I made these 300 blackout cases from Lake City 5.56and shot them once from an AR. After cleaning and resizing I noticed that they have extremely similar dents on them. When I form brass from the LC 5.56 cases I do not have these dents on them, only the ones I've shot have these. What gives? Are these still fine to reload?
What's denting these cases? Are they still good to go?
- Thread starter westsidecamper
- Start date
Too much lube and/or the vent hole in your sizing die is plugged.
if its anything like the guys at our range that sling brass 20 feet in every direction I would guess that but i do not know what caused yours in truth another complete guess is feeding issues from the mag to the ramp good luck on figuring it out and correcting what ever is causing that . darn I was wrong again i like his answer much better .
Agree with Dan. I've done it a few times including on some 223s last week. Clean your die out, more than likely problem will be solved.
Why is this only happening to cases that I fired then? Shouldn't this happen to every case I run through the resizing die and not just the fired cases?
Should I shoot these or toss?
Should I shoot these or toss?
If those are fresh-fired, and you have not resized them yet, then that concentric and consistent dent is from either of 2 things... 1) Low chamber pressures (subsonic rounds can do this), or 2) that's where the cases are hitting the case deflector on your AR's upper receiver (the little metal nub that sticks out just aft of your ejection port).
They were loaded with Hornady 110 gr vmaxes at the starting load for H110 from the Lee book, I forget what that is off top, but they're definitely supersonic. Cycled the gun perfectly with an A5H3 buffer.
I tested the magazine theory out by loading the mag with a couple, chambering, then cycling by hand. No issues there. I need to test out whether that is where they are hitting the deflector but that has to wait for a range day.
Anyone have thoughts on whether I should reload and shoot these dented cases?
I tested the magazine theory out by loading the mag with a couple, chambering, then cycling by hand. No issues there. I need to test out whether that is where they are hitting the deflector but that has to wait for a range day.
Anyone have thoughts on whether I should reload and shoot these dented cases?
Fired brass expands and so less space in the die body compared to unfired brass. Little room and too much lube.
Thanks for the help, everyone. Never seen a more helpful reloading forum than this one.
Next time I resize I will try cleaning out the die and see what happens with a lot less lube.
Next time I resize I will try cleaning out the die and see what happens with a lot less lube.
300 Blackout doesn't really have a shoulder but usually you keep lube away from the shoulder of a cartridge. That area gets pushed back quite a bit during resizing and the lube gets trapped in between the die and the shoulder. The dents will almost always be on the shoulder of the brass or just below it. Most setups don't require lube on the neck either. I run a tiny amount on the neck in a few neck sizing dies but that's about it. Lube is really meant for the case body and for Maggot (aka Howie)
Is the dent happening after you size or while you are shooting them? If it’s while you are shooting id say the gun is way over gassed and slinging them hard into the brass deflector
I don't know, as I wasn't paying a ton of attention to the cases before I resized them. I just checked to see if they had any obvious pressure signs and tossed them in an ammo can. I'll found out soon.
Lee. I've got Hornady one shot around I can test next time as well, but I'm out of fired cases.
I have never had a dented shoulder using Lee sizing paste in almost three decades of using it, unless your doing something seriously wrong with it i woukd rule that out.
I know you said you werent really paying attention to ejection pattern but if your brass was landing forward of your ejection port it would be over gassed. It also looks like in the picture of your brass they are swelled forward of the case head.
I just looked at the picture again, and it appears he has a couple of primers that are bugging-out... He might have been running them way too hot. Or he could have a bad chamber in that barrel. Overpressure rounds in a gas gun can also cause some weird shit to happen. Or, if they were running hot, they were slamming that bolt back fast, and slinging the brass hard into the deflector. He could very well be over-gassed, or overpressure on those loads.
I can’t figure this thread out lol. We’ve got people commenting on how the primers look in the pic. We’ve got people saying that if it was lube dents it would have shown up after sizing.
Guys, there are no primers in the pic and he first noticed the dents after sizing.
Guys, there are no primers in the pic and he first noticed the dents after sizing.
