SmallCaliberCentral

All my once fired cases areound 1.85 or less and the data says trim to 1.84. Can I just reload them the way they are now without trimming? I'm new to reloading so I'm not too sure. Thanks

With most factory chambers, I would venture to say that casings that are 1.850" long from the base of the casing to the end of the neck are OK to reload without trimming. The only way you can know for sure, however, is to get one of the Sinclair Chamber length gauges or build one yourself. I know Sinclair used to stock them for the .204 caliber, but can't find one on their Web site right now. Here's a picture of one for the .17 caliber:



And here's a link to one for the .17 caliber so you can read the information on it:

http://www.sinclairintl.com/cgi-bin/cat ... type=store

The chamber in my Savage 12VLP is 1.877" long, so a casing measuring 1.850" would be just fine in my chamber. I could even let my casings grow to 1.870" and I'd still feel safe. BUT, like I mentioned, to be sure, you need to measure the chamber length.

bucksnort06, Go to the link for sinclair that Silverfox gave you. And go to the ( online catalog search box and put in #G 204 ) then go to page 5 and you'l fine the chamber lenght gage for the 20cal. the cost was $6.50 for it. I've got them for all the different rifles I have and they work pretty good. I hope this helps you out.

The reason I ask is that the 204 spec. sheet says 1.85" is the cartridge length and trim length is 1.84". I guess what they are trying to say that if you go over 1.85" that you need to trim back to 1.84". Does that sound about right? I pretty new to reloading and wasn't too sure. Thanks

That is correct, once it gets past 1.85", it's recommended to trim them back to 1.84".