Lube Dents?

[Vodoun daVinci]

I have reloaded tens of thousands of rounds of handgun ammunition including .38/.357 mag and 9mm, .380 etc. Never reloaded Rifle/Bottleneck before. I'm gonna spend the Winter reloading 6.5 Creedmoor and working up some loads so I bought a die set from Redding - Premium Deluxe 3 die set in 6.5 CM - and started full length resizing cases this morning. About 20% of the sized cases exhibit a dent in about the exact same place on the case.

Some are barely discernible and some are quite deep. They are not present in the unsized cases which are all once fired Hornady brass. 70%-80% of the sized cases are just fine. I thought these were lube dents at first but now I'm not certain.

Any ideas? At the end of doing about 40 cases I backed the sizing die out until it *just* contacts the shell holder and none of the final sized cases (5 or 6 ) exhibited dents/deformation....could this be a bad die or maybe I was pushing the cases too deep into the die and partially crushing them?

Are these dented cases safe to reload and shoot or should I pitch them?

Thanks for your opinions.

VooDoo

 

[Precision Underground]

Too much lube or clogged vent port most likely. What kind of lube are you using?

 

[Vodoun daVinci]

Thanks for the replies. I just disassembled the dies and cleaned it with anhydrous isopropyl alcohol and then lubed and cleaned them with BreakFree CLP and wiped them as clean as I could. I did not find *any* vent hole unless it is microscopic....where would it be?

I use a commercial wire lubricant diluted 10:1 with isopropyl alcohol...it's a lot like the lanolin but it's water soluble (easily) and doesn't build up.

Did another 50 cases just now and had only one dent and it was very minor so I think I might have had some gunk/lube in the die. Anyway...problem solved for now. Still would like to find that die vent...could it be up in the stem?

Are the dented cases safe to reload and shoot? I'd think the dents would iron out during firing.

VooDoo

edit: Redding dies have no vent hole.

 

[Skunkworx]

The vent hole is pretty small like .025. It’s usually located on the shank of the die in the threaded area. Your lock ring may be hiding it.

 

[918v]

No, Redding does not have a vent hole.

OP, you’re over lubing. Lube less and don’t lube the shoulder. Use Imperial sizing wax.

 

[Vodoun daVinci]

Fixed the problem with better distributed lube and an intensive die cleaning...there are no vent holes on these Redding dies.

Anyone know if the dented cases are dangerous to shoot?

Thanks in advance!

VooDoo

 

[Precision Underground]

Fixed the problem with better distributed lube and an intensive die cleaning...there are no vent holes on these Redding dies.

Anyone know if the dented cases are dangerous to shoot?

Thanks in advance!

VooDoo

If it chambers fine it shouldn't hurt. Load a light charge in it just to blow the dent out. That one with the huge dent my be past gone though!

 

[Skunkworx]

They’re safe to fire. The dents will pop out once the powder ignites.

 

[lightman]

They are safe to shoot. I would load and shoot all of them.

 

[Greg Langelius *]

It's also rather unlikely that the dents will contribute significantly to any accuracy deviations. The dents will pop out at a rather low value on the pressure curve. After firing, they usually won't even be detectable.

Greg