ugh Federal brass

[VinnyQC]

I also use FC brass in my 300wsm, full loads. Definitely not as strong as the other brands, but still serviceable. I wouldn't pay for it, but it's useable.

 

[brewmech]

I reload the federal 223 brass once and shoot it in winter and leave the cases. Primer pockets get loose after a couple firings in 303 Brit with reduced loads. So good as any in pistol brass.

 

[FLHTCUI]

I bought some. 308 Win dies and wanted to whip up a batch of cartridges for some friends. I don't shoot that cartridge and didn't have any brass, so I went to the range and picked up some fired brass. I went through the normal drill (inspection, tumbling, lubing) and started resizing. The Winchester and Remington brass was fine, but about a dozen of the Federal brass got stuck - some really stuck. Makes me wonder if they were fired in a rifle with a lose chamber, or just a bad lot.

Was this the stuff that what is commonly refereed to as nickle plated brass?
Never could run my RCBS dies without having a near hair pulling hissy fi of a time.
Ran three or so through the die and then decided to cut my losses of the once fired factory ammo.
Dropped everything and headed to Kesselrings in Wa. State (pre 9-11 of course) and bought a gross of 300 Winmag Federal Match brass.

Wow, the no love in the above posts for Federal Brass.
Guess Ill have to toss the 500 270WSM brass in the trash bin and keep buying factory,lol.
Rob

 

[nomad 68]

It's not the brass, it's the gun the cartridges were fired in.
Federal Cartridge company makes great brass!

The only thing federal brass is good for would be for Liberals to use as suppositories. Preferably filled with cayenne pepper first.

 

[rosconow]

Federal brass is the worst brass out there.

Wow. That's a statement.

I have a 50 piece lot of Federal GM .308 win brass thats at 10 firings with no problems at all... as of yet.

 

[Longwalker]

I don't have any problems at all with Federal brass if I don't try to load it as hot as possible. It is softer than many other brands of brass, but so what? If you load moderate loads it lasts a long time. If you always push the very limit of velocity that your rifle is capable of, then Federal is not the brass to choose. I don't think much can be learned from picking up range brass fired in some unknown rifle and then proclaiming an opinion on the quality of the brass used.

 

[inthehizzy]

I don't think much can be learned from picking up range brass fired in some unknown rifle and then proclaiming an opinion on the quality of the brass used.

It's the CGN way.

 

[maynard]

Wow. That's a statement.

I have a 50 piece lot of Federal GM .308 win brass thats at 10 firings with no problems at all... as of yet.

I have seen Federal cases puke out their primers on the first firing. Not just the odd one here and there, but over half of them out of a box of 20. It didn't happen with any other brand so it wasn't firearm related. I will bet if you took a survey on brass used in any long range competition you would not find one shooter using Federal brass.

 

[GMC403]

I’m on my 8th and 9th reloads of Federal blue box 308 brass, no issues here. Some of my 308 Nosler brass packed it in after the 6th firing.

 

[Gilbear]

It might be a good idea to use federal primers on federal brass since they have larger cup diameter

 

[sam menard]

Weird, I've used FC brass without problem to reload 30.06 cartridges. So I was expecting the same thing when I went to reload 308. Since it was picked up at the range, I have no knowledge of its history. I'm thinking about buying some once-fired for better quality control. Thanks everyone for your input.

 

[Yotarunner]

Any federal 308 brass I shoot gets crimped and chucked in the garbage so no other range chickens can use it. Had the same batch of brass ( 50 cases) and on the 3rd firing roughly %40 of them had full case head separations. Mid book 4895 load with a rifle that has confirmed good headspace.

 

[bigedp51]

The photo below is from AR15.com and their moderator, the .223 Federal brass was checked with a 2 inch steel rod to measure the flash hole web thickness. And the short cases were tossed in the trash and not reloaded. The Military Lake City 5.56 cases would measure .185 as a comparison. The 2 inch rod is drilled out cup shape at one end to fit over any burs around the flash hole and not give a false reading.

If a primer seated easily I use a Lee depriming tool and if the primer moves with just finger pressure the case is trashed.

 

[mwjones]

2oz of liquid lanolin in a 500ml bottle of 99% isopropyl alcohol is an amazing case lube. Put it in a spray bottle. Put as many cases as you want in a bucket or bin. 10 9mm cases to 1000 full size rifle cases is fine. Spray two times. Toss to mix. Continue until cases are lubed. I've found I don't have to lube inside necks with 303, 308 etc. I do not tumble again or do anything to remove the lanolin as the amount is so small.

That being said, federal brass is garbage. Every time I see an FC headstamp it goes in the bin.