Decaping Sellier & Bellot 9mm brass

[93Harley]

Update

With over 500 cases, I couldn't see setting them aside, especially since they looked like good, solid brass. Spacecoast posted a link showing several rounds with small flash holes and that is exactly what I have run in to. The decapping pin fits through the flash hole but gets wedged at the full pull of the decapping stroke, so the pin cannot rise in the die. Instead, the pin gets wedged and pulls free on the shaft on the backstroke. Once you retrieve the pin from the cartridge, you can reinsert it back into the shaft of the pin and you're good to go. Went to Lowe's to check on a #45 drill bit. He had never hear of that, and I haven't either, so I bought a 5/64 drill bit which, if my math is right, will produce a hole .078 of an inch, which is pretty darn close. I mounted a piece of 1x4 on the platform of a table top drill press, drilled a pilot hole with the 5/64 drill bit, then followed that with a bit the size of the case. I simply placed the case into the hole and dropped the drill press and enlarge the flash hole size to .078. It took a couple of hours to finishe the cases. Was it a waste of time? Probably to the more experienced reloaders, but for me being a newbie, it was a learning experience. The more I handle the components, but more proficient I will become...at least that's the way I see it. Many thanks to those who took the time to offer their advise. I really do appreciate the help.

 

[ShootMeStraight]

It's great brass once you ream the primer pockets.

 

[Average Joe]

Primer pockets on S&B brass are very tight.

 

[Unclenick]

There are a couple of standard flash hole sizes. The normal one is close to 0.080", but if you get the Lapua Palma .308 brass, for example, the small primer pocket it uses has a hole about 0.010" smaller. It sounds like the S&B went with that standard in your cases.

I've measured primer pockets before and concluded a number of the foreign sources use diameters around four-tenths of a thousandth smaller than U.S. makers do. SAAMI gives a small primer pocket diameter range of 0.1730" to 0.1745". The domestic ones seem to be close to the middle of that range (0.1736" give or take a thousandth), and the tight foreign ones (S&B and IMI, for example) seem to be close to the small end of the range at 0.1732". Since 0.1732" is 4.40 mm, I suspect they target 4.40 mm. In large primers, The range is 0.2085" to 0.2100". Again, domestic is on the tight side of the middle value at about 0.2090", while the tight foreign stuff seems to target 5.3 mm, which is 0.20866".