What are these tiny dimples on 44 mag brass?

john777

john777

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Okay, so I bought supposedly 1x fired brass (1000pcs).

Pretty much all of them look good but I encountered a few of these. What could be the cause of this?

I highlighted the visable ones in red circles. There are a lot of them on this particular brass.

Thanks!

dimples.jpg
 
The ring around the middle is a factory crimp. The other marks.. Look like nothing really. Random marks. With regards to most any cartridge anything past the front half of the brass is of no concern if it holds the bullet properly. The case head is what matters.
 
What do you think what may have caused those random dimples? I haven't inspected all the brass yet. I just pulled a handful and found a few with lots of random dimples.

I so far collected a few gallons of pistol/rifle brass at the range and saw nothing like this.
 
jdman said:
Having a ton of 44 brass myself, i will go out on a limb and say they are from stepping on the brass on a concrete floor at the range.
I have seen this before and looks just like when you step on them.
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Hey, that's a good explanation! That makes sense. Can't see that happening in the chamber.
 
Hi
I think the marks on the brass was caused from it being fired in a gun with a very bad chamber. I suspect the chamber was pitted badly and when the shell was fired it leaves the mark on the brass. That would be my guess.

Graydog
 
Alright! Thanks all for quick responses.

Other than seeing these random dimples, the brass looks good to my eye. At least look better than my 9's. I only chuck my 9s when they split. lol
 
I've seen similar instances in past when these uniform looking dimples have shown up on fired cases, and usually in light loads fired in a revolver. It was the result of unburnt powder granules left behind in the cylinder chambers. As I recall it was from using too light of a load with too slow a burning powder.

Also, I've had similar but cylindrical shaped dimples show up in my single shot 45-70 when shooting lighter cast loads using IMR 3031. There can be a noticeable amount of unburnt powder left behind with some of the lower end charges and these unburnt particles cease to show up when using some of the higher end loads.
 
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Johnn Peterson said:
I've seen similar instances in past when these uniform looking dimples have shown up on fired cases, and usually in light loads fired in a revolver. It was the result of unburnt powder granules left behind in the cylinder chambers. As I recall it was from using too light of a load with too slow a burning powder.
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i think that is exactly what you are looking at. i've had it happen with light loads and slow powder in my 444. i reloaded the brass and think it will fireform back to normal.
I also think a case thats been stepped on would be more damaged than just some dimples.
 
Johnn Peterson said:
I've seen similar instances in past when these uniform looking dimples have shown up on fired cases, and usually in light loads fired in a revolver. It was the result of unburnt powder granules left behind in the cylinder chambers. As I recall it was from using too light of a load with too slow a burning powder.
Click to expand...

I see. Good explanation too. :) I hope my batch of range brass is pretty much 1x fired, but then again, for the most part 44 mag brass should last a very long time. At least way longer compared to 9mm.
 
All my brass has been through a DE, with close to max loads of H110. I have seen it, and there is usually a pile of brass when i am done at the range for the day so lots of them get squished. It looks worse at first, but once it is tumbled it looks just like the pics.
 
john777 said:
Hey, that's a good explanation! That makes sense. Can't see that happening in the chamber.
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if it happened in the chamber you would know it. as the brass would likely stay in the chamber with that kind of deforming. id go with it being stepped on possibly.
 
i've put in a fresh smooth round, and extracted it after firing with those exact same dimples. not dropped or stepped on as i never drop my brass on the ground. it can come out just like the pic hot from the chamber. especially with H335, i find that powder hard to ignite in straight wall cases. im not saying it can't be something else... but it can be caused by unburned powder in the chamber.
 
Quote: "Stepping on the brass would squash it completely, before it put marks deep into it."

-Sure, depending on the surface in question (gravel, sand, concrete, whatever). If it's soft enough to give a bit, stepping on the brass may just sink it as much as dimple it. We've all seen completely flattened case-mouths from being stepping on, but you can do a lot less damage on soft surfaces.

Suggestion: clean & full-length size them, load some moderate loads up, fire them in your firearm (which I'll assume doesn't have sand, old unburned or partially burnt propellant granules, and/or old pitting or crap in the chamber), then check out whether the dimples are gone, still there, or worse. I expect they'll have smoothed-out at least a bit.
 
Unburned powder/carbon residue in the chamber. I notice this often with with some of my loads. More common in an auto loader. No big deal.
 
I noticed this same effect recently on my starline 50/70 brass fired out of my rolling block with smokeless 4198. Interestingly my thicker Dixie brass brass seemed immune.

I guess thin brass and dirty chamber are to blame.
 
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