Dumb newbie question

K

Kevinfreem

New member
Hey guys. I am still fairly new to reloading. I have a Dillon 650 with the setups for 9 mm and .45 acp. I have reloaded and shot something like 700 rounds of 9mm and never had any problems. I reuse purchased factory brass and really have fallen in love with it. I shoot a .45 h&k usp and picked up all my brass but I noticed that when I cleaned and started sorting my brass, I have a ding in the side of the shell. It is a small dent, mostly cosmetic but it is not in the same place, which leads me to believe that the dent is occurring when the empty shell is extracted after firing. I know that is a long winded explanation but my question is whether I am ok to reuse those shells in my reloader. When reading manuels they seem to act like the world will end if the brass even has a slight beauty mark but I noticed some small marks on my 9m shells and I never had any issues. Do I need to just throw all of these used shells away? Is there a fix I can use like smoothing the edges of the extractor area with a dremel tool so that the edges aren't as sharp?
 
It sounds like common ejector (rather than extractor) dents and a portion of the dent will probably iron out during sizing. And yes continue to use them. I wouldn't attempt to work over sharp edges on the ejector since they then might eject in an unfavorable angle.
 
Folks have been reloading their dented brass for generations without harm.
As long as it's just a dent and not something worse, don't sweat it.
That's what the resizing die is for.
If you're still worried, how about a picture.
And yes, no, don't mess with the gun without really knowing your stuff.
 
Usually these dents are caused because the ejector pushes one side of the case while the other is still hooked by the extractor, causing the case to spin as it leaves the ejection port. It will then frequently strike one part of the ejection port or another. After shooting a number of rounds, you should be able to find a brass marking where it hits the gun. On the 1911 target pistols (Cold GoldCup, etc.), ejector ports were lowered and a relief was cut into the back edge of it to cut down on this denting, but your gun is a different design, so that same approach may not be applicable. You only want someone very familiar with it to attempt any such work.

In the .45 Auto the pressure is so low that there is very little concern about dent weakened brass. If it is going to cause a problem you will get a warning in the form of an incipient crack starting. Gas will leak out there and make itself apparent if you do. But I fully expect the necks will start splitting by the time you do. Just resizing it and use it and keep an eye out for the start of cracks. If you want to, you can play with different loads and bullet weights to see if there are some combinations that don't cause the issue.
 
Usually caused by the case bashing the receiver/slide on its way out. Doesn't bother a pistol case at all .
Ever shoot an M1 Rifle? Case mouths are dented severely from being bashed on the receiver. And fixed with needle nosed pliers.
 
Yes, it's well known that '06 cases fired from an M1 have won the ugliest fired case neck contest for the past untold number of years. Not sure about straightening them out with needle nose pliars though unless bending a curled over lip back up.
 
OP here. Thanks for the input. Just to be clear though this is not on the side of the neck at the tip if the brass. This is always at least a third to halfway down the side of the brass.
 
That's typically where the ejector dents will appear on .45 brass. Doesn't usually affect case necks drastically.

The above two posts regarding the M1 were just off on a tangent.
 
Envision what UncleNick mentions and now watch this clip:
Colt 1911 .45acp filmed at 1200 frames/second slow motion and take note of how the brass is ejected and how violently the slide comes back and the ejector starts to kick the brass case out. What you are seeing is not at all unusual. Pay close attention about 1:05 into the slow motion video, if you freeze frame you will be looking down into the case mouth and note how the case is hitting.

Ron
 
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Where you see the brass hit is exactly where mine is getting the brass ding. That's a really good idea of what a happening. Thanks for all the input. I'm extremely happy o don't have to buy all new brass(mostly because I want to stay married).
 
Wouldn't you know it. Sitting here and I had a bag of some recent range 45 ACP as common as those dings and dents are I could not find one. Moved along to some mixed cleaned handgun stuff and again no luck. Go figure. :) Glad you saw in the slow motion video what I was getting at.

Ron

Here is close to the image and looking down into the case mouth.
45%20ACP%20Eject.png
 
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