We went out this afternoon and put a few rounds through a recently-assembled AR (most of the components from Palmetto State) just for a quick function check. It works, so that's that.

But... I recovered the brass and noticed a dent in every one. The location is consistent, for what that's worth. Is this dent a big deal? Will it be problematic if we go to reload these?




Thanks, all.

Some guns dent more than others on ejection. We have an AK in 223, very rough on brass. I look them over, some I don’t try to reload, most I do.

With the dents pictured I would try a normal resizing. Sometimes I run them through the sizing die, rotate the case 180, then do it again. That may not matter or be required, just something I do.

After sizing I have a case/cartridge checker I use for samples, another check.

Those cases are impacting something on their way out of the rifle. Either the edge of the ejection port or the case deflector. Either way it doesn't look nearly bad enough to worry about. Just do a regular full length resize on them. Any dent that's left after that will be fireformed out on the next firing (likely to be re-dented the same way they were the first time though, so don't be surprised to see this recurring).

I suppose that after enough firings the cases would become weakened in that area and eventually start to crack there. I can't say how many firings that would be, maybe somebody else has some empirical numbers on that. It's probably worth getting into the habit of visually inspecting them before reloading them, but it sounds like you're already doing that.

One thing you might consider doing is marking all of the cases somehow, a Sharpie maybe, to identify them as a batch (I'm presuming here that you initially obtained them all in a single purchase as opposed to picking up brass of unknown history on the range). When one or two of those cases eventually start to fail, then it may be time to toss the entire batch.

Try a heavier buffer on the AR and you might not get brass as badly dented.

Bruce

As others have said, the dents will iron out on the next firing and don't present any kind of a problem for reloading.

Load em up and shoot em.

quote:

Originally posted by Expert308:
It's probably worth getting into the habit of visually inspecting them before reloading them, but it sounds like you're already doing that.

I don't do a super-close inspection, but I do look closely enough to see a pattern like this.

quote:

Originally posted by Expert308:
I'm presuming here that you initially obtained them all in a single purchase as opposed to picking up brass of unknown history on the range

True. These pieces were new (as in never-before fired, though I've had them in inventory for a good long while).
I hadn't thought of marking batches, but that's certainly doable. I do usually shoot from a single batch when I get some range time, and I try to collect my own empties.

quote:

Originally posted by RNshooter:
Try a heavier buffer on the AR and you might not get brass as badly dented.

I definitely hadn't thought of that. Thank you!

quote:

Originally posted by Flash-LB:
As others have said, the dents will iron out on the next firing and don't present any kind of a problem for reloading.

Load em up and shoot em.

Good deal. Thanks, all.

Normal, for any AR rifle. The brass is hitting the brass deflector hump on the side of the gun. You can choke down on the gas if you have an adjustable gas block and you may be able to change where it’s landing or even the amount of dent in the brass, but IMHO I wouldn’t bother. Most guns are over gassed so that they will feed a bunch of different ammo and still work.

The brass will reload just fine.

If you don’t change out buffers you can put a square of Velcro (the loop side) on the deflector bump and it will reduce or even remove the dent.

It's the outer edge on the rear of the ejection port that causes the sharp lined crease on the case in the pic and like Mike and most everone else said it'll reload just fine. Most cases will split the neck area before the crease will be a problem. I did a whole lot of reloading for a Sheriffs Dept back home I was on during a break from the Air Force.

Steve.........

I agree with RNshooter ,but those littlebidy dent does not cause any problems.
Brass from linked guns,not thats a problem

True, the dents will iron out when next fired, but then they will get dented again when ejected…

quote:

Originally posted by rmfnla:
True, the dents will iron out when next fired, but then they will get dented again when ejected…

True, but who cares if they get dented again?

quote:

Originally posted by Flash-LB:

quote:

Originally posted by rmfnla:
True, the dents will iron out when next fired, but then they will get dented again when ejected…

True, but who cares if they get dented again?

I guess the same people who cared that they got dented in the first place…

quote:

Originally posted by rmfnla:
True, the dents will iron out when next fired, but then they will get dented again when ejected…

Somehow that brings to mind, "that'll buff right out!"

(And bang back in!)

Thanks, all, for the advice. I'll clean 'em up and we'll go again.

quote:

Originally posted by vthoky:

quote:

Originally posted by rmfnla:
True, the dents will iron out when next fired, but then they will get dented again when ejected…

Somehow that brings to mind, "that'll buff right out!"

(And bang back in!)

Thanks, all, for the advice. I'll clean 'em up and we'll go again.

I’ve seen shooters that have taken a small square of Velcro cut to fit and stuck on the face of case deflector…seems to work..Oops MikeinNC done beat me to it