[jaybrown]

I have a question for you. I just recieved some once fired brass. They came cleaned and sorted, all federal headstamps. I'm curious on their condition. Some have nicks and little dents and quite a few have a noticable bulge off the head at about 0.27-0.30 inches. The case lenght is right around 0.840 inches. I've seen specs of 0.850in. I guess Im just at a fork on whether or not to send this stuff back. Should I worry about the dents and scratches? Will they smooth out during sizing? The case length and bulge are my real concerns.what do you think?

Thanks, Jay

[WayneConrad]

40 S&W?

Can you upload pics?

[jaybrown]

Hey here is a couple pictures showing what im talking about. Sorry, forgot to mention this is for my 40 S&W rounds.


As you can see in this picture the cases are all shorter than my Lyman mannual says to trim to. Lyman say the smallest Trim-to-Length is 0.847". I measured a random lot of 10 cases and found an average of 0.8394". Should I be worried about this?

http://vid.t4lx.com/Jays%20Image%20Folder/image00014_RJ.jpg

Now my cases seem alittle bulged near the bottom of the case. It was hard to get a picture that showed the correct perspective. But there is an obvious bulge near the case head. what do you guys think?


http://vid.t4lx.com/Jays%20Image%20Folder/image00008_RJ.jpg

[griz]

I wouldn't worry about the length. Try sizing a couple of the bad ones and see if they chamber easily in your guns, or a gage if you have one.

Speaking of gages, I am turning green with envy over that beautiful little block of steel. And the caliper is probably better than my old micrometer. Great pics too.

[EddieCoyle]

Judging by the bulge, I'm going to guess that these were fired out of a Glock. Try resizing and loading a few to see if they chamber easily. If not, get yourself an EGW undersized resizing die (http://egw-guns.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=40&products_id=40). This die will squeeze the cases a little tighter, thus removing the bulge and allowing them to chamber.

[1911user]

That looks like good ol' glocked 40 brass. Try using your sizing die adjusted as low as safely possible. If it fits your chamber (or case gage), then you're set. If not, the U-die is the next option. A U-die is just a Lee carbide sizing die with a little ground off of the die bottom. That allows as much of the case as possible into the carbide sizing ring. A light coating of spray case lube on the cases will reduce the sizing effort although it's not required with a carbide sizer. Hornady 1-shot is a favorite. The dillon spray case lube is good also.

[jaybrown]

I was just concerned with any weaking of the case because of the bulge and increased pressure due to the shorter case length. Though we are only talking 0.01" I just wanted to make sure that I wasnt being to picky. Maybe after resizing the lengths will be more inline. I'll try a couple.


Yea that guage block is nice. Its not mine though its my work. They are not really that expensive if you buy them in a few selected sizes. The one pictured is Grade 0 which is way more accurate than you need, +/- 0.000006". They are great for double checking your caliper/micrometers calibration. The caliper is mine, but then measurement is my speciality.

Thanks for the imput, its appreciated.

[BluesBear]

It's common for small straight walled cartridges to shrink slightly in length as the case expands to fit the chamber upon firing. Ome refer to this as brass flow.

Resizing will reduce the diameter and the length should return to normal.

The cartridge case acts as a simple gasket to seal the chamber, therefor the brass must change dimensions during firing and resizing. After all it has to go somewhere.

Brass flow is much preferable to brass stretching.