Strange dent in Mosin brass?

P

Prof Young

New member
Loaders:
So I bought some non-milsurp Mosin ammo thinking I'd learn to reload them.
Got the dies and all the components. Sat down and decapped and size em today and then notice these odd dents in the shoulder. (see attached pic). All of the fired rounds have this dent. Non of the unfired round have it. None of my fired steel cases have the dent either. It occurs to me that I didn't didn't inspect these until I had sized and decapped. Is the gun doing this or the die?
Help!!!
 

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Frankenmauser said it. You only want to lightly lube your cases, enough that they feel slippery but dont exactly look wet.
 
Clean your die, as well ..... probably some lube built up in there, too...... What are you using for lube and how are you applying it?
 
Absolutely, a very common mistake with bottle shaped brass. Case lube is a learned procedure. You see so many reloaders complaining about spray on lubes. Fact is, if the proper amount is applied it works just fine and cases won’t stick. Spray on too much and you’ll get the same result you had. Pad or spray, you need to determine the correct amount thru trial an error. It’s been over 30 years but I remember learning that lesson on some .243 brass.
 
I've not had that happen to me. If I did though I would probably not hesitate to fire the reloaded round, thinking it would just re-expand. Is that a reasonable/safe assumption?
 
I would probably not hesitate to fire the reloaded round, thinking it would just re-expand. Is that a reasonable/safe assumption?
Click to expand...

Yep, firing will iron that right out .... fireformed to the chamber fired in.
 
thinking it would just re-expand.
Click to expand...

I was at the firing range with cases that look similar to your cases with the dents; one shooter next top me told me to tell him I was not going to shoot those cases. To make him happy I said "I am not going to shoot these ugly cases" and then? I shot the cases, he wondered and then reminded me I told him I was not going to shoot 'those' cases. And then I corrected him; I reminded him he told me to say that.

I have had dents in cases while forming, I have allowed lube to build up but I have never had cases form dimple/dents when simply sizing the cases unless there was too much lube.

When firing there is no guarantee the dimple/dent will flatten, there are time the dent will become a folded crease. Life is too short for a reloader to shoot ugly cases.

F. Guffey
 
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"...it would just re-expand..." Yep. No problem at all firing those. Just once back and forth with light pressure on the lube pad is enough.
Same kind of thing happens with .30-06 out of an M1. The cases tend to get whacked on the receiver upon ejection. Lotta the time on the case mouth. You just open that enough to get the expander in(Use needle nosed pliers as a mandrel. Handy things needle nosed pliers.) and you're fine.
Never seen any dented case fold in on itself.
 
Never seen any dented case fold in on itself.
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When this happens the reloader can look down inside the case and see what looks like veined vortexes. It would be a lot of trouble to post pictures plus:eek: I have not found the tokens.

F. Guffey
 
Keep lube off the shoulders. I only lube the lower 2/3 or so of the case body, that's where a case will stick if it's going to.
 
As has been said it is just minor lube dents. Load them up. When you fire them the dents will pop out. Next time you size them try to keep the lube below the shoulder of the brass.

Those could also be from fluted chambers. Some of the SVT had a fluted chamber to prevent stuck cases. Though I have never seen them leave ones that looked like lube dents. The SVT tends to leave brass cases looking like they were cut there.
 
Never seen any dented case fold in on itself.
Click to expand...

And then there was that time I did a real live demonstration; a reloader insisted he could move the shoulder back on a case when sizing with a full length sizing die, and I disagreed. I insisted I could move the shoulder back but when finished the case would take on the appearance of being a case with an accordion attacked or a case with bellows.

It is important to have case body support when sizing a case, I know; there are reloaders with Redding dies that they call body dies.

F. Guffey
 
Reloads shot fine . . .

I managed to resize the rest without any dents. Shot both dented and undented today and all shot just fine. All but one of the dented ones came out of the gun with dents no more.

Life is good
Prof Young
 
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