I just went through my first batch of once fired .40 brass, and I ended up putting about 1/3 aside because of damage. Some was gouges in the side of the midsection, some had extractor damage to the rim and the area above the rim. How picky should I be? I reused the ones that had dings and dents, but put aside any that had actual cuts into the case because I assumed that would weaken the brass. I didn't throw any of it away, because I may reconsider using it at a later date. The lengths are not very consistant even among the same manufacturers. Is there a website that would show me what to cull?

What are you going to do with it? If you're loading pretty well under maximum loads, there probably isn't anything to worry about. Pics would be really helpful here to guage just what you mean by "gouges."

Extractor damage to the rim won't have any effect on saftey, but might slightly have an effect on feed reliability.

If your like me (OCD) and have more time on your hands than good sense, you'll find amazingly intricate ways of parsing brass. Perhaps too, medication is indicated in my case?

This batch will be loaded fairly light. Some of the extractor damage is above the rim and into the case. No pictures for now. If this were 45 acp I would not be concerned with the damage. Some at the range regularly separate case heads, and I hope to never have that happen.

Most of the max loads in my Lyman 48 handbook are only a little above ACP pressures, if that helps.

Extractor damage on the side of the case wall, or on the angled area opposite the rim? Tumble them and see if you can see any of the damage on the insides of the case. I'd be more concerned over bulges than scratches, but without seeing them I can't say anything definitive.

If folks are regularly separating case heads, something is wrong.

Dents and dings are common in autoloader brass (especially around the case mouth) and generally are nothing to worry about. Most of them will iron out during resizing and present no problem when reloaded. Unless the brass actually has a piece gouged out of it I would not worry about it. Pictures would be a great help.

Caution is generally a good thing but I suspect you're going way overboard. I don't think I have ever culled 30% of ANY brass that I have ever reloaded, including .40 S&W. The only .40 brass I ever throw away on sight is A-Merc because it's way too soft. And occasionally you'll find a really ugly case head that has been "fireformed" to the shape of the unsupported chamber either because the brass was too soft or it was grossly overloaded. I have never seen any brass with "gouges" and most dents and dings are nothing to worry about.

Dave Sinko

I have shot a lot of reloaded 40sw, I am probably up to at least 4 reloads on most of it. I have only had just a few split around the case mouth. I don't load to max pressure and will continue to use these cases until more than a few split. It would as others have said to post pictures when questions of this type pop up. By the way I have about 4000 38s cases around here and I would hate to guess how many times they have been reloaded. My educated guess without pictures is load'em and shoot'em partner...

After an IIPSC match, I have on occassion thrown out as much as 1/3 the .40S&W brass, but I have to tell you that brass left at a "lost brass" match can be a sorry lot indeed. Reloaded many times, loaded too hot, shot through "jugged" chambers, "Glocked" cases, and sometimes the cheapest commercial loads available.

I start by tossing all the AMERC and foreign military brass, then the ones reloaded so many times that the headstamps are unreadable, and the splits and convex heads. The "Glocked" brass needs a complete sizing, like a push-through die.

Compared to range trash brass, yours probably looks good.

I'm new to the 40 S&W and will be using a 646pc revolver. All my brass is range "pick up" stuff too. I bought a Redding G-Rx die to uniform all the brass before its sized.
Its a slow process, lubing an indivudal case and pushing it thru this die. Some go thru easy, and some you really have to push thru. I'm hoping by doing this I'm going to eliminate some possible problems shooting this revolver.

Judging by the product name, the die was designed to cure "Glock bulge." I have no doubt it works, but I've been shooting .40 for a decade or so and have so far lived without it.

What I DO find quite useful and cost-effective is the Lee FCD; a carbide die that both crimps and resizes the completed CARTRIDGE. They only cost about $15.

I now use them for .38 Super, .40 and .45. Their use has greatly reduced failures to feed, particularly with lead bullets.