Federal Brass Primer Pockets

[freddiej]

DJ Young, I was aware of the purchase of Remington's ammo division by Federal, I do not ever use R-P brass or Remington ammo due to the poor quality of the brass and ammo put out by Remington ammo.
My father always preached that Federal 22LR back in his youth were garbage. 4 to 10 out of each box would not fire in his Remington Model 12 while he was trying to get dinner each morning before school. Federal was the cheapest 22LR ammo at the hardware store in town. 1/2 the price of either Winchester or Remington. In the 1970's and 1980's we gave Federal another try. The results were so bad I gave up on Federal 22LR's. I only bought Winchester, Remington, and CCI. my 22LR rifle shot Winchester the best so I stuck to Winchester premium 22LR's ever since.
I was always told during my youth that Federal centerfire was top shelf brass and primers. I have seen the brass be good and dreadful. the primers have been consistently top shelf products. I have come to only buy Federal primers if I buy anything from Federal. I like Winchester brass, primers, and certain powders (748, 760, 231, 680, supreme 780, and WST) I was very unhappy when Supreme 780 and 680 were cut from the Winchester powder lineup. 780 was the perfect powder for many of my hunting cartridges.

 

[jdyoung]

DJ Young, I was aware of the purchase of Remington's ammo division by Federal, I do not ever use R-P brass or Remington ammo due to the poor quality of the brass and ammo put out by Remington ammo.
My father always preached that Federal 22LR back in his youth were garbage. 4 to 10 out of each box would not fire in his Remington Model 12 while he was trying to get dinner each morning before school. Federal was the cheapest 22LR ammo at the hardware store in town. 1/2 the price of either Winchester or Remington. In the 1970's and 1980's we gave Federal another try. The results were so bad I gave up on Federal 22LR's. I only bought Winchester, Remington, and CCI. my 22LR rifle shot Winchester the best so I stuck to Winchester premium 22LR's ever since.
I was always told during my youth that Federal centerfire was top shelf brass and primers. I have seen the brass be good and dreadful. the primers have been consistently top shelf products. I have come to only buy Federal primers if I buy anything from Federal. I like Winchester brass, primers, and certain powders (748, 760, 231, 680, supreme 780, and WST) I was very unhappy when Supreme 780 and 680 were cut from the Winchester powder lineup. 780 was the perfect powder for many of my hunting cartridges.

Sorry freddiej,
( I think you meant that post #29 for me ),
I don't have the same displeasure as you with some Federal products. As fact , I have only had one factory Federal centerfire cartridge not fire . And that was a newly acquired rifle I was testing 1 ½ ago. It had a problem with the bolt face, extractor. That cartridge fired minutes later in a different rifle.

On hunting ground hogs, and target shooting with my 22's, never had a misfire there either. Federal, Remington, Winchester -Lotta' dead "whistle pigs" no problems.

Reading the claims of loose primers in this thread , I do question the hardness of the brass Federal Cartridge was putting out from time to time. Makes me wonder if the reason for adding Nickel Plated Brass to their product line was to remedy the soft brass problem.

 

[freddiej]

JD Young,
yes it was. I am dyslexic and sometimes I switch numbers and letters around.
I think that the Federal brass might be just soft due to the alloy they are using. I have yet to see a Federal piece of brass every split. They stretch really good but never have the lasted much longer than a few reloads. one reason is they stretch very easily and well. I think they are just too soft.
the addition of Nickel to the outside of their casings might have been a quick fix. I do not know.
I have have great luck with Federal brass int he past, the more recent brass I have been having a world of problems with. hot hunting loads in my 270 Winchester have have some case head separation with only a 0.004" excessive head space. and some other smaller problems. I just have given up on Federal so far.
as for the new 22LR's I just am not in the habit of looking for them. I am not sure they have the same problem they used to. When Winchester works so good, I figured, "Why change?"

 

[jdyoung]

JD Young,
yes it was. I am dyslexic and sometimes I switch numbers and letters around.
I think that the Federal brass might be just soft due to the alloy they are using. I have yet to see a Federal piece of brass every split. They stretch really good but never have the lasted much longer than a few reloads. one reason is they stretch very easily and well. I think they are just too soft.
the addition of Nickel to the outside of their casings might have been a quick fix. I do not know.
I have have great luck with Federal brass int he past, the more recent brass I have been having a world of problems with. hot hunting loads in my 270 Winchester have have some case head separation with only a 0.004" excessive head space. and some other smaller problems. I just have given up on Federal so far.
as for the new 22LR's I just am not in the habit of looking for them. I am not sure they have the same problem they used to. When Winchester works so good, I figured, "Why change?"

freddiej: We're all dyslexic to a point. It's part of our human computer drop-down choice box. Know big thang, I tend to do it , swap letters, from time to time when readin' or typing too fast.

Anyway, soft brass..... like I wrote, I've been thinkin' 'bout soft brass......I don't seem to have the problems many do with it, and the majority of my hunting rifles are controlled round feed. ( Gave the newer push feed rifles to my kid). On controlled round fed, that cartridge base is against the trued surface of the bolt face when fired., no springs pushing against it in the chamber. As the bolt cycles , the extractor pulls the cartridge base further against the bolt face. Comes out without ejector marks. So, That's got me wonderin' what the affect of the push feed extractor has when it "jumps the cartridge rim', and then when the cartridge is hot, what is the affect of the ejector on that base.
Does push feed cause more distortion on soft brass than controlled feed ????

 

[Bull_Mtn]

I have also experienced loose primer pockets in Federal brass, after 3-4 loadings. I shoot a control feed M 70 and have not experienced primer pocket leakage when shooting loads with loose pockets. Lately, I have been discarding cases that have loose pockets. I remember a post from a member that had been tightening the pockets manually. l'm interested in getting more info, I hate to throw away brass that is otherwise usable.

 

[taptap]

@CA48; How do you tighten the primer pocket with a ball bearing and a punch? I'm here to learn.

 

[BHP9]