Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles Federal brass..soft???

I found some Federal 308 Win Fold Medal brass, all new but older from an estate. Is there any truth to Federal brass being soft or the primer pockets loosening much faster than other brands? Is the older Federal brass perhaps more likely to be any better or worse? Most of this will be for hunting ammo and loaded to max velocities.

I have used Federal brass for years in several chamberings with very few issues......but it's not Lapua brass either. most of the soft brass issues were with 223 brass. I have used Federal 300WM brass exclusively for at least 25+ year's

Back in the 90s (not sure the vintage of your estate brass) I remember Federal being considered some of the best of the best. I've been please with it all along. Have gotten lots of reloadings out of hot loaded 257 Roberts and 25-06 in FC brass. Same for .308.
Rex

Yep, i have noticed Federal .308 Win brass developing loose primer pockets faster than any other brass I have used, and that is many brands of brass indeed.....Good luck...Hb

Use it----when it is junk, it is junk! Don't worry about it but keep count and you can answer your own question to your own satisfaction.

Hip

P.S. I haven't had any complaints and I have reloaded various caliber Federal brass over 20 times.

I've loaded 30-06 Federal brass without issues.I think as long as you keep your pressures down you probably won't have any issues.The softest brass I've dealt with is Norma brass.I have a couple of 308 Norma Magnums.I have to keep my loads down about two or three grains or 50-100fps or I get loose primer pockets even after the first firing.I've made my brass for the 308 Norma Magnum by necking up Remington and Winchester 7mag and necked down 338 Win mag brass and have loaded the brass several times with more powder and velocity and have not had one single loose primer pocket.I think the Federal brass may have similar issues.I personally have not had any issues with Federal brass,but then maybe some lots are softer than others too.

I sold you 308 Norma Magnum brass sometime ago, hope this is not the soft brass you are talking about ?????


sure sorry if it was

I've seen primer pockets loosen up on 300WSM FC brass more so than R-P and WW. Just as a comparison. Now, my scamp marked 223 rem FC brass has been excellent. That was range pickup and it has worked wonderfully. The 300 WSM brass was pretty crappy though. Buyer beware.. For the OP, if it is indeed "older", it may be great brass. The only way you will know for sure is by using it. Work up your loads.

As TRexF16 pointed out, older Federal brass seemed better than most years ago. I have also got many loadings in .257 Roberts with it, with less trimming too. Also favored Federal 10mm and .40 S&W brass for hot loads as they just seemed a little tougher. I have not bought any new in a while, so I can’t say if the quality went downhill, but from the other replies, it seems it may have. Might be a useless wild thought, but maybe if Federal isn’t involved in Defense Department ammo contracts anymore, maybe the quality control and standards aren’t as high? Not sure if they are or not, but that reason floated through my tiny brain. Who knows.

Doc_Holidude

I have a bucket of Federal .223 brass that was given to me by a friend who collected it after a department training session. Many of the primer pockets were loose after the factory round was fired. I tried loading some of it and decided it was futile.

Tula primers are larger than most other primers, this is a fix. I shot a load of 26.0-26.5g of Win 748 with 55's, got some decent life out of the Fed brass. The fed brass will NOT take hot loads, neither will Norma or Nosler.

I have loaded Federal Nickle plated in 35 Whelen and 300 Wby . The primer pockets were loose after loading them twice and I don't hot rod my loads.
I haven't had that happen with any other brand of brass.

Federal brass for me has worked just fine. but the once fired brass i used to get and use that brass was test fired brass so some of that test once fired brass the primer pockets did sometimes loosen up quicker ,but heck it was free in those days so still was a great deal , i still have lots of once fired brass in boxes i have not even used yet. but for really good accuracy you will never beat Lapua brass for target shooting.

Any Federal brass I have (except a few boxes of 30-30) would be over 20 years old but I have not had any softness issues with it , can't say about the new stuff. Softest brass I ever used was Sako but it still held up well .

Haven't used much Federal brass, but used in a 7mm RM the primer pockets were toast after 4 loads of 65 gr R22 under a 160 gr Accubond.

I have not messed with FC 308 brass. I do know that FC 6.8spc brass will get loose primer pockets after 2 or reloadings.

Back in the mid 90's I shot a lot of .223 (65,000 rounds in a couple of years) and I had problems with Federal brass loosing up the primer pockets in just a loading or two.

Tony

I’ve never had issues with any FC223 brass( I use it in my p dog rifles) some of its got 6-7 loadings on them. I think my load is 25.0 AA2230c and a 50vmax. But back in the 90’s I did buy a box of 55gr 22-250 factory ammo and do recall the primer pockets loosened up after the second loading….

I have quite a bit of FC brass in .270 WSM, .300 WSM, .300 WM, and .308 Win. So far, I’m getting 3-4 shots on the .270 WSM brass and then loose primer pockets. On the .300 WSM, I get about one more shot than the .270 WSM before the primer pockets go. So far the .300 WM is on its 3rd firing and still good, same with the .308 Win.

I have typically used Nosler or Norma brass but I bought 140 pieces of 300wsm "once fired" FC headstamped nickel plated brass from a guy on Rokslide a while back. I have no way of knowing for certain if they were once fired but a bunch of them had loose primer pockets. Another 10 or so needed to be trimmed as well. If these were really once fired, I would say FC brass are pretty soft.