I admit, I'm very new to rifle shooting and I picked up a Mini-14. When reviewing my spent casings (hopefully one day I'll learn to reload) I noticed that the rim of the casings have at least one area where the bolt perhaps took a bite into it. Is this common with carbines/rifles? Do rims get chewed up and flattened?
Rim damage?
- Thread starter Quietdood
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pvtschultz
Blackhawk
Yeah, you'll notice that auto feeders tend to be quite hard on brass. I was keeping the brass from my SKS in the interest of reloading it, that was until I started picking them up. The necks on most of them were dented pretty badly and the rims, as you mentioned, are tore up by the aggressive feeding and extraction.
Pal Val
Buckeye
Where hard steel meets soft brass, you can expect the brass to get nicked. Self-loading actions do it worse than manual because of the forces driving them. As long as the rim is not deformed, it can be reused. Chewed up and flattened? Not good for a reload. Chances are that it could jam the action. The action is designed for brand-new brass. That's why it's recommended that brass for self-loaders be full-length resized.
Chief_10Beers
Blackhawk
Pal Val":1x4g84rp said:
What if the Case Mouth is dented in but not creased? Half my Brass is like that...........................
In .45ACP, I discovered that if you fed these into the carbide resizing die, over 90% of them would pop back out and appear completely normal. The rest I would "iron" out by putting a pair of neede-nose pliers inside the case mouth. Very easy to do.Chief_10Beers":2g46op1x said:
As far as rims being battered up, if the rim will still go in the reloading shellholder, the case will almost certainly feed and function in the gun just fine.
Chief_10Beers
Blackhawk
Snake45":1xkprznx said:
None of my .45 Brass is dented, just the .223...............................
Pal Val
Buckeye
I have fixed many a rim with the needle-nose pliers too. Just go easy and don't overwork the brass. The resizing die will finish the job nicely. If the dent is so extreme it has curled in, it's a goner. If you work the thin metal too much, it could split when fired. Not something I would like.
resident
Single-Sixer
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- Apr 3, 2010
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I use a wooden dowel to "inflate" the dented neck back into shape sufficiently that the resizing die does the rest. (Don't care for steel tool marks that make for stress-risers on brass cases...but if the needle nose pliers are kept closed, while being inserted into the open-mouth, and merely used as a "die" to expand the mouth... it's probably no-harm.) A tapered-punch would also work.
Pal Val
Buckeye
That's what I do - round up the dent with the closed needlenose pliers. Works OK if the dent has not curled in.
Enigma
Hunter
The SKS was designed to function reliably with steel-case, Eastern-bloc crap ammo, and it does. It does so by being highly over-gassed, and as a result it tries to rip the rim off of brass-case ammo.
Somewhere I have detailed instructions on how to reduce the gas pressure to the SKS; I'll dig it up if anyone is interested.
As related above, dented case mouths can be repaired with needle nose pliers or center punches and a SMALL hammer. Bent case rims are a bit more problematic - I frequently use a small, fine file or sandpaper to remove the worst burrs. When they get to where they won't fit into a shell holder any longer, they go in the recycle bucket.
Somewhere I have detailed instructions on how to reduce the gas pressure to the SKS; I'll dig it up if anyone is interested.
As related above, dented case mouths can be repaired with needle nose pliers or center punches and a SMALL hammer. Bent case rims are a bit more problematic - I frequently use a small, fine file or sandpaper to remove the worst burrs. When they get to where they won't fit into a shell holder any longer, they go in the recycle bucket.
