.357 SIG brass question

[cmhellie]

OK, so I'm aware of the Speer brass produced by Starline. The head stamp reads .357 SIG Speer-s. I found out after breaking several decapping pins that the flash holes are smaller. I solved that by machining my decapping pin down a few thousandths.

I think I stumbled onto another problem. I think the non Speer-s brass and other headstamps may require a large pistol primer. When I was shooting some of these rounds, I had one that went off with a different report, lower recoil and a flash from the ejection port. I was really lucky to notice all three phenomena. I immediately field stripped the gun and checked for a lodged bullet, thankfully no!

Indeed the event could have been caused by a split case, but I wonder further if it could have been caused by an underpowered primer. Is it possible that the early generation cartridges (non-s) were fired by a magnum primer (hence the large flash hole); then when the cartridge gained traction with LEOs, Speer had to ramp up production as well as keep costs down.

I guess I should go through my loaded rounds and pull out the non-s cartridges and shoot a few. That would be the acid test.

 

[beatledog7]

I think the non Speer-s brass and other headstamps may require a large pistol primer.

There is no way that is true. A LPP will not fit in that pocket, and I suspect you didn't mean to say "large." As for using magnum primers, there is probably no harm or even a discernible difference between that and a non-magnum in a 357Sig cartridge. However, safety practice dictates that if you change primers, you should work up a new load. In short, the magnum vs non-magnum primer question is probably moot. I suspect powder charge is driving the phenomenon you described.

I use a lot of Speer-s brass, and I always drill out the flash holes to normal size. It just take a couple of seconds for each one, and it only needs doing once.

 

[cmhellie]

I did mean to say magnum and not large.

I chose to machine down my decap pin vs drill flash holes.

All works fine. Thanks for the reply.

 

[Gik-tal]

357 Sig Brass

I have ran into the extra small flash hole on several different 357 Sig cases, some form the same manufacturer, one will have a small hole and the next a regular sized. I just drill out the hole with a 5/64" drill bit and it seems to work just fine.