How ''Premium'' is Federal Premium Brass?

[searcher]

Hmmm??? Interesting to me that your best group was with Federal brass as my .308 Federal brass (fired 5 times) also gave me my 2 best ever 5 shot groups (.017" and .071") using somewhat hot loads and primer pockets are so far just fine. It only took me about 10,000 rounds to achieve that. One batch of Federal brass I got 11 firings before they gave up the ghost. I actually like my Federal brass, as they've performed well and they didn't cost me a cent to acquire.

Wow! Good to hear. That small group was not only on Federal brass- it was originally .308 brass I necked down to .243 Winchester.

 

[wildcatter]

Hmmm??? Interesting to me that your best group was with Federal brass as my .308 Federal brass (fired 5 times) also gave me my 2 best ever 5 shot groups (.017" and .071") using somewhat hot loads and primer pockets are so far just fine. It only took me about 10,000 rounds to achieve that. One batch of Federal brass I got 11 firings before they gave up the ghost. I actually like my Federal brass, as they've performed well and they didn't cost me a cent to acquire.

Interesting is one way of stating BS, we now how have a guy printing world record groups for 243 and doing it on a keyboard!! Boy your screwing yourself, Because me and many others would pay 100's of dollars to see that,,, but I guess you never stated it wasn't at 25 yards or a 2 shot group did you???????????????????????????

You just blew about all relevance you might have had on this subject! I understand the user name "searcher" now, you need to keep look'n!

 

[searcher]

No one said everything but Lapua is junk, but the fact you wont deny what I did say, "no other brass is setting world records with ammunition it is being used for, and standing up the loads providing them match after match" it is obvious,, it may not be junk, but it cannot measure up to the brass including Alpha and Peters, and the Starline I have used. As far as lasting, I have 454 cassul brass that is loaded hotter than any 308 or 243, that has lasted more than 12 loadings! Trust me, revolver brass is not what I call strong brass!

Sorry but I have 6BR, 6x47 Lapua, 22-250 and 243 win brass with Lapua headstamp as well 223, that all have been stood on extremely hard well over book loads that have over 20 loadings on every one,, and still going strong and delivering well under .25" accuracy!

Like I said, till you use it, you will never understand, But in 67 years of reloading and competing, I do know and haver proven the "SUPERIORITY" of the brass I will use from here out, because I have witnessed the difference! This is making an understatement!

Now please prove me wrong and show me these records, with your opinion of premium brass?????

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That's kinda what I said!

Interesting is one way of stating BS, we now how have a guy printing world record groups for 243 and doing it on a keyboard!! Boy your screwing yourself, Because me and many others would pay 100's of dollars to see that,,, but I guess you never stated it wasn't at 25 yards or a 2 shot group did you???????????????????????????

You just blew about all relevance you might have had on this subject! I understand the user name "searcher" now, you need to keep look'n!

I'll make my story even more unbelievable to you. It was shot using Federal .308 brass, necked down to .243 Winchester, shot from a Ruger Varmint rifle (1980's vintage), wearing the original factory barrel (though the action was bedded into an MPI glass stock and a Timney trigger added 20 years ago). The bullet was not a 105 Scenar, nor a Berger, nor any of the plethora of custom bullets. It was a 58 grain V-Max load I was working up for varmints. The rifle did have a sled forend attached and it was being shot off of my toggle rest, but If I were to make up a tale of world records, I'd prefer to have cited using one of my custom benchrest rifles like my 6 BR's, 6 PPC's, 6 Dasher or maybe my 30 BR or even my custom .22 rimfire benchrest rifle. While I have shot many, many wonderful groups from them - it is to be expected with good equipment and good reloading skills to occasionally shoot great groups. And I shot a lot of them. But shooting that small of a group with a factory gun IS pretty unbelievable. It was to me too, and I have said it many times just as you are saying now. Nevertheless - it happened. I have not reloaded as long as you (only 51 years). I have maybe not shot competitively as long as you (only since 1983 in my first benchrest match). And while, for years, I shot all day for three to four days a week, I end up getting this great group with a factory gun, shooting converted brass that I tweaked, while dialing in 5-shot groups to determine which load was best out of two. That was pretty darned cool. So, I share this as tribute to the merits of Federal brass and you choose to accuse me of lying about a single group. We have a lot in common. We both think each other is full of it. But there is a difference that makes me feel very fine, indeed. I KNOW I did what I did shooting that group. Even better, I now know that you have never shot such a group and that makes me feel JUST THAT MUCH BETTER. Seems all that Lapua brass just didn't do much for you (in how many years were you shooting so poorly?). And because of my "youthful age of inexperience", I'll still be shooting when you are six feet under. Have a nice day.

