Question about case length/223 loads

[09cs]

I have some range brass with varying lengths, most under the trim to length for 223. Some as low as 1.73x are these too short to use and should be tossed? Is there an acceptable minimum length?

Second part, I picked up some 40gr Hornady bullets for some plinking rounds and have 4064 and varget on hand. I couldn't find any loads for 4064 with a 40gr bullet on the Hodgdon website. Would appreciate any help!

 

[Rob01]

Run them through the FL sizer and they might stretch a little when the neck is sized down. That said find the shortest and just trim them all to that. Just means you won't have to trim for a while. .308 trim to is 2.005 ad some people trim down to 1.995. A few thousandth shorter won't hurt.

If Hodgdon doesn't list a load then it might not be the right powder for that light of a bullet.

 

[mdmp5]

Varget and IMR 4064 are good powders that can be used for most light to medium weight bullets. But for something as small as a 40 gr, they may be on the slow side. I would try a powder with smaller granules, like benchmark for that projectile.

 

[dabibbee]

I have used brass that short before and they worked just fine. Load consistency/ accuracy requires that all your loads be the same size because of neck tension. Secondly, I have found that faster burning powders work better for the 40 grain bullets. The most accurate I found for my Rem 700 was R-10X and Benchmark. Good Shooting!

 

[09cs]

Thanks, was trying to use what powder I have since it's nearly impossible to find here in SoCal, and these lengths were AFTER FL sizing.

 

[Rob01]

If after FL sizing then trim to the same uniform length and go with it. Just allows you to not have to worry about trimming for a while.