[mrm14]

So I've been doing massive .308 Winchester brass preperation and reloading lately as I can get primers powder and grain weight bullets for my loads. I have near a 33 gallon garbage can of once fired .308 Winchester and 7.62X51mm. brass I've been saving since 1992.

I'll decap. vibratory clean, inspect, measure, trim (when necessary), de-burr fire slot and neck,and vibratory clean again 500 to 600 rounds of brass at a time. Quite a long term project especially when I'm shooting up my reload ammo at the range.

Reguardless, the last batch of brass I resized, in about the last 120 peices of brass resized, the die must have got a small piece of dirt or grime in it and lightly scratched the shoulder of the brass I resized. (my bad)

I resized one other piece of brass after I found it out and it was scratched the same way. I then thouroughly cleaned the die and the next piece of brass was perfect.

I'm tempted to destroy these resized shells, but would really rather not do so if I dont have to. The scratch in the shoulder is barely noticeable with a fingernail and I dont see any shoulder height anomolies with a dial indicator guage as I measure around the shoulder of the case.

I've never had this happen to me before and it is my fault and I am somewhat stumped what to do with these scratched on the shoulder pieces of resized brass.

So the question is: Should I pinch these pieces of scratched brass with a pair of pliers and throw away? Or: Should I finish reloading them and shoot them?

I think if I reload they will be junk for accuracy.

[1hole]

Such a scratch would have to be really deep to matter.

[cpttango30]

As long as it is shallow you should be good to go. If you want to cull them then do it. Me I would keep them because brass is spendy now days...

[RL357Mag]

A scratch in the shoulder shouldn't affect accuracy or function - I've shot dented brass with no ill effects, in fact firing removed the dent. If it's dented to the point where the case is even slightly distorted I would junk it, otherwise you should be fine.

[mrm14]

Cases are good, double checked dimensions in all critical areas, have reloaded them and shot 80 of them off in my Springfield M1A yesterday. No problems.

Thanks guys for the input. Never had scratched brass before.

Have resized another 400 rounds, no scratches. Will reload these Saturday and Sunday.

[RL357Mag]

If you get tired of all that work just send your cases to me...

[mrm14]

Originally Posted by RL357Mag

If you get tired of all that work just send your cases to me...

No, I have my grandson with a de-capping die on weekends performing this task and 3 vibratory cleaners that he puts the decapped brass into about 180 pieces per cleaner. It gives him something to do and he isn't board with it yet. He is 6 Y.O. and so far does a good job. I take it after that and carry on with the inspecton and further cleaning and resizing. He's not quite old enough yet to shoot but it's coming up soon. He gets to see a part of the process of reloading and I think this is good. As he gets older I'll give him more tasks in the reloading process so he will know what he is doing when he comes of age.

I'm into this accuracy reloading, resizing brass to fit COAL to sloulder and seating the bullets to the throat, naturally with some clearance. It's a bit difficult for the M1A.
Reguardless, I want him to learn how to reload like this. This is his start.

The Springfield M1A is a troublesome rifle to reload for and this is the only .308 Win. rifle I have. I've been pushing the limits reloading for this rifle especially in the muzzle velocities I'm developing for it. Im working against "Slam Fire" and gas pressure issues with this action.

This rifle is shooting steel at 200, 300, and 500 yards now and I'm up against bolt rifle guys. They have the advantage. So far not so bad. A new Krieger barrel is in the works for this rilfe. Then all the bullet to throat space will be different.

The .300 Win. Mag. Remmy 700 target rifle for 1000 yard, I'm having built, won't be done until December this year and experiminting on this M1A with my reloads is tuning me up for this rifle. There will never be any factory ammo in this rifle. Custom reloads for this rifle only. I will only be ably to compete in F-class open rifle (F-O) and not F-Class Target rifle (F-TR) with this .300 Win Mag. target rifle.

That being said; I've once again taken a simple reply and written a short novel.

Ooops! Sorry.

[RL357Mag]

That's a great hobby to introduce your grandson to! It's quality time well spent and will pay dividends in the future as far as supporting our sport and heritage, as well as giving him the knowledge to defend himself, his freedoms, and his family, a knowledge all too few possess today, and even less will possess tomorrow. Maybe someday he'll inherit that piece of history you are reloading for. Both my son and daughter were exposed to shooting at ages 5 & 8 and I never had to worry about either of them doing anything foolish as a result. My son was a "Platoon High Shooter" in USMC bootcamp due to his exposure to guns and shooting at home growing up.