Something wrong with FC brass?

mwjones

mwjones

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I'm seeing some mixed reviews, so i thought i'd send a shout out to you guys since i trust the opinions more. I have a bunch of .308 brass. Headstamp says "F C .308 WIN" on it. What kind of brass is it? I've heard federal gold medal, federal premium, and "federal military". What gives? Does anyoen know conclusively? I'd hate to get set up for reloading just to find out that now i have to wait a couple weeks for a swaging die if the primers are crimped. it doesn't look liek they are...besides, actual military brass would say 7.62x51, not .308 win, wouldn't it?

Anyway, i've heard that the primer pockets on FC brass are all buggered, your primers will fall out, etc. Is this true? Is there any way to fix this? (i've read a drop of clear nail polish works). Teh primers in the cases don't have any of that coloured stuff around the primers. Will the primer pocket swaging die make the primer pocket SMALLER to stop this primer fall out?
 
I have similar issues with FC .223 Remington. I have hundreds, it's very tough to get the primers out, and the primer pocket uniformer is not going in nice and spinning freely. My only conclusion is that they are crimped and will need to be swaged.

Funny thing is I have other FC brass where this is not a problem, they have FC also stamped on the head but the spacing and font of the lettering is different, these are fine to reload and uniforming works great. They are older, so I wonder if FC changed some things from years ago? Anyone else have similar issues or words of wisdom??

No, I'm not sending you my brass to take the problems off my hands! ;)
 
How about just get on with it and run some of it through the press and see for yourself.

Hand wringing over what it 'might' be, isn't getting you anywhere.

It's Federal brass. That's about all you can get from the stamp, besides the caliber.

I use mine. Got it from the ammo I loaded up on at the Regina Co-Op store when they had it on for $7 a box for whatever Federal cartridges they were, and been using them since. 4th or 5th time around, for mine, on pretty average range loads, matching factory, more or less.

No, the primer pocket swager will not make the pockets smaller.

I've heard, with no matching experiences, mostly because I don't push for max loads, that the Federal brass is a bit softer, and that the pockets can get loose. Tell us about it if it happens to you. Personally, I'd attribute loose pockets to too much pressure, rather than a problem with the brass. YMMV If that worries you, throw it all my way, and buy some Lapua brass.

Leave the nail polish for doing your nails, if that's yer thing.;)

There are a few different ways to deal with a swaged pocket. Worry about it when you get swaged-in brass. If you cannot see a crimp around the primer, it's not swaged in. Carry on! All the swaged stuff I have dealt with has had a sealant around it too. Very visible once you see what it looks like.

Quit worrying and run some through the decapper or the resize die. Use a little case lube for the latter.

Cheers
Trev
 
In my limited knowledge, I have heard almost uniformly that the brass is slightly softer than other brands and this can lead to deformity of the pocket and excess brass "flow".
I know that their primers are made of softer brass, therefore not recommended in some different auto primer/hand primers.
I have personally loaded several hundred rounds in different calibers and not found a lick of difference between brands. (OAL after firing, dimensional measurements of case head and primer pockets, etc. So who knows. I certainly keep my loads roughly the same as factory loads (warm, not hot) so as long as you aren't retarded with your reloading, I doubt you'll ever notice any difference.
 
I reload mostly FC brass in my 30-06..... I keep my reloads in the 'normal' range, and so far other than having to trim a bit more than I'd like I can't really see a reason to toss them yet. Most of my relaods are in the 10 (ish) range so far.

FWIW ..... I did notice that if I used FC brass while doing load development, the brass from the 'max' loads usually didn't last more than 3 loadings...... YMMV

Cheers!
 
All of my federal brass I picked up at the range.
Yes, it gets loose primers pretty quick, but it is free.... It is one of the cheaper ammos, just going by the price in canadian tire out here, and lots of people who shoot cheap stuff do not pick it up. Free works for me.
 
I have used Federal brass, but as some have commented, my take on the stuff is that it is slightly "softer" than is Winchester, Remington, Frontier or Lapua. This means that you should not toss a maximum working load developed in Winchester brass into a Federal case and expect it to be the same. [Good loading practices tell us to back off a bit and work up again, anyway] Other than that observation, The brass is just fine to use, and as long as one respects it's limitations, all will be OK. Regards, Eagleye.
 
Federal cases are known to have issues with primer pockets enlarging..........even the Gold Medal Match cases will do this.

I have a large lot of Federal Match brass on hand, but I switched over to Norma Match Cases. I will be trying out the Lapus match brass in the near future.

The nice thing with Norma and Lapua is that the primer flash holes are drilled................

All the other manufacturers punch the primer flash holes........punching will leave a burr in the flash hole that will re-direct the "flame" from the primer ignition......for uniform ignition you need to deburr the flash holes...........
 
I have found some FC .223 brass to be so soft that even with less than max loads it is starting to flow into the extractor cut. This is mostly from recent manufacture. I also have some from many years ago that is excellent brass.

I have also run into some FC 308 brass that seemed soft, other stuff was fine.

Like trevj said, load some up and try it.
 
What are you doing with it.Hunting?Plinking?Unless you are shooting a match where you need extreme accuracy and the brass to be absolutely perfect...you FC (Federal) brass will do you just fine.Load it using common sense and it will serve you well.
 
Longshot said:
What are you doing with it.Hunting?Plinking?Unless you are shooting a match where you need extreme accuracy and the brass to be absolutely perfect...you FC (Federal) brass will do you just fine.Load it using common sense and it will serve you well.
Click to expand...

what he said
 
I have seen lots of internet hearsay on FC cases being soft, and primer pockets getting loose after 2 reloads, etc.

I load them anyway, and they work just fine. Most of my 7.62 loads for the M14S are assembled in FC cases, and they have been loaded several times. Lots of 5.56 cases too, loaded fairly hot, and the FC last longer than the Winchesters.

.308 and 5.56 Cases marked FC come out of both the Federal plant in Minnesota and Lake city arsenal, so that could account for some of the variability in people's experiences.
 
I was hoping to use them to reload some light plinking loads, 150gr bullets, maybe try to cut down on recoil a little over factory ammo. I'm trying to get the wife to shoot it, but she's afraid after seeign me shoot full power loads. Also, it'll be through a level gun, so i wouldn't want to shoot max loads anyway :)

Thanks for the info guys, I'll give it a shot. I guess even if there's problems with the primer pockets, i've got about 650 pieces of brass, so i should be able to find 100 or so that will work out :)
 
This is true, it all depends on what kind of use you are looking for. I use an M14 that is one of the hardest actions on brass; usually pulling them out of the chamber before they have stopped expanding.

I find when I use FC (Federal Cartridge) brass that the metal is softer and do not last as long as other harder cases (such as Lake City brass or even Winchester).

For general 100 meter use in a .223 AR I would use FC with no issues. For 500 meter use in my M14 where accuracy is paramount I would recommend Lapua, Lake city and Winchester.

BUT everyone has their own opinion. After loading and shooting these FC cases, you will form your own opinion on the quality. However soft they are, I would use FC if I did not have any other brass.

Good luck and let us know how it turns out! I'd be interested to know what opinion on FC you develop.
 
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