[HSMITH]

I have been loading 45's lately out of a batch of online auction brass ( I got screwed, but that is another story) and there is a lot of S&B brass in there. I have been having a tough time seating primers whether on the press or with my hand primer. The primer pockets are not square to the casehead and they are not centered well from my preliminary checks. The brass is also quite hard to size compared to everything else I have tried, AMERC is bad too though.

Do I give up on it and throw it out or have you found a way to use this crap?

[John Forsyth]

Yes, tight primer pockets. Deprimes ok, seating a new one is another story. I have been dumping it along with the A-MERC.

[larryw]

Love the stuff, brass is tough and lasts forever. First time priming is tough, but it will loosen up. Use a harder primer, WLP works like a charm for me

[MonkeyMan]

I have to agree with you about A-MERC but I've never had a problem with S&B. I reload for myself and two friends that also shoot IDPA with me and S&B is what they buy when they buy loaded ammo.

[HSMITH]

One detail I forgot to add is that I am using CCI primers, Winchester primers are impossible to find in quanitity around here. I am having trouble with the primers themselves being larger than normal also. I have had 15 primers out of 6000 that JAM my feed tube, and 40 more primers that jammed my pickup tubes. All feed and pickup tubes are brand new Dillon. I ran over 10K Winchesters and 6K Federals prior to buying the CCI's without one single little tiny hiccup in the priming tubes.......

Larger primers in tight pockets sounds like what I am having. The AMERC is no problem to prime, but it is thick and crimping to size is rough.. The S&B will get culled and offered for trade if there is enough or thrown out if not.......

[renaissance]

My experience parallels the "bad" on A-MERC & S&B Brass

Especially 9mm.

1) Hard to deprime (the spent primers tend to "pull back in")
2) New primers seat hard
and
3) On the 9mm > the fresh primers "crush in sidewise"

No always, but enough to make it a annoying problem.

[antsi]

< larryw -- Love the stuff, brass is tough and lasts forever. First time priming is tough, but it will loosen up. Use a harder primer, WLP works like a charm for me >

What larryw said.

Wonder if it is the primers, I use Winchester too and have never had a problem with S&B brass in 9mm, 45acp, 357sig.

[Cherokee]

Dillon recommends the Winchester primers for their primer feeders. I used CCI for years and they will jamb in the Dillon, had to get WLP to use the Dillon feeder. Hand seating CCI prmers in S&B or any other case has not been a problem as long as the primer was not crimped.

[Mike Irwin]

Never had a problem with the S&B brass.

Most of what I reload is .45.

[larryw]

I had poor success seating CCI primers in S&B brass (but that was using the magnum primers in an experiment, don't know how they differ from CCI LP). I had better luck with the Federal primers, just seat them slowly as they're really soft. This is with a Dilon 550B.

[MoNsTeR]

If anyone really doesn't like their S&B .45 brass you can send it to me, I love it!

[LIProgun]

I typically experienced about a 5-10% problem rate with S&B .45 ACP brass. A few in each box would have primer pockets so tight that the primers would not seat properly or were deformed on seating.

I now simply give each case a single treatment with the RCBS large primer crimp remover and I have no problems thereafter. S&B is good brass.

[tawakoni]

First of all, NEVER reload A-MERC brass. Crush it and throw it away whenever you find some. I keep a big pair of channel-locks on my bench just for that purpose. I hate the stuff and crushing it gives me pleasure. :D

Second, S&B is difficult to prime if the case is only once-fired. I think that is mostly due to the lacquer they use to seal the primers at the factory. After a case has been reloaded once or twice, it's much easier to seat a primer. I use a 550B and Remington or WLP primers. S&B is pretty good brass once you reload it a couple of times. Not one of my personal favorites but still pretty good stuff.

Best,

tawakoni

[Waitone]

A-MERC is bad stuff. Crush it and throw it in a landfill.

S&B .45 ACP has yet to fail me if I use WLP primers. Can't say anything positive about CCI primers, period.

I put S&B right behind Winchester brass in its ability to be reloaded.

[Mylhouse]

I actually PREFER S&B brass!!!

:confused:

[stans]

I have also found S&B brass to have extremely tight primer pockets. At first, I thought the primers had been crimped into place, but after a close inspection, the pockets are slightly smaller than most other 45 ACP brass.

