Dinged cases

[Pharoahsoon]

I recently received in the mail 100 45 AR rounds loose in a box which was about three quarters full. I found about 14 of them to have fairly significant dings in the case body. These are the worst three. I e-mailed the manufacturer who said they were damaged in shipping. He said that the would be safe to shoot. The pressure of firing would straighten the case out and it would be fine to reload. Opinions?

 

[Gun 4 Fun]

They are Starline cases, and they make a lot of brass. I would listen to their advice/opinion. I have used brass like that with full power loads many times in the past with no illeffects. The dimple simply smooths out under pressure and that's that.

However, I see that one case looks like it might have a slight groove at the bottom of the scratch/dent, and I would keep an eye on any like that, since the scratch could weaken that spot potentially.

 

[Wayne M]

Running them through your sizer will take most of that out. I'd use them.

 

[Jellybean]

I agree, they should be alright to shoot as long as they chamber. I don't buy the "damaged in shipping" crap though. Was there anything in that box that would "fit" the dings or the crease in the cases pictured?

 

[SMSgt]

You need to drop the dinged shells into the chamber. If they seat properly, they should be fine. If they don't, they may not. Running them through a sizer with the bullet in them can result in a stuck (& loaded) round.

 

[djml66]

I would run them thru a Lee factory crimp die. No danger of sticking and they would be guaranteed to chamber.

 

[Alk8944]

I recently received in the mail 100 45 AR rounds loose in a box which was about three quarters full. I found about 14 of them to have fairly significant dings in the case body. These are the worst three. I e-mailed the manufacturer who said they were damaged in shipping. He said that the would be safe to shoot. The pressure of firing would straighten the case out and it would be fine to reload. Opinions?

Those are fine to shoot as long as they chamber, even if you have to use a little thumb pressure. When fired they will iron right out and extract easily, even if hard to chamber. All it would take to do that damage was for the box to have been dropped in shipping, not at all unusual.

I am the first to say post count doesn't mean anything, but in this case I can't help notice the only comments that are negative are from posters with a count well under 100. If experience means anything to you I have been reloading for a lot more years than most of the members have been on this Earth.

 

[Tam 3]

If they fit the chamber, fine. If not, pull the bullet, save, carefully resize and reload.

Regards,

Tam 3

 

[acl864]

I am the first to say post count doesn't mean anything, but in this case I can't help notice the only comments that are negative are from posters with a count well under 100. If experience means anything to you I have been reloading for a lot more years than most of the members have been on this Earth.

No offense but post count has nothing to do with experience. Your reloading experience is what gives your opinions more validity. There are guys on here with thousands of posts that don't know squat. The converse is probably true as well. This forum is exceptional due to the number of very experienced and skilled reloaders like yourself that post here. Unfortunately for the new or casual poster there's no way to know who is new to reloading or just new to posting here. Just as there is no way to tell that some guy who has 4000+ posts started reloading last month. Just my two cents worth.

As to the question posed by the OP. I agree with the consensus- they should be safe to shoot and reload.

 

[Alk8944]

No offense but post count has nothing to do with experience. Your reloading experience is what gives your opinions more validity. There are guys on here with thousands of posts that don't know squat. The converse is probably true as well. This forum is exceptional due to the number of very experienced and skilled reloaders like yourself that post here. Unfortunately for the new or casual poster there's no way to know who is new to reloading or just new to posting here. Just as there is no way to tell that some guy who has 4000+ posts started reloading last month. Just my two cents worth.

As to the question posed by the OP. I agree with the consensus- they should be safe to shoot and reload.

Isn't that what I said??

What you say about post count is absolutely correct. Some of the most prolific posters, especially in the Reloading and Gunsmithing forums, seem to know very little and should be reading/listening instead of typing/talking!

 

[Dragon88]

The issue I would have is that piece on the left has been weakened, that is much more than a simple ding. Will it be fine to shoot? Yeah. Will it last for as many reloadings as the others? Possibly not. Now to me revolver brass isn't some throwaway item, my batches of brass are loaded and maintained with care.

If that is newly manufactured brass I would not have been satisfied.

 

[Pharoahsoon]

Here are the same three cases after firing. The dings pretty much disappeared on all but the two on the left, which were the worst. By the way, these are from Georgia Arms. I e-mailed Curtis there and he said that even though he thought they were safe to shoot and reload, he would replace any of them that I wanted him to. Nice to see someone that understands good customer service.