Sellier bellot brass

S

Springarm1911

CGN Regular
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Montréal
hello, while reloading 9mm, I had about 200 cases that stood out, they were Sellier Bellot brand. Anybody know if they are better in any other caliber? The only brass that "feels this good and looks this good is Sako... exept for the usual hi-end Lapua-Nosler and friends...
Just curious if I should start seeking this brass in .308 and 6.5 CM..
Thanks a lot fellows!
 
I had problems with s and b brass in .303 British and I have sworn it off for anything. It usually goes strait into the recycle pail now. That's just my experience with it. It could be different for you and others
 
Surplus1 said:
I had problems with s and b brass in .303 British and I have sworn it off for anything. It usually goes strait into the recycle pail now. That's just my experience with it. It could be different for you and others
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Mind sharing? I have a bunch of their .303 on hand I was going to use sooner or later... I find S&B almost universally has very tight primer pockets. So tight that my progressive has a hard time with them. If it's worth keeping I segregate and hand prime the cases. The brass quality itself is excellent especially considering the typically lower price of S&B ammunition.
 
I’ve reloaded S&B 8mm brass on average 5 times before a crack in the neck case has occurred, usually one casing out of twenty on the 6th firing. So I junk them after the 5th firing. Haven’t had an issue in hundreds of rounds fired in K98s or M48s.

Used 9mm S&B brass without any issues ever. I use a pocket reamer out of habit but no issues. Hundreds of rounds in 9mm as well. No cracks or load issues observed and have used Federal and Remington primers in 9mm. One squid maybe one out of 300. Not sure why.
 
I've bought the s&b bulk ammo in 223 and the primer pockets were tight. Same as federal american eagle. Quick ream of the pockets and it's good to go. The s&b and American eagle have exact case neck thickness which makes it easy to neck resize with the same sized bushing. Not sure about case capacity between the two. Perhaps someone on here has info in that regard. I dont have any empty s&b cases or I would check. If they are the same it would make it ideal to purchase some cheap bulk ammo and then use both cases with an identical load. Just need to ream the primer pockets and away you go.
 
yomomma said:
Only issue I have ever heard of is that the primer pockets are tight.

Use of a pocket reamer OR buying S&B primers usually solved these problems.
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This has basically been my only issue.

And it wasn't so much that the primer pockets were tight as it was that they very squared off compared to other brands. I figured that they must have had a lot less slop in their manufacturing process to deal with it, but if their own primers work fine then it must be something they've solved with the design of their primers (or both).

I just got the RCBS primer pocket swagger set for dealing with crimped pockets and I don't find the S&B brass sticks to it the way brass with actual crimped pockets does so I don't believe it's actually a tight pocket, but the little bit of fillet it swagges onto the edge of the primer pocket is enough that I don't have issues loading it just like any other brass anymore.

Edit: Similarly, another guy I know doesn't ream the entire pocket on S&B brass, he just puts a small chamfer on the edge of the pocket and says it works fine.
 
My issue with s&b brass is twofold. Tight primer pockets in many calibers. And in 308, only about 1/3 of the brass fits into my Loadmaster shell plate. All other brands fit fine, so it appears s&b take some liberties in their case dimensions.
 
S & B handgun ammo uses crimped primers.

You need to run a reamer in the primer hole, before trying to put in a new primer.

You'll be sorry if you don't.
 
The primers are not crimped, the pockets are straight wall with no chamfer.

Brass is very good. Ream the pocket as has been mentioned and you are good to go.
 
S&B ammo is good stuff. Where I have continuously run into S&B stuff is in 9mm. Great OEM ammo.

S&B being a European company, makes their 9mm brass to their specs, which appears to be slightly different than standard Win/Fed/RP/CCI.
That’s not a *bad* thing, but reloading their 9mm brass presents some issues I just don’t want to deal with. Im not alone here. Adding extra effort to clean up their tight primer pockets is akin to de-priming 9mm brass before wet tumbling. Just too much extra effort. Besides, quality commercial brass is readily available just about everywhere.
Sure, if you have extra time, want to put in extra effort to make S&B 9mm ammo Fed/Win primer compliant, go for it. Im going for the *economy of motion* way of reloading.
 
Same experience with the S&B 303, the primer pockets are just too small. I tried reaming,etc. but gave up on them when one primer went off on me when I was priming. I generally favor PPU
 
i just loaded 174gr woodleighs in S&B 303 brass.... the factory shot fine an the brass looks great an shiney.

Although i do agree that the primer pockets need a 'debur' or slight ream to aid in the bloody primer seating properly.... i was clamping my lee press lever rather hard... hmmmmm
 
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