Federal brass, thoughts???

Kelly Timoffee

Kelly Timoffee

BANNED
BANNED
BANNED
EE Expired
Rating - 100%
52   0   0
Location
Prince Albert, Sk
Just been reloading for my fathers .270.

Have WW, R P , and F C , the damn Federal brass just does not chamber properly, a couple cases not at all.

It is all sized the same way, trimmed the same etc........

Have others found that is brass is not all that great? Maybe springs back and won't stay sized?

For my stuff I have been using R P and Lapua, no issues there.
 
I have and still do use Federal brass in a number of calibers. I wouldn't say it is the pick of the litter for me but I haven't had any problems with it. Just as a start in judging quality control, I have found a greater case to case weight spread variation compared to that of other brands.
 
I only use it when I have to, Federal is always so soft that primer pockets loosen quickly.

I had great luck with the accuracy of Fed Gold Medal Match brass back when you could still get it, but the pockets died a wimpy, whimpering death.The run of the mill stuff didn't have the consistancy of the GM stuff.

Were your Federal cases fired out of the same rifle as the rest?
 
Yes, there was a mix of the brands used in the rifle.

I actually cycled them through after sizing and trimming and didn't look at the headstamp until I went through them all, the bad ones were Federal, some did chamber normal but there were none of the others that didn't chamber smoothly.I think I will just discard the odd balls and keep the good ones.Brass is cheap enough no point having a questionable feed of ammunition when aiming at game.

Dogleg said:
I only use it when I have to, Federal is always so soft that primer pockets loosen quickly.

I had great luck with the accuracy of Fed Gold Medal Match brass back when you could still get it, but the pockets died a wimpy, whimpering death.The run of the mill stuff didn't have the consistancy of the GM stuff.

Were your Federal cases fired out of the same rifle as the rest?
Click to expand...
 
I use Federal brass and like it a lot. I find that after 3 reloads that it needs to be reanealed. The cases harden and when they're resized, they spring back to almost as large as they were when they were fired. This will happen with all brass casings over time with multiple firings. It's an easy condition to fix but most people just can't be bothered and buy new cases. I actually find WW cases to be even worse.
 
I have a hard time with the Fed American Eagle .223 brass.

The primers have that sealant on them and I've popped a few pins trying to de-prime them and I have a hard time getting the new primers in sometimes.
 
thebaron said:
I have a hard time with the Fed American Eagle .223 brass.

The primers have that sealant on them and I've popped a few pins trying to de-prime them and I have a hard time getting the new primers in sometimes.
Click to expand...

PRIMER CRIMPED- or that's been the case on all the a/e that i've used- run them through your swager or decrimping tool or remove it with a small knife- it used to be 3 spots typically, but now it's a full circle- do this once and you never have to do it again- you're lucky TO FORCE THE PRIMER THROUGH THE CRIMP without it GOING OFF
for what it's worth, i was told once that there's a dod contract with federal and that's the reason they apply BOTH a SEALANT AND A PRIMER CRIMP to their ammo- but hte sealant is SUPPOSED to be evaporate on firing due to the TEMPERATURE of chamber- which makes sense b/c in a battle environment,you don't want to deal with WET AMMO
now, before you correct me and say that we don't use federal ammo, i'm talking south of the border( notice i spelled it properly) as a substitute standard- i believe that lake city still supplies a LOT of the ammo down there
 
It's softer brass than WIN or IK. Had a dirty .308 die that only Federal brass was being affected by, some indentation around the taper. Cleaned the die, no problems afterwards. Shot the deformed rounds too, no problem, but M14Ss seem to chamber just about anything.
 
I have had the same problem with federal brass in my .243.A buddy of mine that has been reloading for many years told me to screw my sizing die down another quarter turn,make a dummy round and try that and now they chamber perfect.
 
federal is might least favourite brass, i find it hard to work with when trimming and just have never found really accurate loads when using it. I like RP brass first and WW second unless you have access to the fancy stuff like norma.
 
I did try to go further down with the die but started to make impressions on the shoulder, so I backed it off to where it was, now that I think about it, it didn't cycle very nice in the Remington .270 I also loaded for.
 
I always seem to have more Federal rifle brass than I care to, but when someone comes begging ammo, guess what they get. Kelly, are the cases you refer to nickeled? These tend to be springier, and they might not resize as well. If your problem is with regular brass, I haven't experienced any more difficulty with Federal than with anything else. You might try annealing the neck and shoulder to soften them and make them more compliant to the sizing die.
 
No, nickel, just standard, and was originally factory ammunition.

As I have enough of other brass, I think I will just discard the questionable ones, I really don't care for pissing around and fighting for a few extra cases.

Was just wondering if the situation was unique or if others had similar issues.

Although I would like to find exactly what the issue is just for s**ts and giggles.


Boomer said:
I always seem to have more Federal rifle brass than I care to, but when someone comes begging ammo, guess what they get. Kelly, are the cases you refer to nickeled? These tend to be springier, and they might not resize as well. If your problem is with regular brass, I haven't experienced any more difficulty with Federal than with anything else. You might try annealing the neck and shoulder to soften them and make them more compliant to the sizing die.
Click to expand...
 
Kelly,

I have loaded a bunch of 270 brass that had been fired in a different rifle. Sometime I had to set the sizing die so it bumped the shell holder, and all was good.

As for federal brass, I have loaded lots of it, and no problem. Of course, my hotrodding days are well past. :D

Ted
 
Well, tonight I tried the sizing die at various positions.

No change , so I just used the brass I know cycles and all is well.It's only about 20 or 30 cases of questionable ones, so off it goes!

Thread was started more out of curiosity than anything.

I do appreciate the replies.:rockOn:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom