You don’t need to measure each case, just a representative sample. And they don’t have to be exactly to spec, just within the spec. Frankly, I just assume once-fired LC brass does not need trimming, I only measure after I reload and fire it once. But this will let you quickly gauge any case, no micrometer needed.
If you have once-fired LC brass, just clean and reload it. After that if you decide to trim, you just trim all of them don’t bother measuring them. As has been mentioned they all have pilots or are set up to trim to the same length, so no measuring needed once you get set up.
By the way, the case gauges that look like this …
Are not the right tool for case length. These measure from the shoulder to determine if a case will chamber, you could still have over-length cases and this won’t catch that. Those tools are strictly for precision shooters with bolt guns. You want to push the shoulder back only 1 or 2 thousandths both to prevent overworking the brass and to provide tight chambering. You should check every round in one of these if that’s what you’re doing.
But if you’re reloading for a semi-automatic, you push the shoulder back more, to facilitate reliable function, you just full-length resize every case and don’t bother with the that type of case gauge.
Pistol is much simpler, you don’t need all this crap, no need to measure as closely, etc. You just want a consistent powder charge to bring down standard deviation in velocity, none of the case measuring and weighing nonsense required. Like you, I don’t and won’t reload 9mm. Ever. It’s too cheap. It’s not JUST about saving a few pennies, it’s about your time, also, and unless you are a competitor shooting several thousand rounds a month (some do!) reloading 9mm—the juice isn’t worth the squeeze, IMO. My friends who are competitor shooters invest much more in reloading equipment including case feeders to feed their habit. Then the pennies add up, but their speed increases to the point that after the initial investment it makes sense for them to reload. I just look for sales and buy by the case for 9mm stuff. And I don’t reload my defensive ammo*. I buy commercial because it is much more consistent than I can remanufacture. I don’t shoot much of it.
Now .45 can make sense to reload, the pennies are bigger. For 5.56 you can get by with basic equipment but I suggest that if you are going for military pressures (safe if you know what you’re doing) I would suggest reloading Lake City brass a maximum of 3X then toss. Others are not that cautious and will reload until they start to see cracked necks or signs of imminent case head separation, but I don’t push it. I’ll reload/shoot it once, trim them all after that, then reload twice more (no trimming again) then toss the brass.
I can see you’re fascinated with this, but unless you have a very accurate bolt gun (no need for a $6,000 rifle, I have an accurized Savage heavy barrel .308 that consistently shoots well under 1/2 MOA) I would not worry about precision loading until you get facile with the whole process and are therefore safe with it. Then play around. I reload .308 that shoots as well as Federal Gold Medal match rounds and that save some real money. Have not priced it recently, but I wouldn’t be surprised if GMM runs $1.25 a round and I know I can match it for about 50 cents.
* Whether you should shoot reloads defensively is, if not the most hotly debated issue on the gunny forums, def in the top 3. I think that whole conversation is not worth having, and despite all the armchair lawyers suggesting it’s a bad idea (and real lawyers, to be fair), over the decades I’ve followed this debate, I have never seen any case cited that hinged on using reloads. And that’s not because I have not found one, it’s because there isn’t one. The guys who want to argue shooting reloads defensively is insane want to prove themselves so badly, if there was a case, we’d all know it. Your defense is going to revolve solely on the justification of the shoot. Probably not good to engrave Punisher logos into your guns or engrave them with “Kill ‘em all, let God sort ‘em out” (some idiots do
), but save for that idiocy, equipment or ammo won’t be a deciding factor in a shooting defense case. I’m not saying it doesn’t matter, I’m saying, categorically, it won’t be the single thing that the case hinges on. If the guy needed shooting, he needed shooting and you’re likely OK (juries in NYC or San Franshitshow excepted). If the guy did not need shooting, you are screwed, everywhere.
I don’t reload defensive ammo, though, simply because Hornady, Federal, or Remington are going to be so much more consistent, I just buy it.
