Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles dented brass ?

If the brass gets a moderate sized dent in the body of the brass near the shoulder, due to resizing with excess lube or trapped air in the die, is there any reason the brass cannot be reloaded?

The dent should "fire form" out, correct? How big a dent before the brass is junk? - Thanks

Nope, load it and shoot it.

Different strokes...Any crimps, dents or cracks, I throw them away. How much does a shell cost you and is it worth a problem?

Load and shoot

50-60 KPSI from inside the case will iron out a dent on the side of a case in a hurry. Dents on the neck are a problem, and I think should be discarded.

I load them. The dents are gone the next time I reload them. It doesn't happen very often now that I switched to the hornady one shot.

As long as the round chamber, go shoot it.

Before reloading, pick up a tin of Imperial.

Crack = problem

Problem = goes in trash

Dent = not problem

Not problem = not problem



I 2nd the motion for Imperial

Yup!

Ill 2nd that, one tin will last you a very long time, your never see a dent again from sizing.

I'll add a third to the Imperial, great stuff it is!

I spread it on my toast, it's great!!

I started using imperial recently too. Good stuff.

Dents in brass usually result from using too much lube but can also be a result of a plugged vent hole in the die not allowing air/lube to escape. Run a needle or small drill thru the vent hole to be sure it is not clogged. Switching lube as suggested by other posters is a good idea too.

Stop putting lube on shoulders.......problem solved!

I stopped using Imperial and full length sizing became a lot easier.

Holy crap.

I use Imperial for small batches and re-forming brass but it is slow. For large amounts, I use One Shot but am careful to let it dry before re-sizing. RCBS dies have the vent hole referred to above; Redding's dies do not. I found that I got more dents with Redding unless I was very careful. Just me.........

One Shot is the only thing I use. And yes I let it dry.

Imperial is good stuff. And one tin lasts....well, my brother bought a tin 21 years ago that he is still using. He does use lube sparingly, but he has sized at least 10,000 cases with that one tin. I use it less sparingly. Our dad used it, and never thought of switching to anything else. I did try a few others a long time ago, but went back to the Imperial. It just works well with so little in application, even on long and heavy cases.

As far as dents go, they shoot right out! Sparing use of lube helps, and cleaning dies regularly when using them. Cracks are not dents, and cracks are a problem. Dents in the neck should size right out.