Question about ejection and caseing damage

[New Shot]

Why do most of my spent shells have a dented crimped look at the top of the shell? I'm just wondering because the guy next to me was shooting some .308 and his spent shells looked fine. Are my shells hitting something as they exit? BTW it was RG ammo.

[Gatman762]

Yes They most likely are hitting the side of the receiver as they clear the ejection port look on your receiver to the rear of the ejection port and you may see some little brass marks where they contacted the receiver. It's just the way your rifle is ejecting the spent cases. Mine does the same thing. austa GM762

[hadleylaw]

want to talk about case damage...take a look at the ejected brass from an HK 91 or CETME..that is dented!!!

[Wadman]

Different semi-autos have their own characteristic ejection patterns. Some are more violent than others. As Hadleylaw mentions, HK91's are very violent and cause quite a ding on ejected brass. People have suggested attaching a thin piece of foam or velcro around the area that your spent casing is hitting. This ought to keep the duSt cover free of brass marks and reduce the amount of dinging the case mouth receives.



[This message has been edited by Wadman (edited January 02, 2001).]

[BUFFLER]

The dented case mouth is no obstacle for reloading the case. Many firearms dent their case mouths on ejection.

You need to use something to push the dent out before resizing the case. If the dent is small enough, the expander ball on the decapping pin of your resizing die will do. If the dent is bigger, the expander ball will just push the dent inside the rest of the neck and ruin the case.

I use a thin-shafted Phillips head screwdriver to undo the dents. Any similar rod-like metal object will work, it just has to be small in diameter enough to go down inside the case past the dent, and long enough to reach inside and still give you enough outside to hold onto. Just stick the tool inside the case and push the dent out. You don't have to be really precise about restoring roundness to the case mouth, just get it roughly back to open all the way, and the resizing die will finish the job.

For trivia's sake, the denting case moutns are the reason most 1911's include a lowered and beveled ejection port, so the .45 ACP case mouths wont be dented. It only matters if you are planning to reload the cases.

BUFFLER

[Ratlord]

Thanks, Buffler. You answered my question before I even asked it. http://www.fnfal.com/forums/smile.gif

[TerryN]

I have been using an old nail set for this purpose for about 20 years now. It's tapered and small enough to cover the range from .223 up to .35 or so. Works great!