Interesting is one way of stating BS, we now how have a guy printing world record groups for 243 and doing it on a keyboard!! Boy your screwing yourself, Because me and many others would pay 100's of dollars to see that,,, but I guess you never stated it wasn't at 25 yards or a 2 shot group did you???????????????????????????

You just blew about all relevance you might have had on this subject! I understand the user name "searcher" now, you need to keep look'n!

 

[wildcatter]

While I have shot many, many wonderful groups from them - it is to be expected with good equipment and good reloading skills to occasionally shoot great groups.

I hope you realize you just proved my point,, with this statement, OCCASIONAL!!!! When you can make this statement as repeatable, and consistent then you have understood the difference quality components make, why as I said, some don't waste their time to get lucky once in a while!

I shot registered BR winning many matches, but consistently being competitive in the top 1/2 for years! I never got the consistent till I found GOOD BRASS, and consistent components! You will discover that many manufactured bullets will do the same thing,, ya, you might get as lucky as a blind pig finding an acorn now and then,, but when you use components that are mediocre, your consistent results will be exactly what you yourself said,,, OCCASIONALLY GOOD!

When you learn to use quality, PREMIUM, components, rarely are they stamped PREMIUM, as with quality that is a given and does not need to be stamped on it, it is made for repeating, and your efforts will begin to allow you to understand the difference in the so choices your choosing and the now and then good results, will be replaced with CONSISTENTLY GOOD RESULTS!!!

This is what I expect, when I say a gun shoots in the .1"s it does it day in and day out, and eggs or .0's become frequent! This is what it takes to win. But it becomes obvious and more frequent, and you seldom see one or two shots that ruin groups! This is what expect out of my varmint rigs, and seldom expect to see a group over 1/2" out of a hunting rifle!

My comment was not that once in a rifles lifetime if you shoot dozen's of groups a week sooner or later even a handicap novice will get your results, and most rational shooters, that have done this as long as many of us here have understand why it took weeks and months shooting 3 and 4 days a week to get one of them good en's with those components, and why they don't keep doing that, and why that group is not being repeated! "COMPONENTS"

But nobody will deny a rare good group is capable with anything,, to do it day in and day out you wont with what yer selling, even you stated that!! But that 243 should do that on a frequent bases, the reason it is doing what you say is your excepting now and then! What brass are using in them 6PPC's, and 30 BR's that should be winning???? If it's not federal,,, why????

I have had a couple sweet riggs, when I competed,,, and still keep a few around, but trust me my components for repeatable results don't stop at components, I am well aware of the total meaning of quality!!

40X LR built by Bill Calfee

6PPC w/ weight system for both light & heavy gun built by Billy Stevens


6BR live varmint built by Mark Penrod


6PPC built by Dave Bruno sporter


Gallipolis 600 yard, mine is one of the black marble on the left, waiting for my relay.


