d'Artagnan
Member
1. So now that S&B primers are available for reloading here, I decided to prove/disprove the stories I've heard about S&B primer pockets being tight and people having trouble seating other brands in them. Previously, I have chosen primers to match the brand of case thinking that they were designed/optimized for each other. So I deprimed, cleaned, and primed 5@ S&B 9x19 10 or 11 cases with: Federal, Remington, Winchester, CCI, Fiocchi, S&B, and Magtech primers. Without doubt the hardest to seat were the Federal primers, then 3 out of 5 S&B primers seated without difficulty but the other 2 were as difficult as the Federals. The easiest to seat were Winchester, 3 out of the 5 S&B, and Magtech. Remington, CCI, and Fiocchi all seated with little difference in pressure, same as they seat in Remington, Speer/CCI/Blazer, and Fiocchi cases, respectively. Every brand but S&B seated uniformly with only the Federal and some S&B primers requiring more than usual pressure.
2. Now what was I going to do with all these primed cases? I loaded each with 5gr Unique and a 125gr lead bullet and fired them in my Astra 600. Those strings I thought held promise I repeated. Average muzzle velocity and bullet placement were as follows:
Federal 1215/1206.2 mostly dead on, 2 of 10 4in at 9:00
Remington 1201.2 4in high
CCI 1186.6 2in high
Winchester 1189.4 less than 1in high
Fiocchi 1191.8 strung from 8:00 to 2:00
S&B 1190.6/1206 2in at 8:00/2in high
Magtech 1196/1201.5 dead on with bullets keyholing/dead on
3. Muzzle velocities of 1200fps are too hot for the Astra-600. 4.0 Unique gives a more useful around 1080fps.
4. Primers obviously make a difference.
2. Now what was I going to do with all these primed cases? I loaded each with 5gr Unique and a 125gr lead bullet and fired them in my Astra 600. Those strings I thought held promise I repeated. Average muzzle velocity and bullet placement were as follows:
Federal 1215/1206.2 mostly dead on, 2 of 10 4in at 9:00
Remington 1201.2 4in high
CCI 1186.6 2in high
Winchester 1189.4 less than 1in high
Fiocchi 1191.8 strung from 8:00 to 2:00
S&B 1190.6/1206 2in at 8:00/2in high
Magtech 1196/1201.5 dead on with bullets keyholing/dead on
3. Muzzle velocities of 1200fps are too hot for the Astra-600. 4.0 Unique gives a more useful around 1080fps.
4. Primers obviously make a difference.