Case wall thickness variation

[Randy in Arizona]

I am in the process of reloading some once fired 7.62 Nato brass I got from J&G years ago.

I sized/decapped, swaged the primer pocket and inspected carefully. I noticed that some of the cases had flash holes off to one side of the primer pocket.

I didn't think much about it until I was checking for incipient head separation with a bent wire probe and noticed that there was a deep internal groove on the side that had the flash hole closest to the side of the primer pocket but not the other.

I dug a hacksaw out and sectioned the case. From the inside the flash hole is centered in the powder cavity. The wall of the case is about three times as thick on one side as on the other!

All y'all might be on the lookout for this if you have off center flash holes.

 

[TooTaxed]

What were your case markings?

 

[USSR]

...there was a deep internal groove on the side that had the flash hole closest to the side of the primer pocket but not the other.

Probably once-fired in a machine gun. Personally, I would scrap them rather than shooting them and risking case head seperations.

Don