S&B brass sucks

[clintsfolly]

With all the cold and wind lately I started to get my reloading done for summer. First thing to do is load the bucket of 9mm. This is a mix of range brass . Using my 356402/ 4.2/231 load with Tula primers. That darn s&b brass will jam up the 550b most of the time as the primer will not seat flush or just get started in. This wastes a primer and jams up the works!Clint

[Artful]

You could separate and deprime and swage the primer pocket before putting in your Dillon.

[mpbarry1]

S and B is my favorite 45 brass. never tried 9mm. the 45 stuff is great.

[merlin101]

Crimped primer?? Sounds like it.

[SOFMatchstaff]

Sorting brass is part of good reloading practice, especially with the primer size variety in 45s. I have found some nines that have a shelf inside, half way down, and a concave base, "ammoload" headstamp. If you want lousy brass, look for the 4 element headstamp chinese junk that still shows up now and then....

[quilbilly]

S&B brass is my favorite in 223 especially when I reform it into 7mm TCU.

[tomme boy]

Yep, the 45 brass is great. The primers are not crimped, but the hole is a little tight. The rifle stuff I do not like at all. Most of it seems to have a shallow hole and the primers stick out a little.

[fatelk]

That was my experience with S&B 9mm brass when I loaded some years ago: the primer pockets were all a little shallow and too tight. It was a chore to get the primers seated correctly with an RCBS hand primer. I can imagine how difficult it would be with a progressive. I would just sort them all out before starting.

[texassako]

The S&B large rifle primer brass I own has shallow primer pockets, but that means it is just right for using a large pistol primer with mouse fart loads. I have no experience with their pistol brass.

[clintsfolly]

I sort as I pickup and know that I hate S&B brass But missed about 20-30 in 3000. Some go others don't just a pain!!Clint

[WILDEBILL308]

S&B brass is not the best out there to many problems with the primer pocket and the flash holes tend to run small. I have been running 38sp for my model 52 S&W and try to sort out all the odd brass. Well that being said I did have a bunch of odds and ends collected over time. I dumped everything 38sp in the tumbler. I couldn’t get my hand to dump the S&B in I set them aside for swapping or a gift to someone who has more patience than I do. The idea is just load it and shoot it as plinking ammo. I think I can shoot 38s as cheap as 22 now. I should do a survey on the odd head stamps. The neat one is some OLD UMC marked cases.
Bill

[arjacobson]

All the s&b 9mm brass I find gets scrapped out. I don't run across much of it but when I do it gets tossed in the brass bin.. I HATE priming s&b brass.

[Alvarez Kelly]

I haven't had any trouble with S&B in 45ACP.

[troyboy]

I have had the same problems.This is why I sort pistol brass by headstamp.

[geargnasher]

S&B and Speer auto pistol brass goes in the recycle bucket at my house. Good brass but a PITA to prime. My Kimber never liked the rather generous bevel on the rim of the .45 ACP S&B brass, tended to chuck it right at my face (I'm left-handed) but behaved with other headstamps with the flat heads.

Gear

[Ed Barrett]

I load S&B 9MM, the primer pocket is on the small side but with Winchester and Fiocchi small pistol primers I have no problems. CCI and Wolf primers seem to be very tight.

[.5mv^2]

S&B is among the best brass. I only hand prime and love it.

Have 16000 rounds of once shot Speer 40sw. I only load it once and put it back in a new bin. Seems great too.

I never understood why people want to make better than factory ammo and take shortcuts like priming brass without chamfering the primer pockets on tight brass.

The worst brass is Amerec and Federal.

[Echo]

I sort my S&B out, and swage the primer pocket, after having the same problems as the OP does.

[Frosty Boolit]

I had some trouble with S&B 9mm and it turned out to be steel. Looked like brass though.

[Shepherd2]

The S&B 9mm brass goes straight to the scrap bucket. The primer pockets are shallow and tight. Any other S&B brass that I've used has been fine.

[USAFrox]

I've never had a problem with it, but I always uniform the primer pockets and ream the flash holes as part of my first reloads in all brass, so I guess I cut off any problems before they have a chance to rear their heads.

[TheGrimReaper]

I personally have never had a problem with S&B brass.

[mold maker]

I've never had a problem with it, but I always uniform the primer pockets and ream the flash holes as part of my first reloads in all brass, so I guess I cut off any problems before they have a chance to rear their heads.

Same here. Even plinking ammo should be uniform first.

[429421Cowboy]

I got a box of S&B ammo thrown in the deal when I bought my 9mm last year when ammo was darn hard to find. It took me only a few rounds to sort out the cases from my range brass when I started loading because it rattled my teeth to prime. Since it was my first time loading 9mm I figured maybe some of them were tight, but it turned out to be only the S&B. Even the military brass after the crimp is removed is way better than it is, it seems like the S&B stuff is a little hard so it springs back a little more and doesn't hold a bullet very well.
Too many problems, it gets hucked in the scrap bucket now.

[Bullshop Junior]

Ive always likes S&B brass

[Atticus Flinch]

I had trouble with S&B brass and the RCBS 124-CN boolit. The boolit goes too far into the case and gets into the tapered portion. This swages the base of the boolit down and makes it want to pop back up a bit between the seating operation and the crimping operation. The random OAL's don't work.

I sorted this brass out and may use it for a lighter boolit or may toss it.

[searcher4851]

I've found S&B brass to be of good quality. It's been quite long lasting for me (but I don't usually load to the max). I guess any military brass with crimped primers would "suck" as well to the OP, because it'll sure slow down a progressive press too, unless it's been properly prepared before attempting to load it? Or maybe it's the press that sucks because it won't just take care of the brass on it's own?
Sorry if that was a little harsh, I just get tired of hearing all these declarations about this sucks, or that is no good simply because it may be a bit different than what the person is used to. End of rant.

[Dale in Louisiana]

I bought a hundred rounds of S&B .30-06 when I got my first Garand. Cases started cracking in various unusual patterns after the third loading. I discarded the entire lot. In the same time period I happened upon a bunch of LC which stood multiple (over five) full bore loads without problems.

dale in Louisiana

[Echo]

You could separate and deprime and swage the primer pocket before putting in your Dillon.

I segregate my S&B 38's and after sizing & decapping, I run them through the PP swage to bring them out to a usable dimension.