Dented cases. Keep or throw away?

[Gravedigger56]

After cleaning a bunch of .223 and 5.56 brass I noticed that many of them were dented. I haven't been reloading long enough to really know just how bad a dented case has to be before you should throw it away and what is acceptable to go ahead and reload. I have always loaded new brass and this is my first batch of fired cases so I'm not used to seeing this. Thanks for any suggestions.

 

[MEHavey]

Dents are normal from getting smacked against the brass deflector on the AR.
Unless it looks like someone took a sharp knife to it, resize and shoot away.

 

[lightman]

I have reloaded a lot of dented brass. Unless the dent is a sharp crease it will fire form and be fine. If it has a knife edge crease it will probably split there, sooner or later. Some autos are rough on brass, bending the case mouth and the body. A punch will round out the case mouth before sizing and the body dent will not hurt anything.

 

[Gravedigger56]

Great to hear. Thanks for the info.

 

[GLOOB]

If it holds a bullet, powder, and primer, I will shoot it. I don't care about dents, unless they affect feeding. Run it through the sizer and see what it looks like.

 

[rg1]

I agree that any marks that look like cuts or deep scratches should probably be tossed in the yellow brass recycle bin. Dents won't cause any issues. Necks mouths that are bent, straighten with a tapered punch then resize. Necks that have sharp creases or sharp folds maybe toss them too. Most important is checking for case stretching and cases that may separate. Use the sharp bent wire feeler method to feel inside the case for ditches or rings inside the case where the case has stretched. These rings can be down near the case head or even about 1/3 down the case from the case mouth. I even shine a penlight into the empty primer pocket and look into the neck to look for any stretch rings. I buy 1000 round lots of once fired brass and typically find from a few up to 20 cases showing stretch rings.

 

[Gravedigger56]

Use the sharp bent wire feeler method to feel inside the case for ditches or rings inside the case where the case has stretched

I have a nice sharp dental pick that might do nicely.

 

[nelson1each]

I stopped throwing any junk brass away....started a scrap brass bucket...some one smarter than me said a penny saved is a penny earned

 

[Walkalong]

Use the sharp bent wire feeler method to feel inside the case for ditches or rings inside the case where the case has stretched

Like this:

http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=734058

I have a nice sharp dental pick that might do nicely.

That will work nicely.

 

[ku4hx]

Small dents, dings, scratches and minor out-of-round = keep.
Cracks, splits, incipient crack signs, smashed, corroded, rotted = pitch

 

[mdi]

As noted above; if a dent has smooth sides, no sharp creases or corners, g'head and reload...