Went to the range today to sight in my Swedish mausers and check out what I've done thus far in load development. I'm shooting 6.5 X 55 140 gr. Sellier & Bellot as my control ammunition. I've shot off 2 boxes of this stuff and found the brass to be excellent for reloading, and overall I'm very happy with their ammo. Imagine my surprise to find 3 bad brass hulls after shooting. Two are very bad and on the verge of case head separation and one is suspect so that too goes into the brass bucket (this is out of 13 rounds fired). The once fired brass I used in my reloading is all fine (2 boxes, 1 Winchester and 1 S&B) and looks fine after shooting. Out of the box of 20 factory ammo, I shot 13 and had the 3 cases mentioned above. After checking the primers, I'm seeing definite signs of over pressure and I think some rounds were loaded hot at the factory. Has anyone else had this problem? If not, let this be a "heads-up" for those shooting this ammunition. I'll post pics later.
Defective factory Sellier & Bellot ammo
- Thread starter LawrenceN
- Start date
GunsNotPuns
CGN frequent flyer
I've pounded out quite a bit of S&B in recent months and can't say that I've seen that.
This is not just expansion, it's a clear case of incipient separation. I took a few pics to illustrate the point. From the right, casing 1 is the worst with casing 2 close behind. Casing 3 shows a clear ring around the base and casing 4 shows no signs of over pressure. If it was a headspace problem, all the casings would have shown the same signs of a problem, or at least all the casings from that lot of ammo. This is why I feel it's just a few bad apples in the bunch, either some bad brass or inconsistent powder levels. I don't own a chrono to check velocity.
http://imgur.com/O6YQQf4
Bittereinder
CGN Regular
- Location
- Ontario (GTA)
I've found that, in 45 ACP, the S&B casings don't seem to last as well as Federal for reloading. Whenever I shoot, maybe 10% of the S&B casings end up crumpled at the opening, so deformed that I don't want to bother trying to restore them. This rarely happens with the Federal (American Eagle) casings that I've reloaded. Next time I buy a factory box to re-fresh my casing stock, it won't be S&B.
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FYI, another problem with their quality control. I'm chucking the cases into the case trimmer and guess what? Sometimes the collet grips the cases, sometimes not. Out comes the calipers and here's what I find. The rims vary in width from .472 to .479! I'll try to slip a small "O" ring over the shoulder of the collet to push it out far enough for the case rim to engage the appropriate circle, otherwise I have to remove the whole assembly, push the rim into the gripping point and re-insert the assembly into the trimmer. It's labour intensive, but at least I can trim the cases. I contacted S&B customer service in the States about a week ago and I've not heard anything back. Nice, eh?
You could be pushing the shoulder back too much if you are full length resizing.
I have some S&B 6.5x55 brass that looks like signs of high pressure. Flattened primers and soot rings around primers.
Annealing the case may help too.
I have some S&B 6.5x55 brass that looks like signs of high pressure. Flattened primers and soot rings around primers.
Annealing the case may help too.
I've also had problems with S&B brass, in this case 7x57 Mauser. The rims were too tight to fit in a Lyman #2 shellholder. Very tight primer pockets too.
The primer pockets I could live with. Since I clean them after each shoot anyway, it's no biggie for me to use the reamer to resize them. The differing base diameters however, are just poor quality control. And as to Kawicrash's comment about pushing the shoulders back when I resize, Nope! I have no problem with the Winchester brass and MOST of the S&B brass. I have to go with poor quality control overall. I believe the lot number is the number inside the upper flap of the box, and in this case it's 457/30. From what I've read thus far, I'm not the only one who has issues with S&B brass.
Lawrence, still havnt seen pics of your troubles, but it appears you found that S&B Brass is more hassle than they are worth for your rifle.
Not sure if it is your rifle or S&B, but the evidence is clear not to use S&B Brass in your rifle.
I have a Brno 21H in 7X57 and have fired 12 rounds of S&B 173grn factory ammo through it and there are no odd markings on my cases .
I have not yet tried to reload..having only fired the 12 rounds and with a final 3 inch group at 200 yrds I am confident this will work come Sept.10 when Mule Deer Open here on the normally wet coast.
Sounds as though Federal or Winchester or maybe even Remington Brass are in your future.
Thanks for sharing your experiences and I'll for one keep a sharper eye on my S&B Brass.
Rob
Not sure if it is your rifle or S&B, but the evidence is clear not to use S&B Brass in your rifle.
I have a Brno 21H in 7X57 and have fired 12 rounds of S&B 173grn factory ammo through it and there are no odd markings on my cases .
I have not yet tried to reload..having only fired the 12 rounds and with a final 3 inch group at 200 yrds I am confident this will work come Sept.10 when Mule Deer Open here on the normally wet coast.
Sounds as though Federal or Winchester or maybe even Remington Brass are in your future.
Thanks for sharing your experiences and I'll for one keep a sharper eye on my S&B Brass.
Rob
I had 3 boxes of 9mm I bought for my just right carbine last year.. had about 10 or 15(maybe more) where empty cases after I fired them where there was a hole in the primer where the firing pin struck that looked burned through... keep in mind I nvr had a problem with heavy/hard primer strikes and only had small(normal) dimples in all other primers in the over 1000 other rounds of various other brands of ammo i used in that gun..
