Wandering Man Posted September 11, 2007 Share Posted September 11, 2007 (edited) What's with the S&B cases? The ones with the red on the primer? I had my first primer pop today. Fortunately it was only the one primer that blew. It was on an S&B case. I'd noticed before that while making 9mm rounds I would occassionally have primer go in with difficultly, making a crunching sound as it went in. I just thought it was a random event. Then yesterday, after making a bunch of rounds with cases I collected at the range, I noticed that it was the S&B cases that crunched. Several had brass shavings hanging out the bottom of the case. I now have a new rule. If its red on the bottom it goes back to the range empty. WM Edited September 11, 2007 by Wandering Man Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SLM Posted September 11, 2007 Share Posted September 11, 2007 S&B brass is very good brass IMO. I can tell S&B when I re-size it on my single stage by the feel. It does have very tight primer pockets with almost no chamfer on the pocket. I use a Hornady crimp remover to cut a slight chamfer on the pocket to help the primer go in easier. That said, If you don't want your S&B, feel free to send it to me. I'll give it a nice warm home! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe4d Posted September 11, 2007 Share Posted September 11, 2007 decent brass, when I get it I throw it in a Military pile along with other crimped primer brass, once I get a coffee can full I'll deprime with my old lee press and sit in front of TV and ream it with a lyman hand held primer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CSEMARTIN Posted September 11, 2007 Share Posted September 11, 2007 S&B = GARBAGE Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SLM Posted September 11, 2007 Share Posted September 11, 2007 S&B = GARBAGE Care to elaborate? I don't think I've ever heard that opinion of their brass before. I've often read it about A-Merc, Federal and Remington though! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trodrig Posted September 11, 2007 Share Posted September 11, 2007 No problems with S&B here so far. Primer pockets are tight but I don't have any crushing when seating. trodrig Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AustinMike Posted September 11, 2007 Share Posted September 11, 2007 I seem to have to lot of S&B 9mm right now and it gives me fits sometimes. I usually have at least one or two primers that won't seat out of a 100 or so cases. I probably should get a swager or reamer of some sort. What do ya'll use? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wandering Man Posted September 11, 2007 Author Share Posted September 11, 2007 S&B brass is very good brass IMO. I can tell S&B when I re-size it on my single stage by the feel. It does have very tight primer pockets with almost no chamfer on the pocket. I use a Hornady crimp remover to cut a slight chamfer on the pocket to help the primer go in easier. That said, If you don't want your S&B, feel free to send it to me. I'll give it a nice warm home! My range has given me brass bucket dipping priviledges. So every time I go to the range I come home with a bunch of brass. .40 and 9mm seems to be the most popular at the range. I don't load .40's so they go back, along with other misc stuff. I now have enough 9mm that I won't be needing to collect it for a while. Since I seem to be 9mm affluent, I can afford to simply send the S&B's back to the range range bucket rather than spending the extra time with them. Thanks for confirming my observation that S&B needs special treatment. WM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JFD Posted September 11, 2007 Share Posted September 11, 2007 I know I have to ream the primer pockets on S&B .45 brass, but it's good to go after that. I've heard here that their .40 brass is garbage so I don't use it. I don't have much of it around, so I've never tried to find out exactly what the problem is. Federal NT is a frigging nightmare, so I avoid it like the plague it is. Same with Amerc. While I only use the thin-walled Remington .45 brass with cast bullets, there's no problem with their .40 brass. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LPatterson Posted September 11, 2007 Share Posted September 11, 2007 S&B is good brass, I just don't like the amount of effort required to reload it. So I don't & no I won't save it & send it to you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waxman Posted September 11, 2007 Share Posted September 11, 2007 Never had a problem with the SB brass. I guess i am not as fussy as some. I have only ever had problems with A-merc, that goes straight to the gargage. I have used alot of the fedeal NT, and have yet to experience a problem. Now I am not saying this brass is perfect, and I would not use it for a match, but it works fine for practice, or club matches. Now When it comes to Match brass, I would only consider starline, Rem, or Winchester. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gose Posted September 11, 2007 Share Posted September 11, 2007 The primer pockets on S&B brass (at least in some calibers) seem to be slightly smaller than other brands. The easy solution is to use S&B primers, which are slightly smaller. I used S&B brass for my weak wadcutter .38 target loads, but the number of cracked cases far exceeded anything I've seen with other brands, so now just toss anything stamped S&B. