Are these safe?

[vvet762]

I am loading my first batch of 223 and not sure if these will be safe to shoot. I had the redding die set too low and crushed the brass on about 8 of them. I've loaded a few hundred 40 and 9mm but not 223, this is a lot different. They all passed the Wilson gauge test. Also, how do you expand and crimp the shell using a 2 die set? Should I unload these and toss the brass or load em up and see what happens?. Going to the range tomorrow to zero in the new red dot and would like to try my own loads.
sorry about the format. I don;t know what I'm doing with the pica

 

[Yeah]

Those dents would not put me off, but what are you shooting them in and what is the powder and charge weight? Almost certainly those will fireform out if your bolt will go into battery, but you'd want to be on the safe side RE pressure. Pulling the components and dropping down to an FF load would not be difficult....

 

[Cameramonkey]

I'd pull the bullets and trash the brass. Its only 8 cheap rounds. Not worth the chance of damaging your rifle, even if its a secondary effect. (case jams, then you damage it accidentally trying to extract it)

Seriously. You arent on the walking dead. reload 8 more and be done with it.

 

[actaeon277]

I'd pull the bullets and trash the brass. Its only 8 cheap rounds. Not worth the chance of damaging your rifle, even if its a secondary effect. (case jams, then you damage it accidentally trying to extract it)

Seriously. You arent on the walking dead. reload 8 more and be done with it.

I'm not an expert reloader, but my philosophy is, if you have to ask... toss (disassemble)

 

[red_zr24x4]

I'd pull the bullets and trash the brass. Its only 8 cheap rounds. Not worth the chance of damaging your rifle, even if its a secondary effect. (case jams, then you damage it accidentally trying to extract it)

Seriously. You arent on the walking dead. reload 8 more and be done with it.

This is what I would do.
Pull the bullets, dump the powder back in the jug, de-prime, re-use everything except the brass.

 

[shibumiseeker]

Those dents would not put me off, but what are you shooting them in and what is the powder and charge weight? Almost certainly those will fireform out if your bolt will go into battery, but you'd want to be on the safe side RE pressure. Pulling the components and dropping down to an FF load would not be difficult....

This.

If the load was conservative and they will chamber readily then they will fireform and be fine. But .223 brass is cheap enough that pulling them and tossing the brass is a low cost proposition. I make my 300BLK brass out of pieces I pick up that are like those.

 

[vvet762]

I took your advice. I pulled the bullets and kept the powder. Now, how do I de-prime the brass? I don't want to just throw away a primed round. Sounds unsafe.

 

[Cameramonkey]

I took your advice. I pulled the bullets and kept the powder. Now, how do I de-prime the brass? I don't want to just throw away a primed round. Sounds unsafe.

drop them in a container of water. I cant imagine the primers would still work after getting a good soaking.

 

[shibumiseeker]

I took your advice. I pulled the bullets and kept the powder. Now, how do I de-prime the brass? I don't want to just throw away a primed round. Sounds unsafe.

Put your safety glasses on and some hearing protection and deprime them. It's not a bomb, and on the very, very small chance that a primer goes off the worst that can happen in this situation is a piece of small debris in the eye, it won't do any harm to the equiment. You can reuse the primer, though I always keep ammo I make with primers like that separate and fire them one at a time in case of a misfire.

 

[shibumiseeker]

drop them in a container of water. I cant imagine the primers would still work after getting a good soaking.

As soon as they dry out they will work just fine, and you have to soak them for a long time to desensitize them.

 

[bart1533]

Keep everything and trash the brass.

 

[maverick5990]

Toss the brass. You need to re-read how to set your die. It was set too low. .223 does not require a crimp.

 

[oldpink]

Toss the brass. You need to re-read how to set your die. It was set too low. .223 does not require a crimp.

Amen, bro.
As long as your expander ball isn't oversized, and as long as you don't have your bullet seated so far out that the neck is barely holding onto it, no box magazine rifles require crimp.
Crimp is (of course) essential with tubular magazine rifles.

 

[cobber]

Rather than water, I have always heard to put a dab of oil on the primer... should do the trick.

Never tried depriming an unfired case. Sounds interesting.

 

[shibumiseeker]

Rather than water, I have always heard to put a dab of oil on the primer... should do the trick.

Never tried depriming an unfired case. Sounds interesting.

Oil will desensitize a primer but not deactivate it. It's also slower to dry out (years instead of days).

A few years ago I posted my tests of primer desensitization/deactivation.

People act like depriming a live primer is a big deal but it really isn't. On the off chance it goes off it's mostly just loud and will startle you.

 

[Broom_jm]

This thread is an interesting dichotomy in what experienced reloaders know and have already done, personally...and new reloaders who aren't sure and make assumptions. There's nothing wrong with that, but if you're going to offer advice on something potentially dangerous, like reloading, you should KNOW what you're telling someone is correct. For example, I know if those rounds had chambered, they would have come out of the gun just fine. No danger whatsoever. Shibumiseeker knows what it takes to actually deactivate a primer. What I find comical about folks wondering what to do with primed cases is that you can do the exact same thing with it you've always done...fire the dang things! Feed them one at a time (there's only 8 of 'em) into your AR chamber and pull the trigger. Zero danger and almost zero effort.

 

[actaeon277]

You can put the bad brass in a vice. Grab a hammer and center punch. Whack primer.
Wear hearing protection,

 

[Brian Ski]

You can put the bad brass in a vice. Grab a hammer and center punch. Whack primer.
Wear hearing protection,

I would be careful with that. BTDT. More power than you think in a primer. Almost thought i lost my finger. Sure rang it though. No blood but primer came undid. Personally, I would keep them separate and fire them. If they chamber they will be fine. Spooks me a lot more when people keep talking about their squib loads.

 

[Thor]

Safe against groundhogs, not safe against dangerous game....

 

[ModernGunner]

Probably NOT! Send ALL rounds loaded (even factory ammunition) to me immediately, and I'll make sure they're 'properly disposed of' for you.

Uh, you can thank me later. PM me right away for current [STRIKE]range location[/STRIKE], er...uh... address.

Otherwise, just get rid of the 8 'defective' rounds.