S&B Brass difficulties

[Hockey7711]

I recently purchased some S&B 115 Gr 9mm, they worked fine.
After firing them I attempted to decap and resize them using my lee carbine dies.
I had so much difficulty with them, and two actually got stuck in the resizing die.
I've never used lube as it isn't required with the carbide dies, maybe I should try it with this brand.
Has anyone had problems with them?

 

[1KPerDay]

No but make sure they are brass. The older stuff in pale blue or green boxes may have been coated steel depending on how old it is. I use hornady one shot lube on all my pistol brass even in my carbide dies. Much less effort required to size.
S&B primer pockets are a little more snug than most other brass IME. Other than that it’s good stuff IMO.

 

[mdi]

My Lee 9mm dies work fine with mixed, range, "once fired brass". A dab of lube every fourth or fifth round would help, but I'd make sure the brass was not bulged or dirty. I'd check the sizing die too. Make sure the carbide ring is clean and OK and measure the sized rounds to make sure the die isn't too small OD....

 

[Hockey7711]

Interesting...I'll check both those items.

 

[wasa]

I have had good success with my Lee dies and S&B range pickup brass, but as 1kPerDay says, I find the primer pockets tighter than other brass. I currently use Remington primers and they are OK, but if memory serves me Winchester were a bit tight.

 

[Hockey7711]

I just checked with a magnet, they are not steel cases.

 

[ericuda]

Pistol brass is one i actually use just a shot of Hornady one shot. Op, it does seem like s & b brass sizes a bit harder.

 

[kalielkslayer]

I also use Hornady 1shot before sizing/decapping. But I tumble again to get the primer pockets clean and to get rid of the lube.

Many will say this isn’t necessary. When I don’t tumble again, and weigh charges, occasionally some of the powder will stick inside the case giving me inconsistent reading. If I tumble, each powder charge I weigh comes back dead on, which gives me a warm feeling all over.

 

[corpo]

I concur with the prevailing opinion. S&B IS harder to size and prime, so much so that I prefer to segregate by themselves. Consistency in movement and effort makes my reloading sessions go better. One Shot, even with carbide is the bomb....uh-oh, there I did it... DHS now has me on its radar. ;-)

 

[Erief0g]

YES. Much harder. Regular brass spritz of one shot lube.
Sb brass three longer spritz. Problem solved but you are absolutely correct. I can tell when an sb goes through the rotation against any other brand. I sort by headstamp for this reason

 

[armoredman]

SB is thicker and stiffer - I will use them when nothing else is avaiable, but not wild about them for reloading.

 

[snowman357]

maybe that is why I always lube a few 9mm cases, I know 9mm cases do have a slight taper to them also

 

[Flash McDaniel]

Are you dealing with stubborn brass or a crimped primer? Or both? I had a problem with some 223 brass that I deprimed only to discover crimped primer pockets. The RCBS Primer Pocket Swager took care of the problem in a hurry. After you get the old primer out will that piece of brass accept a new primer? Is there another ring visible in the primer pocket? I am finding out that some ammo makers will crimp their primers. The swager will fix that. 48 bucks from Amazon.

 

[Virginia Jim]

Just tried to de-prime some S&B 9mm brass. The pin is tight in the priming hole. Better have everything lined up perfectly.

 

[Soonerpesek]

I had some issues with .30 Carbine S&B brass recently.
Decapped and sized just fine, primers did NOT want to seat without considerable effort.
I then hit a few with a pocket uniformer-----NO help with said issue.

But, I have loaded many .45 ACP and .40 S&W with NO issues.....whaddya figure..

 

[packetloss]

Never had a problem with sizing/decapping s&b 9mm brass, unlubed in carbide dies. They are slightly thicker, but nowhere near as thick as CBC. I typically don't have any issues with reloaded s&b brass case gauging to SAAMI minimum.

 

[Hartkopf]

I sort out S&B because I like it for batches of ammo where I need or want lots of neck tension and tight primers. If I was going to carry my reloads, I would use S&B brass.

 

[splattergun]

It's not necessary to use lube with lube with carbide dies, but a little lube won't harm anything at all. So if it makes the S&B cases easier, why not. lube every 4th or 5th case.

 

[Hockey7711]

OK

 

[Stevenvalleyky]

Im gonna think outside the box a little AND because this happened to me. Seems like some S&B brass had tight flash holes. But I would check to make sure your depriming rod doesnt have a slight bend or curve in it. If it is not completely straight, it can be a problem especially with slightly undersized flash holes or worse yet, off center flash holes like is typical with Fiochi pistol brass.

 

[Catpop]

S&B 45 acp brass resized OK for me, but priming was a disaster. By the time I finally got the primer flush it was totally flattened. I finally gave up on them!
I wonder does anyone make a cutter/reamer that will open it to the correct size to allow proper primer seating?

 

[Erief0g]

My experience is 9mm specific. I also lube due to running in a dillon xl650 and often times in making 2500 to 3500 rounds during that session. Each bag of brand x headstamp is run followed by the next brand. The smoothness that my Dillon runs with is partially due to a few upgrades, clean and lubed, and the fact that the brass is lubed. No spilling of powder during shell plate rotation or when sizing and flaring in other station. The force required for s&b is more than federal, Aguila, Blazer, Winchester, gfl,fc, speer, rp, or starline. Those brands came off my sort cards i toss in my akro bins as I sort. All the rest go in "mix" they may get used someday but stock is up on 9mm brass currently.

No issues with primer pockets at all. I know at least 3k of my sb brass was bought new by me but after countless reloads its tough to say what was mine and what was pick up.

 

[OhioShooter75]

I’ve never noticed any issues with S&B brass. Definitely want to use some lube, it just makes the process way easier.
I make my own lube with lanolin and alcohol.
After sizing and depriming I clean in ultrasonic with Lemi-shine and dawn. Then tumble in walnut media with a little nu-finish.

 

[AJC1]

They are the hardest brass I have resized. I broke my bench on them. Rumor is that cbc are made in the same plant and are just as bad. My last choice in 9mm brass.

 

[Hockey7711]

I agree, they are the most difficult I have tried to reload.