Federal 308 brass is soft!

Dunno

Dunno

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I had always heard that Federal brass was soft, but had never fully appreciated it until I was firing some Federal .308 168grain Gold Medal Match in my Stag 10. The Stag has a MRA 18.6" pencil barrel, a Brownells bolt carrier group and a Superaltive Arms adjustable gas block. Getting brass flow into the ejector with factory loads. They chrongraph at 2520 fps. No other brass does this. Winchester, Nosler and IMI milsurp are all good. Into the recycling pile it goes.

I think the photos show it best.
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I've got a bunch of F-C brass from some factory rounds and acquired once-fired. I've never had that with F-C, but I have noticed that with Hornady factory ammo in both 223 Rem and 308 Win.

Your mileage may vary.....
 
I find I can push out primers by hand with full pressure loads using FC brass. I pick it up but only for melting down.
 
I run federal blue box (power shok) thru my m14 type rifles and save it all for reloading
Haven't seen any issues like soft or brittle brass and these rifles are known for being hard on brass.
The federal American eagle stuff though.... I won't touch that ammo for a semi auto as the brass is terrible
 
The federal 308 brass is just short of pure garbage. I had a batch of roughly 50 that on the third firing from my m14 (yes the headspace and chamber have been checked and are good) would have a complete case head separation throwing the front of the case on the ground and leave the head sitting on top of the mag. Of the 50 probably 20 or so did this. The load I was using was a mild load of imr4895 and I have been using this load with other brass with no issue.
 
I shoot worse looking brass then that in my bolt guns. As long as the primers are not falling out I load em.
Federal is usually my one and done throw away brass in semi's though, I use IVI if I want to get a few loads out of the M305.
 
I haven't used Fed brass for over 15 years, and Hornady is even softer.

A good number of primer pockets will not hold the primer.

I was the best brass (North American) out there.
 
I avoid using Federal Brass in anything I own.....too soft for me!!
Domestically, Winchester gets the nod, with R-P not too far behind.
Offshore, Lapua rules! Dave.
 
I don't know but I've had good luck with federal brass,I've just started loading it for my stag 10 with the 3rd loading so far but have loaded thousands of rounds of 223 for my AR's only having to throw out a handful of cases for split necks. Also of note with belted mags(.375, 7rem) I get at least double the life compared to hornady and I don't load anything light.
 
Lapua. Buy once cry once. I like Hornady as well, Nosler I find has less interior volume when you get near a full load. This is my experience in .308. I have Lapua .223 as well, but don't find it much different than some Aguila Mexican ammo that I reuse the brass for reloading.
 
I'll be the first to admit Federal brass is definitely on the soft end of the spectrum.But it does have its place on my loading bench for lower pressure rounds I load up for a number of calibers,primarily cast bullet loads for old military rifles for instance.
 
If you plan to reload your Stag 10 I would use Lake City 7.62 cases or the cheapest military 7.62 brass you can find of Lake City quality.

I like Lake City brass because it is more weight uniform than Remington or Winchester and has harder brass than any other make .308 brass.

And I would never use Lapua brass in any firearm that throws perfectly good brass away and makes you go look for it.
 
I have a few hundred LC brass that I will be using in my Stag. I agree that looking for expensive brass that has been tossed 5 feet into the brass coloured grass is no fun at all.

bigedp51 said:
If you plan to reload your Stag 10 I would use Lake City 7.62 cases or the cheapest military 7.62 brass you can find of Lake City quality.

I like Lake City brass because it is more weight uniform than Remington or Winchester and has harder brass than any other make .308 brass.

And I would never use Lapua brass in any firearm that throws perfectly good brass away and makes you go look for it.
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I remember years ago when I first started to reload I used the federal brass got lots of reloads from it. I think the stuff today is not as good.
 
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