Are these OK for reloading?

G

Great Crouton

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I bought a bag of range brass for 223 a while back and decided to sort and clean them. Out of a bag of 500 I keep finding cases like the ones below and not sure if they are too damaged to reload? I only guessing but I'm assuming this is from stove piping? Looks like they are all the same make, all of them annealed and all of them dinged in the same place so I think they all came from the same rifle.

I've only reloaded handgun brass so far so not sure if rifle dies would remove the crease? I'm concerned that it may be creased so deeply it make have reduced the thickness of the case.



 
Damn...that's what I figured. So many like this in the bag. Out of 500, I'd say I've found 75 like this so far.

Oh well, glad I checked.

BTW, is this from stove piping?
 
Probably just from the ejected brass hitting the top of the reciever on its way out of some tacticool.
 
I, personally, would try sizing those and give them a shot. If those dents were in the case head area I wouldn't bother. On ignition the chamber will be supporting the case wall anyway. I'd try one in a semi and look for any sign of a rupture. In a bolt action you should be fine as long as it chambers. If YOU don't feel comfortable shooting them, toss'em.
 
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I also would FL resize them. That should take most of the issue out. Then cull out all the ones that are still badly deformed. Of the ones you are/will refire, take a red felt marker to the bottom to keep track of them as you look for case splitting. I've brought back many casing that were like those if not worse.

Ken
 
only way id say these would be any good is if you had an oil sizer. would just pop the dent out. i dont know if i would trust them as a sharp angle like that could have induced some funky stresses in the area. any time something leaves a very sharp angle dent or bulge it is going to hurt the material. ( a V shape instead of a U shape)
 
I'd be tossing those! But personally, then again I would not own a rifle that would mangle brass to this degree & expect to reload it's brass. Chewed up rims, perhaps, dented necks maybe. But such heavy dents in the last place you want to see it.......uhm never.
 
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I would toss those, yeah you could FL size them and most of the dent would come out. But because the dents are sharp chances of a case failure is pretty good. The chances of a crack in that area of the case causing injury is probably slim to nil but what risk it?

Shallow, dents usually come out with a FL size and one fireforming but I wouldn't risk it especially when it's a common caliber and you have another 425 good ones in that bag.

Also if you've ever had an ammo failure in a rifle round it's not fun and if your lucky your gun sends the expelled gases away from your face. If your unlucky you get powder burns. Either way not my idea of a good day at the range.
 
I would not take a chance of reloading those cases and having them fail. I was present when a 308 case let go in my buddy's lever action model 88 winchester rifle. made a very sharp bang when it let go. the stock was totally shattered and the action was seized. molten brass had welded the action and the magazine must have gone into orbit because it was never found. it's not worth it, 223 brass is cheap....for that matter any brass is cheaper than a rifle. buddy had some scratches and a couple bits of brass under his skin, but nothing serious.
 
Dutchie said:
The dent is now a weak spot and will probally fill out during firing. I'd throw them away. .223/5.56 brass is quite plentiful.

It's not worth the risk for what it is.
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That's basically what I was thinking. I did FL resize one to see what would happen and while it got most of it out, it still looked pretty deep and rough. Not worth the potential for problems IMO, I'm just going to chuck em.
 
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