Marks on case head, .308 Win.

D

doowroh

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Go easy one me, as I've only been reloading for less than a year.

I picked up some used "once fired" brass today. I don't know what gun they were shot in, how many loadings or any other pertinent information. While sorting I found that almost all of the Winchester headstamped brass had marks on it that I've never seen before. This one case pictured fit into, and rotated easily in the Lee #2 shell holder. The primer looks a bit suspicious as well.

Can you share your thoughts on:
- what might have caused these marks?
- are they safe to reload?
- if they are safe, should I do anything about them?

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Fired out of a military type fire arm ( semi or full auto ) by the looks of the deep firing pin strike . The rim marks are most likely from the extractor slamming over it when chambered , the smaller marks from when it was loaded in to a magazine or garand clip ( from the frount edges of mag lips being contacted ). Military type ammo uslly have harder primer cup faces (less prone to fire from slam fires) hence the need for harder deeper firing pin strikes. If you have multiple examples my Hypotheses is most likely ( spit ball guess ) are there any scratching along the length of the cases ? Are any of the case mouths dented or case sides dented ? ( from extraction )
 
the marks on the outer part of the brass could be

ejector marks from a claw type bolt action or other type of action
or
dirty or rough bolt face

use them, not a problem

primers look normal .. maybe a semi or a over size hole / weak firing pin spring drag mark.etc
 
Looks like they've been dinged up by a rough semi auto. Shouldn't be a problem as long as the case head is the only damage.

Primers look ok too. Consistent with a semi auto designed to hit the primer good and hard for military style (harder) primers. The bolt on that rifle has an oversized firing pin hole.
 
Size, load up and fire away! Rough treatment on the head from a semi, and as stated, oversize firing pin hole in bolt.
Brass will be fine. I resurrected some brass from a 42B [6.5x55] that looked much worse than that. Dave.
 
If any of the dents have proud(dented up) brass, could affect headspace(file). I have seen extractor rims bent which could cause chambering problems because of your extractor, otherwise have fun.
 
You have dings and damaged rims that do not hurt anything, "BUT" they can effect cartridge headspace and make the cases a tighter fit in the chamber.

Shoulder bump for a bolt action is approximately .001 to .002 and on a semi-auto the shoulder bump is .003 to .006.

The ejector pushes the case forward in the chamber and the .003 to .006 shoulder bump will be "air space" between the rear of the case and the bolt face.

Meaning any dings in the base of the case will have some headspace "wiggle room".

Below your shoulder bump is your head clearance when the cartridge is chambered and the ejector pushes the case forward.

I keep a small six inch fine file on my loading bench to fix rim damage.

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