First time reloading rifle (SPR). How much case dimpling is safe?

[Exdc]

Hello Reloading subforum,

I'm a beginner. I've reloaded a few hundred 9mm before (no tuning or anything, just for pistol practice) and everything went well. However, my understanding is that rifle loading is significantly more difficult, especially when attempting to tune a load to a particular rifle.

I have a lot of Hornady 6.8 brass and I'm about to clean it, but as I'm sorting it, I have found a significant number of cartridges with various amounts of dimpling or scratches. At $0.68 per piece of brass, I'm not too keen on tossing any that I don't have to, but I'm also not wanting to waste time or materials loading bad casings. I also don't want to risk damage to my rifle, or potentially harm to myself. In your experience, what degree of imperfections will affect accuracy? What degree of imperfections will lead to unsafe operation?

Thank you. I searched the forums but only found information on pistol casings, which basically said use them until they crack. The few rifle brass threads I found didn't cover my question and didn't have a clear consensus. I've attached pictures.



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[Top Cat]

Generally speaking, there are three main areas of terminal case failure to watch out for, split necks, head separation and loose primer pockets.

Minor scratches are mostly a cosmetic issue and won't cause the case to be unusable. Neck dents are fairly common and don't affect anything either.

So your cases look ok.

600 wet/dry sandpaper or medium steel wool will smooth scratches a little just to take down any sharp edges so they won't hang up in the mag.

The 6.8 is a medium pressure round so case life should be good.

[gunboat]

As above --- I only reject large dents if there are sharp creases - "V" -

[bigdawg86]

My LR308 in 6.5 Creedmoor leaves my brass with two dents in the neck (not sure why as my upper is slickside) and sometimes on the body... Load em and Choot em

[NYT]

your brass is fine. i have shot some pretty iffy rounds in my day but not out of an expensive rifle. your brass arent anywhere near iffy to me.

[CSACANNONEER]

Brass looks great to me.

[bazineta]

Nothing in any of those pictures that would concern me.

As a newbie, when dealing with rifle brass, just repeat to yourself "not too much lube on the neck or shoulder area". Hydraulic dents during sizing from over-lubing in that area tends to kill more brass for a new reloader than anything else will.

[Exdc]

Thank you all for the input! Wisdom appreciated! If you have any other tips, leave them here, I'll check, but my question is answered. Hopefully it will help others in the future.


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[Exdc]

Bullet cases came out fine! Not polished, but tumbled, resized, and deprimed. I'm going to have to finish later as I learned that I need the swaging die. It's on its way, along with a primer pocket cleaning tool.

Anyway, for those who care, here's a before and after comparison.




Thanks again!


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[Whiterabbit]

how much dimpling do I tolerate?

Alot.







.....No really. Alot.


much, much more than all the images here. something about 55000 psi irons those wrinkles right out.

[Witch Hunter]

Still need to trim them. Otherwise they are Ok to shoot.

[Exdc]

I know, I'm going to get a drill. Not quite that far along in the process (:


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[Bladewurk]

Put some Velcro on your case deflector and your brass will look better after ejecting, or get a case deflector and pad it with Velcro

[Exdc]

First time reloading rifle (SPR). How much case dimpling is safe?

I got a case catcher... And forgot about it until after the range trip. I'll use it next time (:

That's a really great idea though! Thanks!
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[packnrat]

i say no problem seeing as you have a problem getting a large supply of them.

should see the damaged ones i dump.

any large deformation of the case or a crease dump fast.

necks and primer pockets are bigger problems to keep a eye out for.

photos show-- reload and be happy.