No way someone cleans and sizes a pile of cases with dents like that and doesn’t notice it. Plus those dents look exactly like lube dents. Ask me how I know.....
I did not enlarge the pic and thought I saw primers, my advice is way off base here.
Same, I have dented .223 cases to where they looked identical to the picture above.
The only lube dents i have ever had were on the shoulder not behind it, if thats from using lee paste he must be putting it on with a spatulla
Exactly. I feel like we have two good hypotheses (dents are either from the shell deflector or too much lube/dirty die) and I'm going to test them. I just can't until I can make it to the range. I made a bunch more cases last night so that should be soon.
Lube dents 100%. Those dents look like shallow bubbles. Shell def dents are sharper than that. It should be fine to shoot them. It will blow the dent back out.
I was thinking the same thing.
@westsidecamper have we determined if the dent showed up after firing or after sizing? Lets start there.
While a bit large it shows the same round soft edge characteristics of a gob of lube in the die. Maybe a pice of lint covered in lube?
Did it stop doing this?
Have you removed and looked inside the die?
Guys - let this thread chill until I can get to the range
I do not know where people are seeing primers. I did not post any.
I do not know if they showed up before or after sizing because I only checked the primers after shooting, then I cleaned and sized them without paying a ton of attention. I do not have any fired, unsized cases to check. So yes, I did notice them after sizing. I did not check them thoroughly after shooting, though.
What I do know is that when I'm forming new cases from 5.56 ones it does not cause the dent. The dent is only on cases that have been fired then sized. All but one of the fired, sized cases has a dent on it in that same spot. Let me know if I need to clarify this further or with more images. I was using Lee's case lube, which I apply with my fingers.
I could clean out the die and see if anything is in it, but I'm going to finish making enough cases for tomorrow before I do that.
I do not know where people are seeing primers. I did not post any.
I do not know if they showed up before or after sizing because I only checked the primers after shooting, then I cleaned and sized them without paying a ton of attention. I do not have any fired, unsized cases to check. So yes, I did notice them after sizing. I did not check them thoroughly after shooting, though.
What I do know is that when I'm forming new cases from 5.56 ones it does not cause the dent. The dent is only on cases that have been fired then sized. All but one of the fired, sized cases has a dent on it in that same spot. Let me know if I need to clarify this further or with more images. I was using Lee's case lube, which I apply with my fingers.
I could clean out the die and see if anything is in it, but I'm going to finish making enough cases for tomorrow before I do that.
It’s from too much sizing lube. The reason you didn’t notice them until sizing is because they weren’t there. You’d notice those large hydraulic dents....
Clean your die, cut your lube to about half of what you’ve been using. If using Hornady one shot, make sure you let it dry on the case before sizing.
Clean your die, cut your lube to about half of what you’ve been using. If using Hornady one shot, make sure you let it dry on the case before sizing.
This is the only way to use Hornady One Shot Lube. Put them in a gallon bag, spay a little, shake them up, spray some more and shake them up. Easiest way to lube brass by far. For ELR I do use sizing wax but everything else gets this treatment.
But the dents are pretty much the same! They’re not perfectly identical because when he slathered the lube on he didn’t do it in a perfectly identical way. No way a shell deflector dents the case right under the shoulder that deep.
I think that falls into the 33% of people who didn't zoom in on the blurry photos.
When you don't zoom in on the GI joe camera picture. The lower part of the primer pocket looks primers sitting very high several cases.
When you don't zoom in on the GI joe camera picture. The lower part of the primer pocket looks primers sitting very high several cases.
I suggested this possibility because these pics are cases dented from a known headspace issue post firing. My understanding of the original post was the dents were post firing, as I assumed no one would resize that many cases after seeing a dent in the first couple. These looked very similar.
Finally got to shoot. Only the case mouths were getting dented by the deflector, just like with my other ARs. Cleaned out the sizing die. It was filthy. Hard to explain how dirty it was. Resized a couple cases, no dents. So people who said it was that, I think you were right.
