I'll admit I'm trying to be lazy. But with one fired brass that I've verified is all under 1.760" is it ok to set the seater/crimp die off a 1.760" piece of brass and then just let her rip on the press? Not looking for match grade ammo, just reliable safe plinking rounds using 55gr hornady bullets.
Tia for all responses

If they are under 1.760 then don't trim. Load away.

Sure.

However depending on what crimp die your using, you will have inconsistent crimp rings if all your cases are not trimmed to the same length.

Measure several pieces then set up on the one in the middle, then they all get some amount of crimp.

I don't trim every time either. As long as they're under the max length I'll set up in the middle and load 'em.

You'll get inconsistent amounts of crimp but for blasting ammo it's fine.

Lots of ppl will tell you that you don't need to crimp anyway, I do but it's a light kiss.

If I have 2 pieces of brass that are the same length, it's pure coincidence and the moons have aligned.

Your ammo will be fine.

The Hornady 55g FMJ is not a match bullet, so don't knock yourself out trying to precision load.

Don't crimp much and you won't have problems with variable length brass.

No truer words can be spoken and read!

Reloading is about minimizing variables.  Consistency is essential.  




If you start taking short cuts with poor advice from the internet where does it end?  Why waste your time to shoot crappy ammo?  If you have crappy ammo you will not enhance your shooting skills.  Why handicap yourself with
ammo that is not accurate?  The poster offering the advice posted he wanted to shoot better, well perhaps his problem is crappy ammo?

As wise man said (Col. Townsend Whelen) Only Accurate Guns Are Interesting....make it so!

This ^^^^^^

Your best option is to set your seat/crimp die for NO CRIMP.

Inconsistent neck length (as long as they are within spec) will have very little effect on the accuracy of your plinking ammo. Inconsistent crimping will. So just don't crimp.

Motor

All this depends on priorities, time and money available, etc.  

If you crimp, all the brass should have the same length. If you don't crimp then a variance within the SAAMI limits will be fine.

And what is a shortcut?

Are all cases from the exact same manufacturing lot?
Have they been sorted by wall thickness?
Have the primer pockets been uniformed?
Have the neck walls been turned to within .0002" of each other?
Have the primers all been seated with a seating micrometer?
Are the Bullets hand swaged from a reputable benchrest bullet maker?
Have the charges been individually weighed to within .05 grains?
Were the Bullets seated with an inline seater?

The steps above may make all the difference in the world to a benchrest or long range competitor, but will have virtually no effect on the function of ammo slammed from a magazine into a 5.56  NATO chamber.

Decide what is important to your needs.

1. Safety
2. Quality/Perfornance
3. Speed

So what was the actual variance in length? What purpose are you reloading for? If it's for plinking and the case lengths are within a few thousands, you should be fine. But for hunting or precision shooting, reduce the variables as others have suggested. Use the same cases, trim them etc.

I never crimp, I always set my seater die for a longer case and let er rip.

If he does it without trimming and wants a consistent crimp wouldn't a Lee FCD work well for this application?  Not perfect, but better than the alternative.

This is what I do on my 550, just touch it though. Don't get crazy with the crimp...you can over crimp. Word is that over cramping can move the CG around and compromise the core-jacket bond. Both of which are no good.

If I'm loading OCD ammo with a pricey bullet I weigh cases to +/- 3 gr after trimming to 1.760 +/-0.001.

Yeah, I rarely crimp, but when I do it is negligible.  I use an FCD in a single stage and use a consistent crimp torque handle at about 15 lbs, which is light.

Until I read this thread I had no idea the amount of crimp was so crucial.  So the lighter the crimp the more accuracy?  I wonder what the reason for that could be?  The bullet doesn't need to struggle to release itself??
I had assumed a good crimp was necessary to secure the bullet from undesired movement, but I'm now gathering that the bullet being pushed in by my (Dillon 550) seating die is sufficient, i.e. just a force fit.

Crimp vs no crimp as far as accuracy goes is always being debated. One thing that everyone agrees on is that inconsistency is not good for accuracy.

So it's not really the amount of crimp that is crucial but the consistency of the crimp. If using a roll crimp the only way to have consistent crimping is to have consistent case length.

Yes the Lee FCD would be a much better choice for crimping inconsistent case lengths but there will still be some inconsistency of the crimp but nothing compared to roll crimping inconsistent case lengths.

With all this being said many of us have found that crimping ammo for our semiautomatic rifles (bottle neck cases) is simply not necessary but you won't know this unless you check.

There's nothing wrong with crimping semiautomatic rifle ammo but there is no rule saying that you have to.

For my most accurate rifle ammo I'll rely on the natural consistent tension provided by the brass over any mechanically applied enhancement.