A former mentor of mine was a huge fan of Federal brass and that got me started using it. I haven't had problems but lately I've heard people knocking it.

What brass do you guys prefer?

Thanks,


Okie John

Been using it for years in several rifles. No complaints.

I had a couple of bad experiences with it in .270 Win and 7mm RM brass that were supposed to be 1x fired from a commercial range. Got good stuff from the same guy before. Primer pockets were loose. Too loose on some cases to even retain the primer. Thought I picked them all out but still had a primer fall out of a .270 loaded case when I pulled it out of the box and a friend I loaded the 7mm for had a missing primer on a shot at a deer.

Now I'm only a sample of one and I learned to pay a lot more attention to primer seating pressure. But the primer pockets were really loose on some. I ended up scrapping the .270 and telling my buddy never mind saving the 7mm brass. On the other hand I've loaded some pistol brass and .223 brass with no issues.

I've noticed some here shun Federal brass too. I personally like it. Never had a problem with it. Have used it in 270, 30.06, 7mm Rem Mag, 300 Win Mag......

Leftybolt

It doesn't hold up to hot loads. It's one of the softer brass out there.
That said I still like it..... it's very consistent and the necks seem to stay softer longer.

Well, that probably explains why my mentor liked it--he was a highly-ranked benchrest shooter and didn't load anything hot. He must have liked the consistency.


Okie John

The Federal brass that I've used has been a little thicker than the Remington or Winchester stuff. This thicker brass has called for slightly reduced powder charges due to the reduced case capacity. I must have purchased oncefired Fed brass from the same seller that Shootem did because I had the same issues with the loose pockets and nice round ejector marks. These cases were probably from proof loads and even at $10 per hundred (270 Win) I wouldn't buy again. That being said, the issue is not a brass issue but an overload issue. I also have some reported to be once fired 300WSM brass from a private sale that all have ejector marks. I haven't loaded them yet so I'm not sure of the pocket tightness but I wouldn't be surprised if they were a little loose. I think if you could find new Fed brass you would be fine but if going the once fired route you may want to inspect the case heads for ejector marks and pass or expect a significant discount over new. It looks like new brass is slowly returning to the market so it may be wise to hold off on the once fired stuff and start fresh.
Cheers

I'm using mostly Starline brass in handguns, and over the years have used mostly Remington or Winchester brass in rifle cartridges mainly because it was easier to find on the shelves. I've not used much Federal, but no problems with what I have used. Got a couple hundred Lapua for 7mm-08 and liking it a lot. I did have to reduce the powder charge a bit to maintain the same velocity due to the reduced powder capacity, but that is not a bad thing.

I like Winchester.

I found a good price on several hundred rounds of loaded ammo so it will have been once-fired in my rifle. Not sure if I'll ever reload it, just curious.


Okie John

I've used lots of Federal brass without any issues. If I'm shooting factory ammo, I've always leaned towards Federal, so I've generated a lot of brass that way, and it's always served me well. I have some 7-08 brass that's been reloaded a whole bunch with no problems.

Okie john: I have been using Federal brass for decades now and actually enjoy it so much in my Varmint and Big game Rifles I actually seek it out.
I probably use it in 20 - 24 Rifles and have as yet to experience problem ONE with it!
I am though a notorious "non-hotrodder" when it comes to my handloads.
I am interested in accuracy (consistency!), reliability and brass life as opposed to MAX velocities.
In today's market I am hard pressed to find brass on stores shelves - so I don't really have a "favorite" but I do admire and trust Federal brass and buy it when I can.
Good luck if you decide to try some.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

My preference on brass runs Winchester first, Remington second and Federal last. I find Federal to be a bit softer than I care for. A few years back I was given 1,100+ rounds of once fired Federal Gold Medial .308 match brass by a friend that was part of a SWAT team. Once fired and the primer pockets are so loose they'll barely hold a primer in place. I use them for light cast bullet shooting. They work OK for that purpose. Not good for anything else IMHO.
Paul B.

I had the same opinion of Federal 308 brass for the same reason. Some time passed and I wound up trying some more and it was good stuff. I shot lots of it with many successful reloads that were pretty much clones of match 168 and 175 grain rounds.

I kind of tend to use federal brass to proof my near max loads. If the primer Pockets stay tight I know I'm good to go.

Re buying once fired Federal brass that can be kind of a crapshoot..... I don't think it's so much that the brass is bad but that Federal tends to put some really Max loads into their ammo. ( not so much the blue box line but the premium lines) Don't even think about buying any of the WSM brass.... if you ever see it chrono'd you'll know why the primer pockets are shot!

Here you go if you like Federal brass. Cannot beat the shipping on primed cases. Just have to resize necks I assume.

https://www.americanreloading.com/en/

I'll share an experience from this AM. I loaded a few 300 WSM with 65 gr H4350 under a 180 Partition. Mainly just to try the Fed brass - I have ~ 100. Everything went well until I tried to straighten the loads. One was out of concentricity by alot. In the course of 5 mins trying to get 0.001 concentricity, I was able to simply pull the bullet out with my fingers. Apparently tweaking the bullet in my straightener caused it to stretch the case mouth. Maybe an anomaly, maybe not.

No Fed brass for me.....

I've had poor luck with Federal brass, especially in .223. It's very soft, to the point the case mouths would tear when I tried to trim it. Primer pockets would also open up and drop primers well below where I would expect.

To me, they are not even worth picking up at the range.

The Federal brass I use is for my hunting only loads and 20+ years old. Sort by weight, as it seems to vary quite a bit, and if I lose a few, no biggie.
My Rem and Win brass is all pre-obama manufacture and pretty good quality. Quality seemed to take a nose dive during the obamanation that causes desolation years so I switched to Norma, Lapua and some Hornady for my new purchases.
Also surplus Lake City 5.56 has been very good.

What brass do you usually use, and what type of sizing die are you using?

I don't load for the WSM so I don't know how that brass from different manufacturers stacks up w.r.t. thickness. However I do load a lot of 308 Win. and in that cartridge I've found WW to be thinner and lighter than Federal by a good bit. This definitely affects how the brass interacts with a size die that uses an expander ball.

I can take some WW and some Federal brass with known good case necks and run them through my RCBS FL die and the WW will come out straighter. Because of the thickness of the Federal brass the die will size down the neck more than necessary, then the expander ball has more work to do bringing the inside of the necks up to the proper size. The Federal cases will come out with a few thou of runout while the WW will be near dead straight. When bullets get seated this carries over.

When I use a die appropriate to the Federal brass thickness the problem disappears.

With the inconsistencies I have seen in Winchester brass lately the old Federals are looking better. I agree not for hot rodding and in general fewer reloads than other makes.

The softness and the thickness issues Mathman noted are no doubt part of the problem. Also if you don't reduce the charge weight to match the volume then your guarantying higher pressures maybe too high and shorter brass life.

Collet dies will compensate for the thicker necks and produce less run out if you don't already have bushing dies.

I normally use WW brass but have also been using Hornady for 308. I'd like to use more Hornady. I use RCBS and Redding dies.

Regular FL dies?

Yes. Redding for the 300 WSM and Fed brass in question.

have you ever measured the neck of a case sized without the expander ball to compare with one the ball has been through? in other words, how many thousandths of work is the expander ball having to do?

I use it for 300BLK in an AR.... Works fine