44 rem magnum S&B tight primer pockets

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I just started reloading 44 magnum brass, bought once fired.

I notice that the primer pockets are tight. It seems that it doesn't have any champfer on the edge of the pockets.

Out of the 100 that I've reloaded, I crushed about 6 primers yesterday.

Never had so much issue pressing in primers before.

Maybe I need to ream the primer pockets a bit more before reloading these.

Anyone else have issues with S&B brass?
 
I've given up on trying to reload S&B .38sp brass. Now when I find any mixed in with other headstamps I just put it aside. I've got over 200 of them stashed thinking someone , somewhere will be able to use them.
 
Yup S&B brass has little to none of a chamfer on the primer pocket. You could chamfer the PP with a countersink but sometimes that's too much work.

On a side note, I find that S&B primers are inconsistent in their fit. Don't have that problem with CCI.
 
I find using a hand primer I don't have much issue but when running my progressive it's almost impossible to seat them easily. Lots of crushed primers.
 
Swage or ream the pocket. I reload lots of s&b in various calibers and its all the same. It's a little extra work but other then that i have found their brass to be good quality
 
The reason I asked was initially, I thought my shell holder primer hold was off center causing primers not to seat correctly. Looking further at the brass primer pocket edges something was missing. The edges are squared and not rounded.

There were two instances when I was sitting the primer in using my press, the brass case went flying out of the shell holder. Surprisingly no detonation [luckily].

I've started using the lyman tool that has both chamfering and deburring heads, and I'm using the chamfering end to round out the primer pocket edge to give it a beveled edge.

Thanks all for the responses.
 
JohnnyPython said:
Yup S&B brass has little to none of a chamfer on the primer pocket. You could chamfer the PP with a countersink but sometimes that's too much work.

On a side note, I find that S&B primers are inconsistent in their fit. Don't have that problem with CCI.
Click to expand...

Couldn't agree more concerning the S&B primer size inconsistency... I still find them great for the price though.
 
Yep - RCBS pocket swager - I'm like a couple others I've read, I swage all S&B large primer pockets on spec', .45 ACP and .44 mag.

Have no problem with 9mm S&B's.
 
I tried the RCBS crimp remover and it didn't work. Then I tried the Lyman crimp remover in their case trimmer. It put a chamfer on the primer pocket mouth but primers were still extremely hard to seat. Last thing I tried was using a #4 drill bit with the point ground flat so it wouldn't damage the flash hole. The #4 bit removes just enough brass from the primer pocket wall to make primer seating easy. Go slow, let the drill bit do the work and don't wobble the drill. I've done this with hundreds of S&B 45 ACP cases that my friends were going to discard because they were tough to reprime. Haven't lost a case yet or had a problem with a loose primer pocket.
 
Update: After using the lyman tool (chamfering side) on the primer pockets, the s&b 44 magnum brass was a breeze to prime the cases. Second reloading was the same, no more ruined primers.
 
I know when I come across an S&B brass while reloading. More effort is required on the press when flaring and more "umph" to seat the primer. Add slightly larger Dominion primers to that combo and you really got to use elbow grease to seat the primer. It's getting to a point where I've been chamfering the primer pockets before reloading. I'm thinking of actually sorting out my brass and setting aside all the S&B ones. Arghhh.
 
Trinimon said:
I know when I come across an S&B brass while reloading. More effort is required on the press when flaring and more "umph" to seat the primer. Add slightly larger Dominion primers to that combo and you really got to use elbow grease to seat the primer. It's getting to a point where I've been chamfering the primer pockets before reloading. I'm thinking of actually sorting out my brass and setting aside all the S&B ones. Arghhh.
Click to expand...

If you have any .357 Mag S&B brass let me know!
 
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