Surplus ammo with "dents" in the cases = DO NOT shoot?

[Green Lantern]

I picked up a Mosin Nagant and a 300-round tin of ammo from Classic Arms on the cheap this week, and when "getting to know her" I observed that some of the rounds had "dents" in them. The first round had some BAD ones in it, making me wonder if I hadn't mangled it while trying to get the can open (a hacksaw works wonders, btw ). But then on closer inspection I would find at least a few rounds out of every 10-round bundle had some minor dents - usually just one where the case starts to taper down to the bullet.

Oh, one more thing - when picking up the brass in my brother's yard, I found one case that had a CRACK in it - looks like it split upon firing. Uhhhh....just how badly should THAT worry me?

 

[EricTheBarbarian]

well i shot alot of dented bulgarian surplus in my mosin nagant with no problems at all. it definetly caught my attention but after doing a search found it wouldnt be a problem. i shot some 8mm turkish surplus in my mauser and after i ejected the case i had some split necks. Ive heard thats due to old brass being stretched and when i asked on here everyone seemed to say it wouldnt cause me any problems. youll be fine shooting it.

edit: dont shoot them with cracks already in them, but if they have cracks after you fire them around the neck youll be fine.

 

[Bazooka Joe71]

I never fire rounds with dents in them, let alone ones with a crack...Maybe I'm just being safe, but I wouldn't think about risking it.

I know thats about as helpful as a poke in the eye, but why bother risking a 9 cent round?

 

[tubeshooter]

I don't reload, but I suspect some knowledge of that for the caliber in question (and the pressures involved) might give you some idea of how far you would be "pushing it".... or rather how much room there is to push.


That being said, I agree with Bazooka Joe71.

 

[Cacique500]

It's common for surplus 54R to have dents in the neck - they'll shoot just fine. You may also run across some case splits after you fire - if the splits are high up (neck area) that's not unusual either.

Not sure if you got the Bulgarian Heavy ball or Light ball - I got some of the light ball and have gone through about 200 rounds so far with no major issues.

 

[Green Lantern]

Er - the split was, IIRC, about halfway down the case. Not very wide or long, but certainly noticeable!

 

[WinchesterAA]

some of the bulgarian stuff in the painstakingly well sealed tin brick thing was dented. I was hesitant at first to shoot it, but ran out of ammo and had a few of those left and said why not?

worked fine.

 

[ConfuseUs]

I think the dents are from excess case lube when the brass was sized. It makes the ammo look weird and may affect accuracy but I haven't had any problems with dented cases. For grins you can marvel at how pressure can "fix" a dent. Now if only it could be done with a dent in a car...

 

[foghornl]

I bought 400 rounds of Albanian Surplus 7.62x54 ammo. [Headstamp arsenal code 3, date code 89]. Some of it had small dents, almost like pin marks. The tiny dents are usually OK, but look them over cautiously.

Some rounds had dents in the main part of the shell big enough to insert the edge of a penny. Those rounds got the bullets pulled & powder dumped. Same with those that had loose bullets/case neck cracks. I probably ended up with about 300/320 good rounds out of 400. If I could move the bullet just using thumb & 1 finger, I pulled bullet and dumped powder.

 

[DMK]

I see lots of small dents in 5.56 and 7.62x51 surplus. I shoot it, no problem. No difference in feel, report or condition of the fired case.

 

[armoredman]

Some of the surplus steel cases will crack lengthwise during firing. I don't like it, but it has never affected anything, and the Mosin just kept chugging along. If it truely bothers you, relegate that ammo to ultimate OH SH** status, and buy some Czech Silvertip from J&G Sales.

 

[davera]

I shot around 15 rounds of some cheap 8mm surplus this weekend and two of the cases had quarter inch splits after firing. All the other rounds looked fine in close comparison to unfired rounds, no stretching, primers being pushed back or anything. I took it to mean there's some faulty brass in that batch.

I did not notice the problem when firing, only after inspecting the casing afterwards.

 

[Roadkill]

"I think the dents are from excess case lube when the brass was sized"

Exactly. Not a problem at all. As long as I've been reloading it still happens sometimes. Leave the split ones alone.