmed all my 357 and 44 mag brass once @ 0.020" too short in the unsized state. After resizing the brass is at minimum length + 0, - 0.005" . When I find range brass, I trim, tumble and reload. I have not had a problem with crimp or a too long case stuck in a cylinder.

I don't clean primer pockets.

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S&WHF 366

If I am loading for plinking, I don't bother. If I am loading for any type of critical analysis, then I measure everything.

No matter what brass you are loading,rifle or pistol,if it gets to or near the maximum length, it should be trimed.............

After shooting a New box of ammo I will check for out of round brass and brass with a high edge or spot and these will be trimed and shaved to match the rest of the box,for best accuracy for future loads.
I always measure and check all brass that is new to me for any defects and after it passes my inspection, that is usually the last time that it will see my trim station again since the brass usually will crack or split befor it needs to be trimed again.........90% of the brass is good from the start.

I've been reloading since the mid 80's and never trimmed any pistol cases. I shoot tons of .357's from lever action rifles, pistols and Contenders and never had a problem with a round not chambering due to stretched case length. However, I never roll crimp, it's taper crimp all the time in station #4 on my Dillon 550. It's been my observation that a .357 shell will split long before it needs to be trimmed, especially nickeled cases. Unless you're making match grade ammo, I wouldn't bother trimming. I load 18 different calibers and find it's only the rifle brass that requires trimming.

With the exception of 45acp all my other cases get trimmed. Makes for a much better crimp. In some cases I but extra case length gages from lee and stone down the tip to get to the shorties. Frank

Dave Scovill wrote an excellent article on the need for case trimming. It appears starting on page 8 of the new (Dec.) issue of Handloader magazine. I read his conclusion to be: If you want to be able to determine exactly what you are working with in the quest for accuracy, handgun cases will require trimming, because uniform crimp is dependent on perfectly square case mouths.

I trim revolver brass intended for use developing my long range revolver skills. In the firearms context, the word "match" usually means a competition, but in general use it also means "the same". So general use brass won't get trimmed, but the long range stuff will. One little tidbit here for those interested: I don't trim nickel plated brass at all. I've had issues in the past with the plating flaking off around the case mouths on trimmed brass. I rarely use nickel brass any more at all for various reasons, usually to identify some sort of special purpose load, like my 147 gr 9mm bowling pin load.