How does Sellier & Bellot brass stand up to reloading compared to other brass? I am considering buying S&B ammo and reloading the empties.

It is crap (and potentially dangerous), save your $. I've tried in a range of calibers and was consistently disappointed, especially in 6.5x57 and 8x57.

I bought 4 boxes of 7x57 175 grain SPCe, shot em up getting 1.5 inch accuracy and then proceded to load them hot, medium and a lot. Once they were fireformed to my chamber I got consistant groups of less than an inch and after running around 400 bullets thru 60 of the cases I had lost 7 to neck splits. I did have to alter one of my shell holders as they are made the European way. I guess I'd have to say I got my $7.97 worth out of loaded ammo per box.

I'd have to agree with the posts above. S&B ammunition & component quality isn't as good or as consistant as other brand name cartridge cases IMHO.

While their quality control has improved siginificantly in the past several years, it still cannot hold a candle to other major manufacturers such as RWS, Norma, Winchester & Remington, Lapua, Geco, etc. Even compared to other more inespensive brands sold here; Hirtenberger, PMP, PMC, and others their quality just doesn't match.

A friend gave me 60+ cases to load for him and after checking them prior to resizing, binned them and used RWS cases. Just a visual check depicted severe blemishes & irregularities and the few that I initially attempted to work with seemed to be "soft" (for lack of a more scientific term).

Like 9.3x62 mentioned I have shot and examined a sampling of different cartridges from S&B; .22 Hornet, .222 Remington, 7x57, 7x57R and .30/06 Sprg. all showing inconsistancies ranging from headstamps, flasholes, brass hardness, length & blemishes.

rickety300 put it pretty good - you're getting what you pay for.....

What 9.3x62 said !
I bought a few boxes of ammo for my .308 (CZ-601) with incredible results each time. The groups were in the 25cm range (10 in) at 100m every time. The gun is a 1 MOA shooter with basically all other brands.

A long time ago I bought some S&B shotgun ammo. One of the shells in the magazine of my Breda went off damaging the gun seriously.

Never again S&B !

S&B 7.62x54 brass is crap. Get Lapua.
S&B 7.62x25 brass is the best. Beats Starline.
S&B 12 ga hulls have bastard primper pockets. not usable.

My primary hunting rifle really likes the S&B 173 gr. load and I've shot a lot of them out of it. They don't fit US made shellholders though so you have to find a size that works. I still shoot the factory ammo a bit but for handloading I got a deal on some Remington cases and use them now.

I bought several boxes of S & B 22 hornet ammo and have reloaded the cases 4 times so far. Zero problems with the cases.

The only S&B brass I have is some 9mm and it has not caused me any problems.

Even though I got some service out of the 7x57 brass from S&B from now on out it's Any other brand for me now. It was the worst brass I ever worked with bar none.

The .222 cases are not as good as RWS. Their primers also give larger groups than CCI.

My buddy and I bought a bunch for our 8mm Mausers...and the accuracy of the factory ammo was quite good...However, he tried to reload (low to medium pressure, no max loads) and we were having problems after the second reloading...So, IMHO, not bad for cheap factory ammo, but forget about reloading the brass...

My only experience with their brass was in 9mm. The quality was on par with everything else but FC, which makes the best 9mm brass.

I picked up about 100 cases of once fired S&B .223 brass at the range. I have loaded it about four or five times using the stuff in load development. I have shot some fine groups. As for durability, can't really comment as some of the loads were of course, maximum or over max. The only way to find out is to see pressure problems.

I don't think much of S&B brass OR their loaded ammo.

Having said that....... it's pretty hard to mess up simple 9mm Para. brass cases.

Dr. Lou, I'd recommend trying out a small quantity (a box or two) and see how you like them before you buy a large quantity.

I use .308 S&B brass for hunting purposes only, I do not mind if I lose some in the forrest, it is not so bad, but also not excelent, for hunting up to 200m it is OK, for my sniper rifle I use Lapua, Norma and Sako.