I want to try and salvage some new brass cases with damaged case mouths.
I just received some new Norma .416 Rigby brass that was delivered in a smashed up box with lots of damage to the brass cases ,damage primarily to the case mouths. Uncle Larry is being very generous with me and has allowed me to keep the damaged brass and only charging me for the undamaged cases.
I have purchased bulk brass in the past with damaged case mouths but not as bad as some of these cases. What procedure would you use to straighten out and remove the heavy creases, and dents from the case mouths to salvage this hard to find and expensive brass?

Can you provide a picture? I've taken some dents out just by running cases through a FL sizing die, but this sounds worse than what I faced.

If they're too smashed for a sizer die, I've taken a loaded round and worked the mashed case mouth with the bullet end of the loaded cartridge until they'll fit the sizer die. It will then expend them out and size them so they're workable.

Zeke

Send it back.

I take a cheap screw driver that has the sides tapered like Sears Craftsman , put it in the case mouth and give it a twist. If it is really dented start with a driver that will just fit in the case mouth. Then go up bigger till the mouth looks ok. Then size.

Hip

Needle nosed pliers. If the case mouth is not bent over itself just use the taper to push it back into shape. If it is bent over use the grip edge cuts to hook and pull it back up. Then resize.

You can fire-form it with the pistol powder, cream-of-wheat, and candle wax method.

If they will allow the expander ball from a smaller caliber to enter you can run them over the ball then progress to a larger ball(s) until the expander of the proper caliber die will enter. At that point simply run them into the FL die (which is what I do with all of my new brass, anyway, whether dented or not.) If you're lucky enough to have a tapered expander button it will do the job without graduating to progressively larger expanders.

Once run into the FL sizing die any dents in the body become irrelevant. Such dents will iron out on the first firing and typically won't impact performance.

I was able to save all but 2 cases. I have never had a batch of brass with so severely dented case mouths. I first used a pair of needle nose pliers. I then heavily brushed powder graphite inside the case neck. I took a .416 bullet and put it pointed end into the case mouth and gently tapped the bullet base with a light brass mallet until the neck rounded out. Then I set up my resizing die, heavily lubricated the inside and outside of the case neck with sizing wax and ran it through the sizing die. Next step will be firing the cases with reduced loads. Lots of extra work but basically ended up with some free hard to find Norma .416 Rigby brass.

You use a Lee Universal expander die with a very tapered plug in it; which you might have to make on your lathe. No smashed neck can get past that. I would not use pliers as those will make cuts in the brass. But I see now that you are done.....

quote:

Next step will be firing the cases with reduced loads.

Why? Why waste the powder, primer, and bullets on a load you would otherwise not use? Why not load your normal loads. Nothing about the misshapen/reshapened case necks impacts the integrity of the rest of the brass case. Firing them an extra time will just represent one less firing you get from them, as well as extra wear on your barrel, pocket book, and shoulder.

I have a big set of needle nose. usually works but if the damage is as you describe Id toss them..

Again, depends on what the damage looks like. I've never had to make a special tool just use a handy awl or screwdriver and bend it back then run it through the sizer. Also, no matter how expensive the brass is it is just a fraction of the gun so no practical sense in saving ANY questionable brass that had a sharp crease.

Anyway, if I had a bunch of 416 Rigby brass in differing degrees of dentedness, I'd probably just cut the head of a 10mm or 3/8" bolt, grind a taper on the cut end, then chuck it into a drill press and use it to gently press the necks out. Would be fast, you'll have more control over the pressing and you'll be able to stop if you start buckling a particularly smashed piece of brass.

Also this is the real reason they sell boat tail bullets!

On occasion I have had to take a dent out of a case mouth and used a small socket from a 1/4" set which usually has tapered type sockets that fit on the end of a screw handle. Can select difference sized sockets as required to push into the dented case mouth and straighten them out. Usually the sockets are chrome plated and nice and smooth so do not scratch the case mouth, can use a bit of case lube to help too.

quote:

Originally posted by 4WD:
I was able to save all but 2 cases. I have never had a batch of brass with so severely dented case mouths. I first used a pair of needle nose pliers. I then heavily brushed powder graphite inside the case neck. I took a .416 bullet and put it pointed end into the case mouth and gently tapped the bullet base with a light brass mallet until the neck rounded out. Then I set up my resizing die, heavily lubricated the inside and outside of the case neck with sizing wax and ran it through the sizing die. Next step will be firing the cases with reduced loads. Lots of extra work but basically ended up with some free hard to find Norma .416 Rigby brass.

Ha ha that reminds me that I'm such a scrooge I silver solder up cracks in the necks of some of my well used 404 cases so I can carry on using them for loading and shooting cast bullets.

Sounds like you could drop some Unique powder depending on caliber then some rice and top it off with wax and chamber and fire to blow out a perfect neck and shoudler, in other words fire form the brass to fit your guns chamber..It done all the time by wildcatters and Ive done exactly that on a couple of calibers that had bad necks. its not that difficult,noris it time consuming..

I have an old lyman case neck deburring tool, I put the nose in the mouth and work it back to round. If it is too smashed to get the nose in, I open with needle nose pliers until I can.

Link to a photo of the tool.

https://www.thecountryman.com/lyman-deburring-tool

I use a tapered punch or line up punch to open up any damaged case mouths. Push the punch in by hand then lube and run threw the size die. Works every time

quote:

Originally posted by Atkinson:
Sounds like you could drop some Unique powder depending on caliber then some rice and top it off with wax and chamber and fire to blow out a perfect neck and shoudler, in other words fire form the brass to fit your guns chamber..It done all the time by wildcatters and Ive done exactly that on a couple of calibers that had bad necks. its not that difficult,noris it time consuming..

Exactly what I was referring to in my post above.

oops didn't see that!

Sometimes they're too badly damaged to save. This was a brand new Remington case that I received.