[Littlewolf]

I have observed the primer flash holes in Speer 357 SIG brass to be very small compared to other brands. Is there a reason for this? Should this flash holes be enlarged to proper size? What consequences could occur from reloading this brass with the smaller holes?:confused:

[chris in va]

They fired fine as-is in factory form, so I wouldn't mess with it.

[ReloaderFred]

They will probably have a small "s" on the headstamp, which means they were made by Starline for Speer. I've encountered a lot of those, and the only decapping pin that I had that would work was in my Redding dies. You can forget getting a Dillon decapping pin through them. I just put them aside and drilled out the flash holes when I had enough to mess with.

Hope this helps.

Fred

[Littlewolf]

Thanks all. I feel better with the standard size flash hole.

[beatledog7]

Speer .357 Sig "s" brass is apparently very solid, as it takes a lot of effort to size. I've just been through a bunch of this, both plain and nickel plated, sizing with a carbide RCBS .40cal die. Even after adding a proper application of One-Shot, it takes a lot to size these.

Most are of the small flash hole variety, but that's not the major issue, as even after decapping a few with a universal, the sizing remains hard. It's easier, oddly enough, with a Lee .357 Sig FL sizing die.

Is the RCBS die tight? Or is Speer .357 Sig brass just hard to size?

[david_r]

Wait until you get some R-P that pulls the decapping pin out :cuss: If you miss that it happened, you have to resort all your brass to find the one with the pin stuck in it and all the ones that still have a primer in them.

[beatledog7]

David R, it was a Speer for me. Pulled my Lee FL sizer pin apart. The pin pushed out the primer them hung in the flash hole. It was immediately apparent as I work on a Hornady SS, and the next piece's primer didn't go pphht into the bin (as 95% of them do). But I'm prepared--three spare Lee pins on hand.

I used a .074 bit to drill out a batch of 50, and will eventually do them all, but only as I need them.

[david_r]

Thank you for the info. I'll keep an eye on the Speer too.

[kutter]

Or you could just chuck the resize pin into a drill and take it down a couple of thousandths. That is what I did and have not had a single problem since then, a lot easier than drilling out 2000 cases.

[beatledog7]

True, but I use three different dies to decap .357 Sig, so that would be three pins. Two of these I also use for other cases, and that includes some with crimped primers. The pins are fragile enough as it is.

It takes a few seconds per round to fix the holes, and it's a one-time thing. For me, it beats constantly breaking pins.

[david_r]

Then you have all your primer holes the same size. I can't imagine that is a bad thing, especially with 357sig where if you aren't loading near max, you may as well be shooting 9mm ;)

[kutter]

I suppose if I ever got around to using my carbide 40 dies to decap I might have that issue, but since it is a bottleneck round and have to use lube I never bothered with it and just use the steel dies for it.

[kutter]

All of my primer holes are uniform, I only use Speer brass.

I load with 12.5gr of AA #9 under a 124gr Berry bullet. Not max but certainly a lot hotter than 9mm velocities.

[beatledog7]

with 357sig where if you aren't loading near max, you may as well be shooting 9mm

Actually, very reasonable mid-range loads of HS-6, which is quickly becoming my favorite .357 Sig powder, push a 124gr XTP to about 1270 FPS, roughly 9% faster than the 9mm max (which I don't even bother with since I also shoot .40S&W). I'll happily take that 9%.

Pushed to the HS-6 max, the .357 Sig tops the 9mm by close to 15% in velocity.

[david_r]

Bd,
You missed the wink on the end there. I want to try some VV powder in my 357sig just to see what it can do

[beatledog7]

david_r,

I didn't miss it, just wanted to note the difference for anyone who's ever thought the Sig has no advantage.

Have you tried HS-6? I think it beat all over AA#9 and is more economical to use.

[david_r]

I will definitely add it to my list. I'm looking for Power Pistol in stock and now HS-6.