S&B brass, yea or nay?

[lar45]

Has anyone ever loaded the Seller and Bellot brass in 357 or 44 mag? I'm looking at a couple of auctions on ebay with the thought of loading up lots of ammo. Need to load up some plinking ammo for the small calibers ;)
I used to use only winchester brass, but they went bad a few years ago and I had new ammo splitting cases.
Are they doing better now? I have some winchester 45 colt brass that I couldn't even count all the firings on and it's still fine.(hot Ruger loads also)
Thanks

[Marshal Kane]

Has anyone ever loaded the Seller and Bellot brass in 357 or 44 mag? ThanksRegret that I have never tried to reload S&B brass in either .357 or .44 mag but have reloaded many rounds of .45 ACP with S&B brass to my total satisfaction. Most S&B brass is once fired and left on the ground at my range. Can't understand why but will not look a gift horse in the mouth.

[Lee W]

I have only had 45, 40 and 9MM in S&B. The 9mm primer pocket is too tight to reload. The 45 and 40 are fine after a little chamfer. I suggest trying a few before getting a bunch.

[Shepherd2]

The only S&B cases I have any experience with are the 9mm and .45 acp. The 9mms I throw in the scrap bucket under the bench. The primer pockets are way too tight and not worth the trouble to ream out. Plus the pockets seem to be a bit shallow. I don't recall ever having a problem with the .45 acp cases.

[jballs918]

lars i have several s&b brass, send me a pm and maybe i can get some to you, they are pretty much a od ball for me as i got about 500 rounds of fed and about 1500 or so of win

[lastmanout]

I have loaded the 9mm Para using S&B brass-----never again. Into the brass bucket they go!:Fire:

[redneckdan]

are they reloadable? to paraphrase a computer geek friend....hells no. definitely cause of the affor mentioned primer pocket issues.

[NuJudge]

They sized and reprimed just fine (that's as far as I have gotten with them). I'm using Winchester SPM primers, and I'm wondering if others that had trouble with S&B used a primer that runs larger.

Christopher Dingell

[DLCTEX]

My only experience with S&B is in 45acp, no problems yet with 4 and 5 reloads on the brass.

[BOOM BOOM]

HI,
You mentioned some problems w/ ww brass.
I have never had any problems w/ ww or rem except back in the later 1960's-early 1970's w/ some nikled brass peeling.
I scroung every brass I see in the calibers I load & had only 1 box of 20-7mm mag. brass that was no good.
The necks would not size down to grip the bullet.

[lar45]

Thinking back now. It was probably in the fall of 1999 that I got my Taurus RB in 454. I bought a couple of boxes of Win factory ammo, some 300's and 260's. I had some of the cases split lenthwise on the first firing. Some others split radially around the case. I took the good cases and loaded them and some of those cases died on the 1st or 2nd reload. I bought some new Win brass and had some go bad. At the time, I asked around and other people were having trouble with Winchester brand rifle cases doing similar things.
I took pics and emailed Winchester about the problem. They sent me $80 in Winchester bucks and I sent the ammo and brass back for them to look at. Since then, I've been wary of useing Winchester brass. I would like it if Winchester would say, that they had some problems and they new brass is back to the regular standards. Of course they won't do that. So I'm buying Starline and Top Hat brass.
I never have liked Rem brass, I think it's too soft. I guess it wouldn't be a problem with normal loads, but I'm afflicted with bigger loads, more powder, bigger bang...
shooting Rugers can get a guy spoiled.

[felix]

Rem brass is not too soft, because you need it to expand into an excessive large chamber, or to expand into a normal chamber size with a brass diameter which is too small. At least, try the brass and reload it umpteen times. By the fifth loading using "neck" sizing techniques, the brass might be ready for a little stronger load than an initializing 30K CUP for example. (The Hornady 454 brass in the Winnie 45colt lever gun shows stress marks at 30K.) ... felix

[JSH]

I have been picking up range brass and cleaning for the son to load. There has been a fair amount of SB brass in it. I have not seen any problems with it thus far.
When I started to fool with the 10" 357 TC barrel I ran across sevearl boxes of SB ammo with various bullet weights for $6 for a box of 50. Some of that has been loaded 6 times now with no problem. I have not shown them any mercy either, have loaded them pretty hot with some 180's, no cracks or problems.

Jeff

[9.3X62AL]

I'm unsure of this--call it a maybe--the 7.62 x 25 W-W "white box" ammo could be S&B brass. I have yet to fire any of it, so don't know if the "parent case size" will have the same tight primer pockets the S&B 9mm brass shows. In the late 1980's and into the early 1990's, W-W 9mm Para and 9mm Magnum brass had tight primer pockets, too. I tried CCI, Win, Fed, and Rem SP's, all were a problem. I almost have that LARGE lot of brass shot up and discarded, finally.

[Baldy]

I load nothing but 38's, 357's, & 45's on a Squar Deal-B Dillion press. I have never had any trouble with Sellier & Bellot cases. They last as long as any of the others. I load mostly target loads with some Mags for a little spice. The only ones I have had that split in about 8 rounds or less is Remington nickles plated. Buy'em load'em and shoot'em. Have fun.:drinks:

Shoot fast make one Hole..:Fire:

[RangerBob]

My very limited experience:

S&B .303 British brass is OK. Nothing to brag about, but OK. That said, my .303 Winchester brass is not great either. I have some old Greek military brass that is much better than either.

S&B .38Special brass is absolute crap. I bought factory ammo, shot it, and resized the cases for reloading. About 6-8 out of 50 cracked from mouth to head. I through the rest away for fear that it would not hold up to a second firing.

FWIW
YMMV

[lar45]

On the small primer pocket thing.
What about useing the Dillon primer pocket swage device that is supposed to take out the primer roll crimp on military cases?
I bought one to use on 30-06 LC cases and it works great. I wonder if it would open up the primer pockets to a regular size?

When I'm at the range, I'll scrounge around and see if I can find any and try it.