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tex32Cal Posted September 11, 2007 Share Posted September 11, 2007 I had trouble getting primers to seat properly, if at all, in S&B 45acp cases. I had a little better luck after I used a chamfering tool on the primer pocket. But, I finally set all the S&B cases aside and loaded them separately, and I was still only able to successfully load about half of them. I'll stick with Winchester or Remington cases, as I have experienced no problems with either of them. Michael Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carlos Posted September 11, 2007 Share Posted September 11, 2007 S&B brass is very good brass IMO. I can tell S&B when I re-size it on my single stage by the feel. It does have very tight primer pockets with almost no chamfer on the pocket. I use a Hornady crimp remover to cut a slight chamfer on the pocket to help the primer go in easier. That said, If you don't want your S&B, feel free to send it to me. I'll give it a nice warm home! True. The really CRAP brass comes from the US companies that simply PUNCH the primer pocket into place, which, while cheaper & making home- priming slightly easier, leaves a nasty raised ridge inside the case. This may not matter too much for pistol ammo, but the bench rest crowd must spend time bringing any US brass up to Euro specs by uniforing this sloppy ridge. S&B's pockets are machined properly from the get-go. The machining process does leave a cleanly-machined edge that does sometimes catch a primer edge - especially in a poorly set up press (have you shecked your press?). The S&B brass is of such high quality & strength that I often save it just for use with 9mm Major. Don't confuse "easy to prime" with "quality." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Heiter Posted September 11, 2007 Share Posted September 11, 2007 I started out shooting USPSA before I got a reloader using S&B because it was one of the cheaper factory loadings at the time. I shot a couple cases of it, mostly at an indoor range, and saved all the brass. I was getting 10+ reloadings out of the .40 brass before seeing any splits or issues. I never wore the headstamps off, but I had plenty that had been tumbled so much that the older tell tale extractor marks disappeared. I never had to rework a primer pocket either. As far as I'm concerned, the brass is great. My point is, if you're experience with it is from picking it up at the range, who knows. Maybe the guy before you shot it out of an unsupported chamber, maybe someone overworked it reloading it before you got it. If you don't know the history of it, don't blame the brass. They may have had some bad lots make it through, but I've been fortunate enough to see a lot of good stuff come from them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raz-0 Posted September 12, 2007 Share Posted September 12, 2007 S&B in .45 is great stuff, especially by the 3rd loading. S&B in .40 is mostly ok. S&B in 9mm is a PITA. It's not that it won't work in the end and run reliably in the gun, but it's like having a press with intermittent malfunctions unless you spend more time than you want prepping cases. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EricW Posted September 12, 2007 Share Posted September 12, 2007 Please send all your unwanted S&B brass to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TonyT Posted September 12, 2007 Share Posted September 12, 2007 I have expereinced the same difficulty as other in reloading 45 ACP S&B brass - tight primer pockets. Rather than consume time on reaming primer pockets, I save it for use on ranges where I do not pick up the brass. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wandering Man Posted September 12, 2007 Author Share Posted September 12, 2007 I took a close look, and there is a visible difference in size between the primer pocket of the S&B and the other stuff I have. I'll look into the S&B primers, and if they are available, I may buy a brick just to have for the S&B cases I pick up. WM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaxshooter Posted September 12, 2007 Share Posted September 12, 2007 I have never loaded S&B pistol cases, but I have loaded thier .223 cases. I just prep them like military brass and have never had a problem. They last longer than Rem or Win brass. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisStock Posted September 13, 2007 Share Posted September 13, 2007 ....S&B in 9mm is a PITA. It's not that it won't work in the end and run reliably in the gun, but it's like having a press with intermittent malfunctions unless you spend more time than you want prepping cases. I do ok with their .40 brass as well, but the 9MM, well, that's another story. Why wrestle with it? I just keep chucking it off to the side, as I am tired of crushing primers. It is definitely way down on the totem pole for preferred 9MM brass. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SLM Posted September 13, 2007 Share Posted September 13, 2007 Please send all your unwanted S&B brass to me. Hey now Eric... I asked first!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EricW Posted September 13, 2007 Share Posted September 13, 2007 Please send all your unwanted S&B brass to me. Hey now Eric... I asked first!! Sorry man....didn't mean to horn in on your action. BTW, your girlfriend says "hi." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SLM Posted September 13, 2007 Share Posted September 13, 2007 Please send all your unwanted S&B brass to me. Hey now Eric... I asked first!! Sorry man....didn't mean to horn in on your action. BTW, your girlfriend says "hi." Hey, if somebody's getting some from her, have at it!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kingman Posted September 13, 2007 Share Posted September 13, 2007 I agree with most here 9mm is good brass a pain to load if you don't have a 1050 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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