Anyone reloading S&B brass? Any observations?

[Tristan]

Like, is the primer pocket tight as can be?

Tried swaging a few, but still requires a significant amount of force to seat a primer (Wolf SPM). Maybe I should try a different primer?

Anyone else notice this?

- Tristan

[mellonhead]

I have noticed the same with 357 S&B brass. I am using CCI primers. I have a small pistol/rifle primer pocket reamer here somewhere I am gonna try.

Toby

[dubber123]

Any tightness in my 40X fired .45 ACP's was apparently worn out long ago.... I believe I have heard reports of the Wolfs seating a little harder in general. Could you measure the cup diameter of the Wolf Vs. another brand?

[bobthenailer]

ive reloaded s&b brass in 9mm, 380, 45 acp and 357 mag with federal primers with no problems

[RayinNH]

I've loaded .45 ACP cases with no problems. My experience has been CCI primers are tighter than Winchester and Federals, I've never used Wolf...Ray

[yondering]

I bought a case of loaded 45 auto S&B in 2003 that had tight primer pockets. All the other S&B brass I've picked up though has been fine. I think most of it's good brass but once in a while they make some that's out of spec.

[machinisttx]

Every S&B case I've loaded has had an overly tight primer pocket.

[Reloader06]

Machinisttx +1

[lead-1]

What I have loaded has mostly been .45 acp and it has tight pockets. When I loaded several hundred .223 S&B brass I ended up buying a Lyman primer pocket reamer because it laughed at my RCBS swager.

BTW, I was using CCI primers in both the pistol and the rifle brass.

[Potsy]

I've got some S & B range brass for my .45 ACP. It does run a little tighter than everything else. At least with CCI 300 primers, which is all I've used.

[GT27]

CCI primers in comparison to Federal,Winchester,and Remington has a lot harder primer cup!S&B is great brass IMHO...

[exile]

Every S & B case I have loaded has a tight primer pocket when using CCI primers. I quit reloading them and buying S & B ammo, which irritates my wife since she lived in the Czech Republic. Oh well. When depriming, they usually get stuck in the shell holder. Go figure.

exile

[Who's this Guy ?]

I have reloaded S&B 9mm luger brass with Win. and CCI primers. The primers I've used and the brass has been problem free.

[largom]

Only S&B cases I have are 223 which I have reloaded several times without any problems. Any new/used brass I acquire gets the primer pockets reamed and the flash holes deburred. Part of my standard case prep.

Larry

[winelover]

I've had no problems with S&B brass in 9mm and 38 Spl with CCI primers.

Winelover

[Adam10mm]

S&B brass always goes in the scrap bucket.

[blaster]

I've loaded S&B 9mm and it was ok, Winchester primers went in fine. I did find a few of their brass plated steel cases in a mixed lot so you might want to watch out for that.

[MtGun44]

I have some .45 ACP S&B range pickup and I can ALWAYS tell when the S&B case comes up at
primer seating in the Dillion 550. I think they are SHALLOW, not tighter. My problem is that
I have to push like heck to get them safely below the surface.

I may start sorting it out and selling or scrapping it.

Bill

[AnthonyB]

I have several thousand S&B 38 Special I load with no problem.
Tony

[snowwolfe]

I've loaded .45 ACP cases with no problems. My experience has been CCI primers are tighter than Winchester and Federals, I've never used Wolf...Ray

Absolutely agree. Just yesterday I primed some WW 44 mag (new) brass with CCI's and the fit was so tight some of the primers were flattened. And this was accomplished with a RCBS hand priming tool after I used a primer pocket tool to make sure the seating depth was equal.

[evan price]

My experience is that S&B brass in general always has tighter primer pockets than most other brands. Otherwise it's excellent brass, and tight pockets means they won't wear out as fast.

Wolf primers to me also seem slightly oversize compared to Winchester and CCI which I also use. I've loaded thousands of Wolf primers, they feel tighter to me.

Combine a Wolf primer and S&B brass, and you are tight, baby.

[Butler Ford]

There seems to be a general consensus that Wolf primers are a little harder to seat. I have S and B brass that is on their 6-7 loading and are still doing well.

[ReloaderFred]

I've loaded S&B brass in .38 Special, 9x19 and .45 acp. It's great brass and the snug primer pocket is a plus. The pockets are the same depth as U.S. commercial brass, but a little tighter, therefore they last longer.

Different priming systems will give different results when seating primers, and this is where the problems lie in seating primers in snug pockets. And, as noted, CCI primers are harder. I prefer Federal, MagTech and Winchester for most of my loadings.

Hope this helps.

Fred

[PepperBuddha]

No issues with S&B 9mm and .45acp. Loaded with Square Deal and 650...

[Fishslayer]

I get some S&B .357 cases in my used brass batches. I can always tell an S&B because the primer has a different "feel" when seating. Yeah, they're a bit tight.

I use CCI 500 small pistol primers & have had no problem seating them. Just a different feel is all.

[Newtire]

I have some .45 ACP S&B range pickup and I can ALWAYS tell when the S&B case comes up at
primer seating in the Dillion 550. I think they are SHALLOW, not tighter. My problem is that
I have to push like heck to get them safely below the surface.

I may start sorting it out and selling or scrapping it.

Bill

This is my trouble exactly.

[Tristan]

OK, looks like I'll try to find some different primers to try, either Win or Rem.

Thanks for the data!

- Tristan

[mike in co]

you did not say what caliber....


some sb is brass plated STEEL!

means it aint gonna move in your swagers much...

so between wolf primers and maybe small/ maybe short pockets and mabye steel cases....

me thinks i would pass on relaoding 9mm sb

but thats just me

mike

[S.R.Custom]

I kind of prefer it actually...

