Brass Triming

[wvanthony]

To follow-up on your side question about auto's throwing brass mine usually throw 'somewhat' in the same area but I always ended losing brass.  I usually shoot in areas that are not in a controlled range environment and the blasted shells have a tendency to grow legs and walk away at times.  You may or may not have heard about brass catchers but if not here is a few links that might interest you.  There are others of varying costs as well.  I just never worried that much about it as I can usually get my hands on enough auto brass. 
http://www.grabsomebrass.com/
http://www.amazon.com/Graco-Models-Pistol-Brass-Catcher/dp/B002SBBCJC

Your underlying question however was probably a concern of something wrong with your pistol.  Only thing I know of that may cause it going everywhere is your brass hitting the edge of the ejector port or something along those lines.  Do you see any marked up areas on your port?  I'm certainly not an expert but I know quite a few manufacturer'sthat lower and flare the ports so cases are much less likely to hit on extraction.

Later tater..

[oldreloader]

I use Lee trimmers for both rifle and pistol. I trim everything to have my brass the same length. I feel that I might get better and more uniform crimps if all the brass is the same length.

[Mohunter]

I use Lee trimmers for both rifle and pistol. I trim everything to have my brass the same length. I feel that I might get better and more uniform crimps if all the brass is the same length.

+1 on that.......I'm right there with ya. I only trim my pistol brass the first time when they are new and then I don't worry about it after that. If it's once fired factory new brass it doesn't usually need trimmed, but sometimes I find a few long ones.
I used to trim all my rifle brass everytime I reloaded them because they kept growing on me, but since I started neck sizing only they rarely need trimmed anymore. I wish I had switched to neck sizing only a long time ago. Some guys say they will need to be FL resized at some point, but I haven't ran into that yet. As long as they chamber smoothly I don't worry about it.

[noylj]

I have NEVER trimmed a semi-auto case. They never have gotten too long. Heck, they are almost always too short. Resize and measure. If you find any over max, get a Lee trimmer and let Richard Lee know that you found a handgun case that needed trimming.
Now, some people trim their rimmed revolver loads so the roll crimp is consistent. This doesn't mean they had too, but they did want to benefits of consistent length for the crimp operation. I think out of 2000 .38 Specials, I found two that could use trimming (they weren't over max, they were just the only one long enough for the Lee trimmer to find something to remove.
This is my biggest complaint—why can't we get brass closer to max length?

[nhblaze]

 
 

welcome noylj   !

[smurf hunter]

I've been reloading 357mag for a few months.  I have some brass that's been re-used 5 or more times, many with hotter loads.  So I bought the lee case length gauge and shell holder to work the trimmer.

Not one of my cases were close to needing a trim.  Obviously they all chamber in a revolver.  I think I'd blow the sides out of my brass before it'd stretch.  Only wasted ~4.00 or so on the trimmer...

[hawcer]

I've been reloading 357mag for a few months.  I have some brass that's been re-used 5 or more times, many with hotter loads.  So I bought the lee case length gauge and shell holder to work the trimmer.

Not one of my cases were close to needing a trim.  Obviously they all chamber in a revolver.  I think I'd blow the sides out of my brass before it'd stretch.  Only wasted ~4.00 or so on the trimmer...

you did de-prime and resize before seeing if they needed trimmed, right?
The Lee trimmer won't work with a spent primer in the case. I'm sure you did...it just seems odd that they haven't stretched at all after used that many times.

[joel1943]

I measure my cases with a Lyman EX case length guage,I have rarely seen a hand gun case require trimming,I usually  discard my hand gun brass wehen it gets too ugly or has been reloaded too many times. I have been a handloader for about 30ish years.