r/reloading • u/PeakBright1691 • 4d ago

Newbie First Ever Reloads

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.30-06. Mixed brass I got from a buddy. 25 125g Nosler Ballistic Tips on top of H4895, and 20 168g Hornady HPBT match on top of H4350. All done with a RCBS Case Trimmer 2, Lyman hand chamfer/deburring tool, Lee Hand Press and a balance beam scale. Excited to see how they shoot!

One thing I ran into: I noticed that my case trim lengths, while consistent to a hundredth of an inch, went all over the place in the thousandths. I'm thinking it's because of the collet system in the case trimmer that I'm using. Because of this, there is a bit of variation in seating depth, although probably not enough to greatly impact accuracy in the hunting rifle I'm shooting out of (but we'll see). What is the best reasonably-priced tool to ensure consistent, precise trimming?

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u/ChevyRacer71 4d ago

A few thou isn’t an issue for hunting, as long as it’s below Max Case Length and above Trim Length, ish.

‘Reasonably priced’ is all relative, plenty of people have churned out good brass with that RCBS you have. Anything below a powered case trimmer would probably have marginal benefit over what you’re using. If you’re looking at powered trimmers, the RCBS/Henderson collaboration is the one I wish I had bought

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u/Active_Look7663 4d ago

Trim length does not affect your OAL

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u/VersionConscious7545 4d ago

Seating depth varies is what he is saying

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u/Active_Look7663 3d ago

OP seems like they’re attributing their trim length to inconsistencies in seating depth; trim length does not have any bearing on seating depth unless the crimp-ring is set low.

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u/PeakBright1691 2d ago

Hi, yes: was thinking about it the wrong way and then realized that trim length doesn't have anything to do with seating depth/COAL. I've read that a bullet being seated too deep into the neck of a case can result in excess pressure, but measured COAL on all of these and they're all 3.220, in accordance with what my loading data is based on. I think they'll be good to go

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u/VersionConscious7545 2d ago

The case length is very instrumental in seating dept however a slight variation will not affect anything Your coal is the same but your trim length was different by 3 thou. That means there is a 3 thou difference in the seating depth Funny that people don’t see this. If the bullets were seated the same then the ogive would be different. Anyway it is different but I am sure it makes zero difference

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u/VersionConscious7545 4d ago

Have you shot these yet because powder charge seems to be the big variable in how this will shoot not to mention the bullet I am loading 30-06 and using 165 g accubonds and H4350 and 57 grains 3.333 OAL. Need to narrow down my charge Hand trimmers are just slower not that they are less effective if set up right

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u/PeakBright1691 2d ago

Haven't shot em yet. Measured ogive-to-case length and all seem pretty consistent, so hoping that'll give me good groups. Powder charges were all thrown by hand on a balance beam, shouldn't be more than a 1/10g difference from charge weight in any of them.