[1goodshot]

I've tried to reload S&B brass and never had much luck. I dont bother with it any more.

[mellow]

S&B brass slows me down. Most of the time, I have to play around with the brass a little in the shell plate so that it aligns well for primer seating. I still load them. I find it hard to turn down a piece of brass . . . that is, unless it says A-Merc. Those are reserved for dummy rounds.

[HSMITH]

OK, I dug out 100 WLP to try in the S&B, it was a LOT better but they still are very tight in the primer pockets. The CCI primers I have are the LAST large pistol CCI that I will ever buy. Man these things have been a royal PIMA!!!!!!!!! I have a couple thousand CCI left that I need to burn too. When I finish sorting all the S&B out I will ship them out if there is enough to make it worth while....

[MoNsTeR]

I find it strange everyone says S&B primer pockets are "tight". I say Federal, Winchester, RP, etc. primer pockets are "loose"! When I seat a primer in an S&B case it feels firm and solid, in the big-brand domestic cases it feels like it's going to fall out.

[benewton]

HSMITH:

I've been running the dillon 650 for about six years or so, but in a shoot in the back yard situation, with probably only 4K per year, or so, reloaded over various calibers.

I've had primer feeding problems with Federals, and have simply standardized on the Winchesters. Clogged primer tubes are a problem, no matter what dillon's policy is.

I load rifle ammo in a Rockchucker, since I've a few problems with lube removal in the sequential, so there's CCI kicking around...

I didn't know dillon recommended Winchester primers, but my limited experience indicates that that's the way to run the tool.

Nice to know, though, that somebody else has had the (general) problem. I don't think that the brass, within reason, given crimp removal, is the problem.

[Mike Irwin]

Just loaded about 100 rounds of mixed .45 brass this evening, including a bunch of S&B.

The brass didn't give me troubles, the press and bullets did.

That's it, I'm getting a frigging Dillon. I'm sick of this Lee.

[HSMITH]

A. E. I did know that Dillon recommends the Win primers...... I have to agree with you, they seem to work the best for sure.

Mike, I have about 14K rounds loaded on my 550B so far this year. I had some trouble but once I bolted it down to a STURDY bench they disappeared totally until I came home with 10K CCI primers:cuss: . I am halfway through the CCI's and still am just loopy in love with the press..... Dillon as a company is above reproach IMO too, you will be really happy with a Dillon.

[Poodleshooter]

HSMITH: Personally, I've always had trouble seating the CCI LP primers into any case with relatively tight primer pocket, including factory Winchester and Remington. In fact, an old lot of CCI's that I have is completely impossible to seat in any large pistol primer pocket that I have encountered. I save that box for old shot out brass with loose pockets.
I've never had the least bit of trouble using CCI's in rifles, but I stick to other brands in my handguns now.

[agony]

the S&B .45ACP is my preferred brass for reloads. It stays cleaner than other brass, seats well with Winchester or Federal primers, and has always been reliable in my pistols.

The pockets need to be cleaned up a bit after 1st time shooting prior to reloading, due to the red primer sealant painted around it.

The S&B 9mm cases are a completely different story.

[goon]

The S&B 9mm cases are a completely different story.

Please explain. I have a bunch of S&B 9mm brass that I was going to get into at some point in the future. I need a set of carbide dies first though.
But did you have a problem with reloading it?

[Cherokee]

I am surprised to read so many peopel haveing trouble with CCI pistol primers. I hasve been using CCI for more years than I care to say and never had any problem until I got the Dillon 650. Now I use Winchester when loading with the 650 because of the machine requirements, not that I am unhappy with CCI because I continue to use them on my other presses. Just my experience,

[RON in PA]

I've reloaded 9mm S&B brass without any problems.

[Trsnrtr]

I've reloaded tons of S&B 9mm brass, in fact, it's my case of choice.

[goon]

I am glad to hear that.
The thought of throwing away several hundred casings makes me sick in the stomach.:uhoh:

[coonan357]

was told s&b brass is originally made for the military (over there) so the primer pockets are tight for the crimping process on the primer , so I take the pocket reamer and touch them up after the first cleaning and had no problems with reseating primers since . as for a-amerc good target ammo ( it is the target I wouldn't use this stuf in one of my toys ....)