The auto-loader calibers have more of a bevel on the back side of the rim than most, and as a result, seem to feed more reliably in guns with extractor issues. And the flash hole seems to be in the middle more consistently than a lot of other brands.

I can't say I've had any primer issues, as I pretty much use Federal for everything.

[Cowboy T]

Yep, .38 Special. Virtually every time I feel a tight primer pocket, it's an S&B case. I had to be really careful or else I'd bend the primer cup.

Everything else (Federal, CCI, S&W, W-W, etc.) is just fine.

[3006guns]

I read this post with interest, even though I've never reloaded S&B....just have no experience with it. BUT....

Something that amazed me was some .303 British from Canada (Dominion). This was military surplus but boxer primed and I picked it up cheap as berdan. Lucky me! Since the primers were crimped, I ran them all through my RCBS swager before priming and STILL managed to deform about 80% percent of the CCI primers. What was so amazing? They still went bang perfectly. I think I'll ream that batch also and see if they'll behave a little more normally next time.

Cowboy T........you live in S.F. and reload?? I left the bay area because of their narrow minded outlook on shooters. Glad to hear there's a few holdouts there still!

[GP100man]

I bevel the pockets with my deburring tool to the point it looks like a remington pocket , helped alot !!

I`ve loaded a batch of 357 mag for testin many times & it`s still the same length & gives consistent chrono readings.

[sundog]

Just finished working my way through several hundred pieces of 9x19 range brass with a substantial number of S&B and WCC. My experience from the past was that the S&B had tight primer pockets, so I treated them just like the WCC with the crimp. The S&B pockets were all over the place, many needing a little 'cleaning up'.

[fryboy]

i actually like it in rifles , as for pistols i agree the pockets seemed a lil tite but loaded fine ( perhaps i was the lucky one ? ) 38 special,9mm and 32 & 45 acp seems to be all i have happened across so far,the rifle brass i used to buy alot of because they often made calibers no one else did at least at a decent price, some of that rifle stuff i have 9 loadings on

[Von Dingo]

For years all my .357 was assembled on S&B brass. The pockets were tight. They probably got reloaded 15 or so times, the loose pockets got put in the scrap. Some are still in rotation.

[Echo]

Machinisttx + 1 more. I have been picking out the S&B brass (generally .38 Special) and salvaging it.

[exile]

Sort of off topic, but what is the WCC headstamp? I have had problems seating a primer in those in the past as well.

exile

[Randall]

I have to separate S&B 9mm brass from everything else because it is so much shorter and has to be loaded separately,kind of a pain but the brass is free.

[ReloaderFred]

exile,

The WCC brass is Western Cartridge Company, which is just another headstamp used by Winchester for their military brass and ammunition. They own the rights to the name.

The reason you had problems seating primers in this brass is because the military primers are crimped into place, and you have to remove the crimp before seating a new primer. I actually like military brass in 9x19, since it's constructed heavier and you can work up slightly warmer loads in it.

Those using S&B 9x19 brass (and I'm one of them) just be aware that some S&B brass is steel cased and copper washed. It's done so well you can't tell the differance just by looking at it, but if you pass a magnet over it, it will be attracted to the magnet. Most I've seen have had red primer sealant.

Hope this helps.

Fred

[exile]

Stupid question I am sure, but how do you remove the crimp? I know with .223 brass they make a tool for it, just not sure what you do with 9mm? (Sorry for the thread hijack)

exile

[ReloaderFred]

I swage military primer pockets with the RCBS swaging die. It works the same for 9x19 as it does for 5.56, and uses the same punch.

Some people ream the crimp at the mouth of the primer pocket, but I prefer to not remove any metal from this area.

Hope this helps.

Fred

[Von Dingo]

Stupid question I am sure, but how do you remove the crimp? I know with .223 brass they make a tool for it, just not sure what you do with 9mm? (Sorry for the thread hijack)

exile

You can swage, or ream.

[exile]

Now I will appear really stupid, but can't help myself. How do you ream a primer pocket? What tool is used to do this? Again, sorry for the thread hijack. Delete me if you want to.

exile

[ReloaderFred]

No problem, exile. In this case, reaming simply means using a tool to remove the small amount of metal that is displaced at the mouth of the primer pocket by the crimping process. When they crimp a primer in place, it's to keep it from working out under extreme situations, such as combat and use in full automatic firearms, where a loose primer would cause a serious malfunction at the worst of times.

Reaming removes that very small amount of metal that forms the crimp, which is normally only a couple of thousandths, and only at the outside edge of the pocket. You could actually do it with a small bladed pocket knife and a sharp blade, but that's slow and tedious. It's usually done with a tapered tool with several cutting edges, similar to a chamfer/deburr tool used on case mouths after trimming.

Hope this helps.

Fred

[exile]

Thanks.

exile

[Frosty Boolit]

So I found out the hard way that some of these are are brass plated steel. Never even thought of checking until after I had 50 loaded but they chamber and I plan to fire them. Primer pockets were rediculously tight.

[flinchnjerk]

+1 with GP100man's remedy. As with other posters, I can always tell when an S&B's reached the priming station (.357 and .45 ACP). Fed, CCI or Rem.

[gandog56]

S&B is notoriously tight with my 7.62X54R. But so is my Winchester, which I think is really S&B with a Winchester headstamp. I also have a couple Leee Enfields in .303 Brit. One gun has case separations about 5 reloaded cases. Every one of them was an S&B.....Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.