9mm brass to avoid: DAG

[evan price]

Another 9mm headstamp to avoid: Dynamit Nobel AG (headstamp: DAG + date, black primer sealer).

It is Boxer primed, however the flash holes are tiny, like a Berdan flash hole. You will break a depriming pin if not careful. Possible to maybe resize the hole, but with 9mm as common as dirt, why bother? To the scrap bin it goes!

 

[GLOOB]

Actually, it's really nice brass,* and the small flash holes + primer sealant means you know it's once fired. So it might be worth keeping if you find a lot of them. If you have a lathe or a very straight drill, you can buy a spare decapping pin and turn it down. Or you can pop the primers out with a nail and ream the holes with the right sized drill bit.

I wish I'd started reloading sooner. I shot a lot of this ammo for plinking and only had 100 left when I started reloading.

*Nice being subjective, I guess. I classify it as nice because it's soft when drilling or trimming (made some into 9x18 cases). The trimming comes off in long strands like PMC/WIN. It's not hard like Fiochhi or SB. It's uniform. The case heads and head stamp are as perfectly formed as I've ever seen on brass, with no voids at all. It actually looks like the case heads are machined and polished rather than stamped.

 

[16in50calNavalRifle]

Er .... I think it was in fact a few DAGs that broke my decapping pins - a saga chronicled in another thread here in the forum. Well actually of course I was the one who broke the pins, as I should have had them adjusted so that they'd back out when encountering something like the DAG flash holes.

Too bad that these seem to be very well made cases, as GLOOB explains. I have only a few dozen of them (I hope!) in my stash of 9mm cases, so I'm just going to cull them and add them to the scrap brass container. I'm not sure about the RWS headstamp brass, but just to be sure I'm setting those aside as well. And the S&B primer pockets are a pain, so I'm separating those for (possible) expansion/uniforming later - I shot a case and probably have a few hundred of those, but won't be buying any more (whenever I do buy factory again, if ever).

 

[Nick93]

I dont want to talk BS but GECO have the same problem and i think the GECO(cheap commercial), DAG(military) and RWS(commercial) are made by the same facility or at least the same specifications ...

Down here that cases are really rare and the only guys who shoot with them use them in bullseye style shooting ... my gandfather bought a box 30 years ago and they still shoot just fine (loaded more than 30 times with puff-target loads) ... my grandfather says that those GECO cases are superb ...

if you shoot bullseye they really worth correcting the flash holes if not sale it ! dont throw that great cases to the scrap bin

SHOOT STRAIGHT !

 

[bk42261]

Smaller flash hole?

Wouldn't a smaller flash hole affect the overall effectiveness of the primer to ignite the powder? Would you need to use a Magnum primer for proper ignition if you didn't enlarge the flash hole?ETA I've always understood that changing ANY component (primer,powder, bullet) changes the overall load. Wouldn't this also apply to the size of the flashole? Just asking, but it seems to make sense to me.

 

[beatledog7]

Why not get a flash hole uniformer and try reaming out the flash holes to "normal" size before decapping. The tool should be able to gain purchase on the hole edges and cut away just enough to make them normal size even with the spent primer in place. It might even decap some of them.

 

[Hondo 60]

If the flash holes are very small (berdan sized), yes that certainly would change the pressure upon powder ignition.

Obviously the primer/powder type are tested by the factory, (atleast you'd hope so).
But to reload them, one would think you'd almost have to enlarge the flash hole.

 

[16in50calNavalRifle]

Nick, for now I've just put my DAG and RWS brass aside. I figure I am a long way from having a minimum brass recycle stash, so maybe I'll revisit the flash hole issue (I would need a uniformer to "fix" the S&B brass anyway, and I have 30 carbine that sometimes also benefits from some primer pocket attention). We're only talking about a few dozen cases here, plus maybe another 50 when I shoot that box of Swiss 9mm (forget the brand) some day. I reload primarily to replace factory ammo for plinking, practice, and informal action shoots - so cost and minimal hassle are the two watchwords for me.

 

[evan price]

In my case, I have the luxury of having multiple buckets overflowing with 9mm cases that I know are good, so the few hundred A-MERC, DAG or crimped-primer WCC 9mm I scrap out every month is not a problem.