Dented brass after being shot

[captnmo]

I shot these out of my AR-10 two days ago and noticed that they were dented just below the shoulder in exactly the same spot. The first ones with the larger dents are Black Hills 168gr match. The ones with the smaller dents are 168gr BVAC. The third picture is a scratch on the head from what I'm assuming is from the bolt face.

Any ideas what's going on? One dented and I'd guess they're just striking the support beam to the roof of the shooting shack, but this many is strange. I'm assuming they're not safe to reload anymore so I'm wondering why my AR-10 is eating brass.

 

[MinorDamage]

Re: Dented brass after being shot

Semis are not kind to brass. When they are extracted and then ejected, most come into contact with the shell deflector/forward assist area of the rifle. Get used to it. Those are fine to reload and shoot again. Just make sure to FL resize.

Josh

 

[thespecialist]

Re: Dented brass after being shot

They're hitting the shell deflector. The price you pay for a semi.

 

[LARMIKE]

Re: Dented brass after being shot

After a few rds. you will begin to see brass colored marks where the brass is hitting the side of the receiver, I use the fuzzy side of velcro to protect the brass/Upper Rec. I have a shell deflector on my AR Service rifle and it has the fuzzy velcro on it, no dents. You will also see small marks on the case neck, they are from the inside of the barrel extension, where the bolt lugs are. when you reload these, get a universal deprime die, decap then clean the brass, Stainless Steel tumble preferred, then resize. My .02 Mike

 

[captnmo]

Re: Dented brass after being shot

That makes sense. Wonder why Black Hills looks in worse shape than the others? I don't know much about fire forming. Could that have something to do with it? Thanks for the input. I like the idea of putting the soft side of the velcro on the deflector.

 

[PistonPete]

Re: Dented brass after being shot

BH brass is a bit softer than other brass, GI brass is somewhat harder, and there is a foreign brass that is very hard, i think the head stamp is "DH" or "DM", German made stuff.

yes, the Velcro on the brass deflector is a thing i have done for at least 15 years or whenever the makers of Velcro made the sticky type Velcro on all my AR-15 shooters

 

[samnev]

Re: Dented brass after being shot

Yep typical of semi's. As previously posted just FL resize and you will be fine.

 

[MitchAlsup]

Re: Dented brass after being shot

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: captnmo</div><div class="ubbcode-body">That makes sense. Wonder why Black Hills looks in worse shape than the others? </div></div>

The gas pressure in the barrel when the bullet passes the gas port (hole) determines how rapidly the bolt unlocks and how hard the brass gets tossed out.

I strongly suspect that BH ammo had higher gas port pressure.

I also suspect you could reload and find a recipie that would shoot well and hardly ding the brass at all.

When I developed my load for my AR15, I got the brass to drop in a tiny little pattern off my right shoulder. Earlier in development they would even fly forward (light loads) or backwards (heavy loadings).