***UPDATE***

I had an hour available this morning (Wednesday), so I ran over to the range with one box of Winchester White Box and one box of Speer Lawman.

I put all 100 rounds downrange with NO problems. As best I can tell, that pretty much proves the “Failure to Launch” rests with the Sellier & Bellot ammunition, not my Sig P320.

I appreciate everyone’s responses.

ORIGINAL POST:

I'm on vacation this week and decided to go shoot this afternoon at one of the local indoor ranges with my P320 Compact in .357 Sig.

I had taken a new box of Speer Lawman, a three-year-old box of Winchester Ranger, and two boxes of Sellier & Bellot that were at least six or seven years old. But it was just a fun shoot day and a good time to shoot some older ammo that was just taking up space.

All of the Speer Lawman went off without a hitch. Then I started using the Seiller & Bellot.

The first 15 rounds out of the first box fired. Then six straight rounds with no bang. Then five more fired, followed by four more duds, then three that fired. The last 17 out of the first box were a mix of hits and misses. The second box was better, but only 41 of 50 fired. I then took the 16 that didn't go off and ran them through the pistol again. Six of those fired.

My first thought was, "Uh oh, these light primer strikes can only mean that something's gone wrong with the gun." Since it's my duty sidearm, that would be VERY bad. I took the box of Winchester Ranger out of my range bag and crossed my fingers, expecting the worst.

Fifty bangs. No problems.

I know S&B has known issues, but I didn't think it was THIS bad. Or could it still be something wrong with my P320?

This message has been edited. Last edited by: snoris,

I'd chalk it up to the ammunition. IIRC, S&B have harder primers than most. Add in that it sat for a spell and I'd say that's the cause.

I would call Sellier and Bellot with the lot number and ask them if they've had issues with that lot, they'd probably give you free ammo anyways to replace it. But just to satisfy my curiosity. S+B does have harder primers, but I've never had it not go bang in any of my guns. Also 6-7 years old is nothing for ammo life, if it's been stored properly.....(ie normal conditions). At this point I'd say it's the ammo since every other brand went off without a hitch. Some guns just don't like a certain type of ammo. What did the primer strikes look like?

quote:

Originally posted by jimmy123x:
I would call Sellier and Bellot with the lot number and ask them if they've had issues with that lot, they'd probably give you free ammo anyways to replace it. But just to satisfy my curiosity. S+B does have harder primers, but I've never had it not go bang in any of my guns. Also 6-7 years old is nothing for ammo life, if it's been stored properly.....(ie normal conditions). At this point I'd say it's the ammo since every other brand went off without a hitch. Some guns just don't like a certain type of ammo. What did the primer strikes look like?

A little light, barely breaking the red paint S&B puts on them.

S&B does have harder primers, but your P320 should ignite them. I'd do two things: a.) try shooting the rounds that didn't go off in a different gun and see if they go bang and b.) Remove and inspect (or have your dept. armorer remove and inspect) your striker assembly and make sure it's not gummed up. They do have a tendency to do that over time if you get solvent or oil in there while cleaning.

This is the first I've heard of S&B failures, and I'm (admittedly) a fanboy. Then again, they've produced a lot of ammo over the years, and ammo made six or seven years ago would've been manufactured in a hurry to be sold into a somewhat frenzied American market.

I would never tell someone to not have their duty pistol checked out, because they rely on it. But yeah, another vote for contacting S&B and asking them about ammo from that lot.

The light strikes I recently had with my Langdon XD-E were with S&B.

I've shot S&B, lots and lots of it, like tens of thousands of rounds but all in 9mm or .40 to be precise. Most of it at least as old as this stuff. It almost always has a modest failure rate of not igniting on the first hit due to very hard primers. Doesn't matter the gun. Average about 1-2 rounds per hundred. It almost always goes bang on the second try. I've actually liked the failure rate as it forces you to practice failure drills. This seems a pretty common comment in the areas I hang out online.
If your failures are solely that issue and it mostly fires on the second try I think you can definitely chalk it up to ammo.

I shot about 4000 rounds of S&B 9mm last year in a few different guns and never had a failure. They may have hard primers but your gun should make them go bang.

For those that have had failures, have you had trigger work done?

I have had S&B failures many years ago (over 20). These were in guns with factory triggers. In fact, the small shop I worked at part time stopped carrying their ammo.

Really haven't shot it since then.

Not a fan of S&B. Twenty years ago I found S&B unreliable and when I read these posts I see it still is.

hard primer S&B in striker guns don’t mix, but has been flawless in my TDA pistols

I've shot a lot of S&B in different calibers and never had any problems.

Also fired thousands of rounds in 9mm, 380, and 45 in the past 18yrs in sigs, hks and berettas, Never had a problem. Had a p229 in 357sig/40sw in late 90's, never cared for either cailber.40sw was reilable , 357sig was hit and miss.

quote:

Originally posted by hberttmank:
I've shot a lot of S&B in different calibers and never had any problems.

S&B has always worked great for me in 9mm, .380 and .32

I've shot lots of S&B 9mm in my P229 and P239 without problem one. My son shoots S&B in his P226, also no problems. Could it be a S&B problem with striker fired guns?
Rod

I have shot a lot of S&B going back to the mid 1990s... never had a problem of any sort... the stuff even reloads just fine.

A few months ago I ordered 5k of S&B 9mm for range ammo and probably have 2K left more or less... it all worked just fine... and I like their new box better too...

I agree you should contact S&B I'm sure they would address the issue for you.

FWIW

Chuck

The one time I had a problem with S&B ammo was in my P230.... running two magazines of the stuff that at sat on the bottom of a lake for over 30minutes about 30ft down (took me that long to get my scuba gear on and drop a line with weight and flag to mark where I dropped them off the dock).... primers went off fine but they were all squib loads...

I've shot a lot of it in .45acp without issues. But as suggested, contact S&B. They'll probably want the lot number and probably ask it be returned to the factory.

I had issues with MAGTECH and CORBON years ago. Both were out of spec and wouldn't feed. Both companies wanted it back and both sent replacement ammunition. But it was the last time I used either.