Fixing ejector marks on headstamp

[Shane Lindsey]

If the ejector print ( ) and swipe (-----) is bright and shiny, it should also correspond to loose primer pockets, probably right away. The base just above the rim will be a good bit larger when you measure with your calipers vs a virgin case. I picked up some .209 and .210 pins and now check every other firing or so. If they swallow up the .210, I trash them.

I wouldn't necesarily trash the brass after I checked the primer pockets, but I would look to reduce your load. Bolts to the eye are probably not a pleasant experience.

That said, I would say you are over pressure if getting shiny case heads. Light ejector print without it, can be a sign of other things.

Is this a custom action or a factory action that has not been worked over? If factory, sometimes as mentioned you can have burrs on the ejector pin or even the ejector pin hole can be rough. Some on here have examples of custom actions that do the same.

 

[Lefty7mmstw]

fresh brass..

 

[Rich Coyle]

If the ejector print ( ) and swipe (-----) is bright and shiny, it should also correspond to loose primer pockets, probably right away. The base just above the rim will be a good bit larger when you measure with your calipers vs a virgin case. I picked up some .209 and .210 pins and now check every other firing or so. If they swallow up the .210, I trash them.

You must have a much better supply of brass than I do. I use brass as long as I can resize it and get it back into the chamber. Occasionally I even resort to fingernail polish to hold the primers in place.

 

[Shane Lindsey]

Not really...I just prefer to keep my rugged good looks. I don't think the firing pin unicorn look is very becoming

 

[Ucsdryder]

Picture?

 

[drumjunky91]

Thank you all for the responses. I got the wide array of responses that I figured I would. I have always reloaded over my previous ejector marks and fired them until they became loose in the primer pocket without any issues. Been doing it for years, but for whatever reason I started to fixate on that slight protrusion area the other night and figured I would pose the question about leveling the headstamp area back to flush and it's affect on accuracy/chambering issues for the following round of reloading. Specifically what method others were using. I was using the sandpaper method mentioned earlier myself. I like the idea of the case trimmer spun around, too. All great ideas, so thank you.

To answer some questions:
-It's Lapua brass, 3xs fired now
-The rifle is a factory chambering, nothing exciting lol
- And again, I was never questioning how I got to pressure. I'm fully aware that I pushed my brass chasing a chrono.
-I currently do not have a picture, but it's nothing wild anyways, just a small dimple on a headstamp and one with a swipe.

 

[FEENIX]

Probably not what you want to hear, but I would trash it......

fresh brass..

Agreed! Because "II" do not know if the ejector mark has affected the integrity of the brass, it is not worth the risk for "me" to take it unnecessarily. There is no substitute for safety. I will, however, save them for setting up an annealer.

 

[VinceMule]

ejector marks only hurt your pride, but primer pockets are probably loose. I de-cap with a hand de-capper and use a hand; priming tool to catch loose primer pockets, gas leakage around the primer pocket will burn holes in the bolt face.

As another poster said, "trash it", but learn something in the process by hand de-priming. I have seen brass with ejector marks where a large paper clip that has been straightened would push the primer out of the case.

Of course, there are degrees of how bad the ejector marks are, and there is a huge difference between ejector marks on Lapua brass vs Federal brass.

 

[drumjunky91]

ejector marks only hurt your pride, but primer pockets are probably loose. I de-cap with a hand de-capper and use a hand; priming tool to catch loose primer pockets, gas leakage around the primer pocket will burn holes in the bolt face.

As another poster said, "trash it", but learn something in the process by hand de-priming. I have seen brass with ejector marks where a large paper clip that has been straightened would push the primer out of the case.

Of course, there are degrees of how bad the ejector marks are, and there is a huge difference between ejector marks on Lapua brass vs Federal brass.

I use the same method of hand priming to catch loose primers as well. As for the decapping method I use a short arm Lee press solely for decapping. Due to its low mechanical advantage, it gives a pretty good feel for primer tightness. I really appreciate everybody's concern for safety here, and obviously it's first and foremost. And I would again like to stress to everybody that these cases are only exhibiting light ejector mark dimples and the one with the swipe only produced a very modest bolt lift compared to the others. No primer flattening, no cratering, no gas leakage. My end goal here was to simply see if there was a measurable advantage to attemp to true a headstamp back to flush or not. And if there was an advantage, what methods are others using that they are willing to share with the group. And just to reiterate, this is only for cases that do NOT have blown out primer pockets or show any signs of structural integrity damage.

 

[yobuck]

I use the same method of hand priming to catch loose primers as well. As for the decapping method I use a short arm Lee press solely for decapping. Due to its low mechanical advantage, it gives a pretty good feel for primer tightness. I really appreciate everybody's concern for safety here, and obviously it's first and foremost. And I would again like to stress to everybody that these cases are only exhibiting light ejector mark dimples and the one with the swipe only produced a very modest bolt lift compared to the others. No primer flattening, no cratering, no gas leakage. My end goal here was to simply see if there was a measurable advantage to attemp to true a headstamp back to flush or not. And if there was an advantage, what methods are others using that they are willing to share with the group. And just to reiterate, this is only for cases that do NOT have blown out primer pockets or show any signs of structural integrity damage.

Sounds to me like you have a pretty good handle on the loading process.
By the way, i assume you are very close to Nescopec?

 

[ARlife4me]

Save it for future test on other chambers.

 

[drumjunky91]

Sounds to me like you have a pretty good handle on the loading process.
By the way, i assume you are very close to Nescopec?

I am. I'm over in Dorrance. About 15-20 minutes from Nescopeck, but I head that direction very frequently to fish the Susquehanna and waterfowl hunt the islands. Are you local?

 

[yobuck]

I am. I'm over in Dorrance. About 15-20 minutes from Nescopeck, but I head that direction very frequently to fish the Susquehanna and waterfowl hunt the islands. Are you local?

I used to live down in Bucks county, but im very familiar with your area as well.
I assume there are good numbers of smallmouths in the river, but how is the walleye fishing?

 

[drumjunky91]

I used to live down in Bucks county, but im very familiar with your area as well.
I assume there are good numbers of smallmouths in the river, but how is the walleye fishing?

We do so-so on them. I'd be lying to you if I said we hammered them, but they are definitely in there. There's a few deep pools that they seem to hold up in on the stretch I like to run. But even in those holes, I mark a bunch but don't get much action. My best luck is running crank baits through fast moving, highly aerated water. Like an area right after a set of rapids.