Odd flash holes

L

locknloader

New member
Noticed these when i was inspecting some brass before reloading.

https://i.imgur.com/azxJZJ8.jpg

One is drilled off center, the other is egg shaped (looks like someone slammed the decapping die in off kilter)

Are these safe to reload? Will the oddities mentioned above cause any issues if safe?
 
I purchased 2,000 LC Match 30/06 unfired, pull down cases for 7 cents each. When I got home I could have sold everyone of them, instead of selling my cases Pat in Ohio made me the same deal for local reloaders and we ordered 3,000 more and Pat made us a deal on shipping. SO? If the primer is not centered it must bother others more than it does me.

I would measure the diameter of the flash holes, for many years I have had a flash hole gage that was designed to measure the diameter of the flash hole. The tool is useless for reloaders that do not measure before and again after.

And then? One day manufacturers started making cases with large flash holes but even then the flash hole gage was of little help because a reloader should be able to look at the hole and be able to separate cases with large flash holes and small primer pockets.

F. Guffey
 
Just for education, the primer holes are punched not drilled.

Safe yes, they just won't be as accurate as Lapua or Norma.

If I was stuck with these for target I would sort them to off set and centered.

Shoot the centered one when it counts and offset for load development.

The offset one is pretty normal for RP, GFL , PPU etc.

The excess sized W is really bad quality control.
 
RC20 is right about how the holes are formed; punched (that's why some deburr the flash holes). I would like to see a comparison, a real life comparison, side by side of cases used for ultra accurate loads with 50% "perfect", exact sized, centered flash holes vs. 50% regular old from the factory cases with flash holes with inside burrs, slightly off size and some even off center (like the one in the pic). I would hazard to guess that not even the best of shots would be able to determine from groups and performance which were which...
 
I do think the best shooters could.

Primer uniform holes, pockets seems to be one area you can get results from.

I doubt I could, maybe on a really good day.

I do have two identical loads in my target 06, one is RP and the other LAPUA cases,

I am going to run those this weekend and see if I see a difference.

The load in RP shoots 3/8 constistanly7. The idea being if I get it there then switch to LAPUA and see how it does. PPU to follow (its done well in the 7.5 x 55 Swiss build)
 
If you look at the picture, the OP is dealing with 9mm pistol brass which I assume he is shooting from a pistol. I doubt even the best shot could tell the accuracy difference even using a Ransom Rest. But a GROSSLY over sized flash hole could jump pressure, depending on the type powder & load.
 
locknloader wrote:
Are these safe to reload? Will the oddities mentioned above cause any issues if safe?
Click to expand...

Safe to reload.

Off-center flash holes are common GFL headstamp. Winchester normally doesn't have the egg-shaped problem, but the defect is not enough to worry about.

In 9mm pistol, the off center flash holes or slightly over/under-sized flash holes will not cause a problem.

In 223 at 100 to 200 yards, I have never noticed a difference with GFL brass and their seemingly random flashholes.

If I were a long-distance precision shooter, I would reject cases with off-center flash holes since they can cause variations in combustion that could change velocity leading to changes in the point of impact enough that at 1,000 yards the shooter would fire five rounds and end up with more than one hole.
 
Lake City rifle brass was always drilled, as drilling was required in the the mil spec for it, and it always had many more off-center holes than my punched Remchester brass did. I infer from its appearance that the drill tip was not fully surrounded by a guide up into the primer pocket and so could walk at the speeds at which they were drilling them out. The punches are faster but make stiffer burrs. Lapua and Norma drill, but they do it carefully and change out their drill bits before they get too dull.

All that aside, Winchester, as in the photo, is punched, so something funny happened to that one. Looks like it got double-punched with two different sized punches. Odd.

AFAIK, nobody has ever been able to demonstrate that off-center holes do anything measurable on a target. Powder gets more off-center than that when case fill isn't high, but can still shoot very well.

When oversized ⅛ inch flash holes in 45 Auto cases for NT large pistol primers came along, a number of people tried reloading those cases and found they couldn't tell any functional difference, either.
 
I have to agree with 9mm I could never tell the difference.

I can load good 41 mag and 44 special better than factory, 9mm, its just cannon fodder for exercises in shooting.

Frankly with low cost 9mm I have not reloaded in some time. A lot of work for mediocre results (though fine for practice)

And for the ones who think I can't shoot, I end my sessions with a Remington Golden Sabre sacrificed to the shooting god and confirm I am still on aim point with the laser.

Now that is a good round, pretty much B eye at 25 yards each time. I hate to waste them as they do cost so I don't shoot regularly.

I tried reloading them, mediocre results.

PM me if you want a deal on 9mm truncated lead bullet (124 gr) and random other ones!
 
AFAIK, nobody has ever been able to demonstrate that off-center holes do anything measurable on a target. Powder gets more off-center than that when case fill isn't high, but can still shoot very well.
Click to expand...

I have to keep that in mind, the wisdom seems good primer pockets and informing is a help in accuracy for rifles.

could be wrong, not sure I can shoot or ever will to be close enough to tell.

Maybe we need a 100 yard rang straight up and see if sitting on a perfect cylinder of power helps things!
 
Thanks for all the feedback, safe to use but possibly small accuracy issues (likely impossible to notice with handgun rounds), becomes an issue when making high precision rifle rounds where you want everything as perfect and consistent as possible. Into the notebook it goes!
 
I've been to plants that both drilled premium brass, and punched common brass.
Punching is much more common than drilling, nothing but the premium high end brass was drilled.

I've had more consistency issues with undersized flash holes than oversized flash holes, and I can't actually say I've tested off center holes since I just disqualified the brass for bench shooting when the flash holes were off center.
Off center just went in the common brass bin if nothing else was wrong with it.

Since I've shot a ton of common brass where I didn't worry about off center (if the decapping rod fit, they were reloaded & shot) and couldn't really tell the difference, still probably more accurate than I could shoot...
 
I am not a benchrest shooter but have a nice tack driving Remington 788 in 223. I loaded up & shot two 5 shot groups from a sandbag rest @100yds. One group was with eccentric flash holes and the other with centered flash holes in the same brand/vintage/lot of brass. I found the eccentric flash holed brass shot groups about 1/4" larger than the centered holes. Of course, I can't remember the overall group sizes but they were both under and inch.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top