Hello, all. S&B's inexpensive and sealed against moisture at both the primer and the case mouth. Grand for storage, but temperatures still need to be kept constant as with any ammo for best long-term use.
I've used S&B in 9mm, .40 S&W, and .45ACP. 9mm is the only caliber of the three in which I noted less-tight groups on
more than one occassion. If memory serves, at 15 yards, two-handed, two inch groups were the norm with the Winchester and a bit tighter with some handloads, but the S&B went into about 3" or maybe just a little more.
In .45 and .40, the ammo shot about as well as anyone else's ball rounds in the same price range.
I personally will not use S&B for anything other than knocking holes in paper so if it doesn't group for me, it's of little use to me. I reload. The tight primer pockets are usuable, but something I can do without if I can get cases from other makes at about the same price.
In all three calibers, I've had occassional problems with "hard primers." The pin smacks the primer but doesn't even make a dent on some occassions and this is with 1911s and P35s, both of which have standard mainsprings known to be more potent than needed. On average, this happens perhaps 3 times out of a thousand. Not much, but too much for anything
serious.
It is possible that there are two types of S&B 115 gr ball out there as I keep reading about how "hot" it is! I've chronographed the green and yellow w/gray boxes of 115 gr ball and it falls between 1140 and 1160 ft/sec depending upon lot. Some are claiming 1300 ft/sec, but perhaps they have another version of 9mm from S&B. In the other two calibers I've tried it in, velocities for the bullet weights were not remarkable, being about typical.
A few weeks ago, a buddy and I were shooting in some of his forty-fives, two new Kimbers. We fired about 200 rnds per
pistol and he was using S&B .45ACP 230 gr ball. He had one failure to fire and one round had no powder in it. I fired one that had such a low report that I checked the bbl to see that the bullet had been pushed out and it had.
Over the chronograph, I've had wide, wide velocity spreads with S&B ammunition.
While I'm not a big S&B supporter, if you like it and have had no problems, great. Still, as much of it as I've shot at
different times and different lots, I am given pause to reflect on whether or not it's a bargain.
Best to all and good shooting.