Ding in brass

[romad97]

I finally got my new 223 ackley put to fire form some brass yesterday. The gun shot absolutely awesome for a gun that was just firing some low velocity fire forming rounds. Upon inspection of my brass though after tumbling overnight I noticed something that is bothering me. On every single piece of brass there is a very very tiny ding, or indention at the exact same spot towards the top about of each piece. It is every so small but still, it has me wondering if there is something wrong with the chamber. I cleaned the barrel out thoroughly and did the whole break in procedure. 1 round swab for 5 rounds then 3 rounds swab for 3 go's and then 1 5 round and then 1 10 round. I know there should be no debris in there as I thoroughly cleaned it several times. Just wondering if this is something I should try and fix myself or is it gun smith time?

[Texas10]

I get that too, out of my 12 BVSS in 223. It appears as small L shaped dent, like the corder of a small square tool being pressed into the brass. I suspect it's a chip imbedded in the chamber left over from chamber ream. I can identify brass from my gun by the mark it leaves right below the shoulder.

I just returned a new 12 FV because of a rough chamber. It was tearing up the brass upon eject. Tried wire brushing it with chamber brush, but it didn't improve it a bit.

[romad97]

Yes, what you describe is almost exatally what I am getting. It is worse on some pieces of brass than it is on others.

[Robinhood]

It isn't a strong ejector spring bumping the brass on the lug abutment in the action?

[romad97]

Well that could be the case. How could I determine that?

[romad97]

Ok I just loaded and ejected a few unloaded pieces of brass. You are absolutely correct, the dent is happening when I eject. This is somewhat of a reliefe as at least I know my chamber is fine. Now how do I solve the ejection dings though? Or do I even worry about it? Some of them are fairly good size and others are barely even noticeable. I am assuming this will have no effect whatsoever on accuracy but, how will it effect case life?

[Robinhood]

You could trim the ejector spring. You need a quality small drift punch(I forget the size. It is like 1/16 or 3/32) place a plastic bag over the assembly with the bolt in a vice with soft jaws. Trim the spring a coil at a time until it ejects real softly. I thought I heard about someone having a soft ejector spring but I have no clue...........

[BillPa]

Ok I just loaded and ejected a few unloaded pieces of brass. You are absolutely correct, the dent is happening when I eject. This is somewhat of a reliefe as at least I know my chamber is fine. Now how do I solve the ejection dings though?

Its probably caused by a (the?) point on the upper side of the lug race in the receiver ring. You can stick a finger in there to feel it. What happens, when a case clears the chamber the ejector presses it up and to the side. If the top leading edge of the race shape it will leave a scratch. Sometimes its sharp enough to grab and rip a case out of the extractor.

The fix, file or grind it to roughly a compound 45. About a 1/16" or so 45 front to back, and top to bottom. It doesn't require much. I take care of it when I have a barrel off, I don't know if you can reach it from the port side or not, I never tried.

Bill

[romad97]

Well dang, I really dont want to pull the barrel off. I hope my brass isn't beyond use still. Thanks for all the help. You guys definately saved me a trip to the gun smith with this thread.

[J.Baker]

The small ding won't hurt anything, it's purely cosmetic. You'll find much bigger dents/dings in mil-surp ammo and they shoots just as well as the undented rounds.

[romad97]

Agreed. Dents I don't really care too much about. This however was done by a sharp piece of metal, kind of like if you poked it with a very sharp knife point. Some are wors than others. They are probably fine, I just worry about things like that.

[JW]

I have a 12 bvss that was scratching brass too- thought it was chamber but turned out to be a sharp corner/bur on the right side lug area as BillPa stated
try using a wood dowell with sandpaper glued too it
take the bolt out and go from rear of action
do a little bit at a time
Don't turn the dowell . use it like a file--you are just trying to remove a burr on the right side lug area
I hope this helps
Jack

[Texas10]

Good to know! I can just ignore it for now in my BVSS, or if I get motivated, de-burr it as described above.

Thanks guys!

[BillPa]

Just think'n,( dangerous!) if I had to attack it through the port I'd probably use a flat needle file or maybe a piece of sand paper glued on a popsicle stick, something small enough I could turn on roughly a 45 and angle it in and up. Dunno.

Bill

[romad97]

Well second trip out to the range today for more fire forming. I sanded the lip down a little bit on the race lug? locking lug? I am honestly not sure what this particular piece is called. Regardless, it did in fact help but did not eliminate the problem. I can definately go in again and remove more but, I am a little unerved at the thought of doing something that ruins the integrity or safety of the rifle. How safe is it to keep removing material from this area? Also, would cutting a coil off of the ejector spring be a good idea? Would it really even help much? At the end of the day I guess its not that big of a deal. I just don't want to ruin the lifespan of my brass as I feel it will keep getting dinged up over time and ruin the strength of the brass in that particular area quicker than normal.

[Robinhood]

You have no worries. The amount of metal you are removing is negligible.

[romad97]

This is driving me crazy at this point. I went in and removed a little more. Same result. It may be time to cut a coil out of the ejector spring. I just don't want to mess around too much with it to the point where it wont eject the round at all though.