S&B brass with oversized coated bullet problems?

[looking4reloadingdeals]

Hey guys,

So I guess I picked up a bunch of S&B brass from my local club because in my last batch of loading I had about 1/4th of the brass be S&B. Shown in the pictures below I had 145 out of 400 fail the shockbottle gauge. Out of those 145, 96 were S&B. About 95-98% of these that did fail will still plunk test and go into a practice bucket. I am using 147gr .357” so some failures aren’t out of the ordinary, but this many is a lot more than usual.

 

Has anyone else had problems with S&B brass? Usually I don’t have anywhere close to this many rounds fail the shockbottle. The other 50 rounds that aren’t S&B is a usual failure rate for me.

 

 

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[Sarge]

12 minutes ago, looking4reloadingdeals said:

 

Hey guys,

So I guess I picked up a bunch of S&B brass from my local club because in my last batch of loading I had about 1/4th of the brass be S&B. Shown in the pictures below I had 145 out of 400 fail the shockbottle gauge. Out of those 145, 96 were S&B. About 95-98% of these that did fail will still plunk test and go into a practice bucket. I am using 147gr .357” so some failures aren’t out of the ordinary, but this many is a lot more than usual.

 

Has anyone else had problems with S&B brass? Usually I don’t have anywhere close to this many rounds fail the shockbottle. The other 50 rounds that aren’t S&B is a usual failure rate for me.

 

 

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If you typically have 50 failures out of 400 something isn’t right. Add in thicker case walls with deep seated oversized bullets and I’m not surprised in the least at your problems

[looking4reloadingdeals]

Sarge, is S&B known for having thicker case walls? And again, 95-98% of those still plunk test. A ~12% failure in the shockbottle which IV heard is one of the tighter gauges doesn’t bother me when using cheap, oversized coated bullets. A majority of the rounds pass, usually about 12% fail the shockbottle, which I then punk test. This doesn’t bother me at all. However, 150 rounds out of 400 is crazy which makes me think the 94 S&B cases are out of the ordinary.


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[Sarge]

I load several brands of mixed brass for just practice and still only have a couple per hundred fail my Hundo. But I’m loading .355 so that’s probably normal. 
Throw your calipers on the S&B and compare

[looking4reloadingdeals]

Thanks Sarge I’ll do some measuring tomorrow when I have time in the loading room. When I’m loading my plated bullets I only have 2-3/100 fail the shockbottle and those are .356 (Everglades). IV only loaded about 250-300 or whatever comes in a blue bullets sample packs worth of coated .355 and I didn’t shockbottle those, but I’m assuming my failure rate would be somewhere in the middle of the two?

Either way, it seemed like the S&B brass was the problem in that last load as there weren’t many S&B loaded that didn’t fail the shockbottle. Figured I’d see if anyone was having a similar problem and I’d just sort it out to use in my plated loads or what was going on.

[Kema]

Use Lee Factory Crimp as a last die with coated bullets, if they seem to be a problem.

[AHI]

ck for brass washed steel cases. been getting a few s&b that are lately.

Dont use a Lee factory crimp with coated bullets unless you wont to

swedge your bullet diameter down to less than .355  .

[HesedTech]

8 hours ago, looking4reloadingdeals said:

am using 147gr .357” so some failures aren’t out of the ordinary, but this many is a lot more than usual.

With .357 you will find them a greater issue. 
 

Honestly I too went through the whole bigger is better, but after a 10k order went back to .356 and .355. The tiny bit of accuracy differences just aren’t worth It to me.

 

But your question is about S&B brass and the answer is, yes it is pickier about loading. If you’re not using the DA powder funnel for a Dillon press, or pre-expanding via an M-Die or NOE expander plug then those over sized Bullets might seat a little crooked.

 

The Lee FCD will fix it and swage down you bullets at the same time. Then your accuracy and other problems will show their ugly head on the range. 

Edited May 30, 2020 by HesedTech

[George16]

S&B brass are thicker than most brands and also have tight primer pockets. I have to swage the primer pockets to prevent high or crushed primers. I used S&B exclusively for both my minor and major ammo because they’re at least 98% all once fired because nobody wants to reload them. 

[kevin c]

My experience is the same as George16's as far as brass thickness and pockets go on S&B brass. My coated cast 147's sized to 0.357 would get shaved. Thinner walled brands didn't have the problem with exactly the same die settings.

 

If a cast bullet is sized larger for the sake of better obturation, my understanding of the Lee FCD is that it can swage down the bullet to the point where gas cutting and blow happen and leading occurs. 

[looking4reloadingdeals]

Thanks for all the help guys, appreciate it


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