Reloading 223/5.56 cases with nicks & dings.

[martyd]

I was given a whole bunch of 223/5.56 empty cases.

In the attached photo there are nicks and dings from when the fired case is ejected from the rifle.

There are some pin point dents on the case necks.

My question is for those who reload 223/5.56:

Do you reload cases with these types of nicks & dings?

There is a photo of the whole case and a close up of the nicks and dings.

Thanks,
Marty

 

[mckenney99]

Load-um-up, no harm to the case.

 

[SMSgt]

Load them all day long.

 

[psquarejr]

Yeppers, not a problem reloading them, they will go bang.

 

[Gunhacker]

Absolutely... use them.

I used to have an HK-91 back in the early 80's, and it would produce ejected cases with a crease running 1/2 the case length, much more sever than the dings on your cases, and they worked fine.

 

[Ivan the Butcher]

Those dings are consistent with the case deflector in a M-16/AR-15. The HK 91 (308) and 93 (223) also have "Flutes" in the chamber for crud to move into and keep on shooting. Those fired cases almost look like GEARS, Full Length Sizing takes care of it fine, It is best to use a Small Base FL sizing die, but not usually a necessity. A Taper Crimp die allows the to be some variance in the case length. (a roll crimp really needs the cases to be within 5-1/1000 (.005") either way or you get bulged shoulders that won't chamber properly.)

A friend of mine bought a Hornady SB die set, and turned and bought the RCBS black box AR series. I have AR series dies in 223, 300 BO, and 308, He has those and 6.5 CM and 224 Val. They are definitely worth buying even if you already have other die sets!

Ivan

 

[max503]

Nicks and dings are signs of a reloader.

 

[WR Moore]

About the only time I've needed small base dies were when I ran across used military brass that had been fired in an M249 or an M16 with one of Colt's generous chambers. A case gauge is your friend if you reload.

Agree those dings are ordinary result of ejecting from a semi-auto.

While the SB dies were originally touted as "necessary" for lever guns & semi-autos, more recently the makers note that they're really intended for use in chambers tighter than SAAMI specification. Or for custom chambers that are minimum. My first processing of military brass for my bolt gun goes through a SB body sizing die as a second step. If you've run into this problem, a small base body die is a cheaper route to go. You run the case through the regular sizing die, any that the case gauge rejects go through the body die.

 

[Decker]

Once they're sized and prepped, send 'em.