Trouble with S/B primers

[scattershot]

I got a smoking deal on some Sellier & Bellot primers, right before the current craziness hit. Large and small pistol primers. They worked great until recently, and I started to have failures to fire. Anyone lose have problems with these? All went off after the second strike.

This was in two separate pistols, 9mm and .45 ACP, So I don't think it was the guns.
Thanks.

 

[gregintenn]

Perhaps they weren't fully seated?

 

[robertrwalsh]

I tend to agree. I have found that, for myself, S&B primers may be a tad on the large end of the size range and require more oomph to seat fully. To the best of my knowledge they are an excellent product. I have only used a couple of thousand but had no trouble with them going BANG.

 

[scattershot]

That was my first thought, as well. I reload on a Dillon, and I haven't had this problem before, but it's certainly worth checking into. Not as much "feel" with this press as with some others.

Thanks for the replies.

 

[Just another 22 shooter]

I tend to agree. I have found that, for myself, S&B primers may be a tad on the large end of the size range and require more oomph to seat fully. To the best of my knowledge they are an excellent product. I have only used a couple of thousand but had no trouble with them going BANG.

Totally agree. I have some lpp by S/B. When seating them on the press, I could see they weren't right. Seating them with the Lee hand primer was noticeably more difficult than Remington or Federal lpp. I caught it before I fired any of the 45s I was loading. Have had zero failure to fires from the S/B primers.

 

[scattershot]

I actually bought those when the black prince was in office, and I heard from a member on another forum that S&B had a bad lot or two of primers.

 

[Rammer Jammer]

The few thousand S&B SPP I have used were by far the hardest and most finicky primers I've ever loaded. Some required double strikes but they all went off eventually.

 

[1sailor]

A few years ago, my local(ish) Cabela's had them on sale for 17.50 per thousand. I bought like 7000 or something (bad memory). Out of them I had not one single failure loading for 9mm, 40S&W, 45acp, and 357 magnum. I would happily buy them again if they were available.

 

[scattershot]

I would, too. I think I jut got a bad lot.

 

[StakeOut]

I bought close to 30 thousand S&B pistol primers over the past several years at the Cabela's in Buda Texas and had zero failure to fire.
I use a Lee Classic Progessive with auto primer attachment.
I've also used Federal Gold Medal Match,Winchester and Remington also with zero failures.
I am no speed demon loading and pay close attention to everything I'm doing.
I can't every remember any primer issues even years ago when I used Star Machines.
I have had bad 209 shotshell primers but not many.

 

[mikld]

"Second strike" firing indicates improper seating. In 40+ years of reloading I have only encountered 2 or 3 "bad" primers (CCI, Rem., Winchester Wolf, and another European [name?]) but realized early on 98% of primer problems are improper seating. I still use some Wolf primers purchased during the obumma shortage, working 100%

 

[MoBigAl]

Did you check the expiration dates?

 

[Green Frog]

I'll vote with faulty seating too. If it goes on the second strike I'll always be willing to accept that it wasn't seated properly and took the first strike to get it all the way in.

Froggie

 

[twodog max]

Another vote for faulty seating. I have shot thousands of them with no problems. Only one item ever cropped up I was using new Starline 44 brass and S&B large pistol required a little more to seat but not much.
I would gladly buy many thousands more for a good price.

 

[Mike SC Hunter]

Did you check the expiration dates?

I have never saw an expiration date on reloading components. And I have been reloading since 1972.

 

[scattershot]

Could very well be faulty seating, I'm not discounting that, but it seems odd to me that since I have loaded thousands of these without incident, the failures to fire only occurred after I opened a new carton.

 

[The Norseman]

Best Buy

I like Sellier & Bellot primers. I like the way they fit
primer pockets. They fit snugly in my 44Rem Spl,
44Rem Mag, and 45ACP cases. Never had a miss
fire.

I believe the fit is better than my CCI primers. I
hope there are tons of S&B primers coming from
the Cargo Ships on the coasts awaiting unloading.

I would definitely buy them.

 

[Skeet 028]

Like someone else said...when Cabelas sold 'em on sale for 18 bucks I bought 100,000...25,000 of each size. When I got them...I got 50,000 SPPs and no SRPs. They made tt good though and even though I told them I would return the extra 25,000 to a retail store...they said they could not accept them back. Told me to keep the extras. Have no problems to date with S&Bs. I do much of my priming on a RCBS bench mounted priming tool(best priming tool made) and on Dillon loaders with no problems to date. I was under the impression the part of the plant that made S&B primers either burned or blew up with loss of life a year or so ago. Haven't seen any new batches sold for quite a while

 

[mikld]

I have never saw an expiration date on reloading components. And I have been reloading since 1972.

I'm guessing the "expiration date" comment was made in jest. A few years ago there was a rumor/question floating around reloading forums that some anti-gun efforts were to include primers produced with with a limited shelf life; "expiration date theory"...

 

[bruce381]

Did you check the expiration dates?

Ah there is NONE on primers