safe to shoot dented ammo?

[wheelyfun66]

Hey All,
Kind of a goofy question here...

In carrying my .357 Gold Dot ammo in a speed strip, I have noticed that one round is a bit "crimped" or dented.. I usually leave that pocket completely empty, with the exception of the speed strip...so unsure what caused this..

The dent is not terribly deep, but I am unsure of what implications this has?
I know that I could just throw it out, but why waste a completely good round...

Any advice from those who have experienced this?
thanks

 

[Treeman]

Perfectly safe to shoot so long as it will still chamber in the matching gun. Internal pressure presses the brass out to the chamber wall. Chamber dimensions and bullet seating depth determine the internal volume at firing and effect pressure but the dented case has no appreciable effect on peak pressures.

 

[thndrchiken]

Agreed, as long as it will still chamber and the dent isn't too severe should be safe to shoot.

 

[H.Callahan]

If it is just a dent, then probably ok. If there is ANY kind of crease, though, I would dump it.

 

[Steve C]

A dent in the case wall will simply iron out when the round is fired and is not a safety issue. Normally you couldn't tell the previously dented case from other non dented cases after it has been fired.

If the dent is severe enough to prevent the round from being chambered then it needs to be discarded.

 

[SMSgt]

Used to reload a lot of M-16 brass, which always had a nice "smiley" dent in the case from ejection. A light intial reload pressed it right out.