Recommended trim length 2.005 Maximum 2.015 I understand that part. Is there any compelling reason (outside of just being anal like me) to trim all the way back to 2.005 if under 2.0015. Just got a box of lapua and they were mostly all 2.008-ish. I full length size everytime as not "expert" enough for bumping or neck sizing etc. Just wondering the implications of being over but under so to speak.

Thanks

Murph

Finally someone more anal than me.

Actually I thought the .308 had been discontinued cause it's not 6.5.......JK

LOad em!

You can still get 308? Who knew?

Load and shoot. Worry about trimming once they get to max.

No need to trim, but run them through the sizer to uniform the necks which can be out of round after shipping.

Definitely.

Forget the books. You need .308" of bullet sitting in the neck. After the first firing, trim them wherever you want, provided they are not so long that they are causing a chambering issue, or not so short that you have less than .308" of bullet sitting in the case.

I'll even let my cases go to 2.025", and they will still work and chamber just fine. When you do trim them, I trim to minimum, so I won't have to trim sooner.

Theoretically wouldn't you get more case area to hold(for lack of a better word) the bullet with case length near maximum. For a lot of bullets prolly not needed, but some longer bullets it could help

Essentially, yes. But .010" is not much. The main thing is keeping your cases all about the same length for consistency.

Thanks fellas. I made some assumptions that were all answered here. I appreciate it.

Maybe I'll graduate to creedmoor one day...maybe

Nope! There's nothing wrong with a 308!! It's still my favorite caliber to shoot and plink with.

One thing I've always wondered about is if a LONGER case neck might hold the bullet a little tighter, or longer after the powder starts to burn, generating more pressure?

For hunting, or plinking, I doubt it would ever make any difference. But for those match shooting at long distances, you have to wonder if they trim every single case to the exact same length to rule out one more variable.

In my mind, the longer the case neck, the better hold it will have on the bullet. Maybe it makes no difference at all, or maybe it does. Since a lot of people don't anneal their cases anyway, the difference between an annealed case, and a work hardened case, might amount to more variance in regards to bullet "hold" than .020" of variance in case length.

One wonders about these things.. If I had a chronograph I could test various case lengths to see if there was any indication apparent from the data gathered.

It might, but I don't believe it would be significant even if you were able to nail it down that fine. I think the effect of it would be really small when compared to what happens when the bullet engages the lands.

I think variations in neck hardness would have a much larger negative impact on accuracy than cases with nicely annealed necks but of unequal case length.

X2

The main issue I see with longer case necks (longer than spec) is the case mouth pushing up against the end of the chambering and essentially crimping the case mouth against the end of the chamber and squeezing the bullet too tight to release properly and causing a high pressure issue. But you will feel this when you close the bolt.