Newest 600 yard gun built by Fred Moreo in 6x47 Lapua

Then when you learn the difference in what will work sometimes, and what will work consistently,, the wood will add up quickly, but don't expect these results match after match, factory or custom without knowing why some components work, and others are lacking, I didn't do this with mediocre components, but did with both factory guns bone stock and custom,,,,,, Just in case you wondered the factory gun used 223 Lapua brass for a 223 AI, with Berger bullets, and the custom rifle that won these was using Lapua brass in 220 Russian for a 6mm ppc, and Barts Bullets,, but both cases were formed for the loads they were used in,


I hope you understand I'm trying to help with facts, not impress anyone with BS that will keep others struggling to find consistent results!! There are other firearms forums that are known for that!

 

[searcher]

Is that the best you could come up with? Yawn..... I just know you want me to prove my neener is bigger than yours...... But I think the website will not be happy if I have to post pics of plaques, rifles won, targets and such to validate a response to an old(er) dude that needs a wheelchair lube. And what of the cash I won but have since spent? Gee. What to do? All your club plaques won in one year? Were you on vacation the other 49? And for a guy who buys nice rifles and brass - what is with those scopes? Run out of dough? I'll expect least a page of explanation there. Entertain me.

 

[Dusty Stevens]

I hope you realize you just proved my point,, with this statement, OCCASIONAL!!!! When you can make this statement as repeatable, and consistent then you have understood the difference quality components make, why as I said, some don't waste their time to get lucky once in a while!

I shot registered BR winning many matches, but consistently being competitive in the top 1/2 for years! I never got the consistent till I found GOOD BRASS, and consistent components! You will discover that many manufactured bullets will do the same thing,, ya, you might get as lucky as a blind pig finding an acorn now and then,, but when you use components that are mediocre, your consistent results will be exactly what you yourself said,,, OCCASIONALLY GOOD!

When you learn to use quality, PREMIUM, components, rarely are they stamped PREMIUM, as with quality that is a given and does not need to be stamped on it, it is made for repeating, and your efforts will begin to allow you to understand the difference in the so choices your choosing and the now and then good results, will be replaced with CONSISTENTLY GOOD RESULTS!!!

This is what I expect, when I say a gun shoots in the .1"s it does it day in and day out, and eggs or .0's become frequent! This is what it takes to win. But it becomes obvious and more frequent, and you seldom see one or two shots that ruin groups! This is what expect out of my varmint rigs, and seldom expect to see a group over 1/2" out of a hunting rifle!

My comment was not that once in a rifles lifetime if you shoot dozen's of groups a week sooner or later even a handicap novice will get your results, and most rational shooters, that have done this as long as many of us here have understand why it took weeks and months shooting 3 and 4 days a week to get one of them good en's with those components, and why they don't keep doing that, and why that group is not being repeated! "COMPONENTS"

But nobody will deny a rare good group is capable with anything,, to do it day in and day out you wont with what yer selling, even you stated that!! But that 243 should do that on a frequent bases, the reason it is doing what you say is your excepting now and then! What brass are using in them 6PPC's, and 30 BR's that should be winning???? If it's not federal,,, why????

I have had a couple sweet riggs, when I competed,,, and still keep a few around, but trust me my components for repeatable results don't stop at components, I am well aware of the total meaning of quality!!

40X LR built by Bill Calfee

6PPC w/ weight system for both light & heavy gun built by Billy Stevens
View attachment 1319796

6BR live varmint built by Mark Penrod
View attachment 1319799

6PPC built by Dave Bruno sporter
View attachment 1319802

Gallipolis 600 yard, mine is one of the black marble on the left, waiting for my relay.
View attachment 1319795

Newest 600 yard gun built by Fred Moreo in 6x47 Lapua
View attachment 1319804
Then when you learn the difference in what will work sometimes, and what will work consistently,, the wood will add up quickly, but don't expect these results match after match, factory or custom without knowing why some components work, and others are lacking, I didn't do this with mediocre components, but did with both factory guns bone stock and custom,,,,,, Just in case you wondered the factory gun used 223 Lapua brass for a 223 AI, with Berger bullets, and the custom rifle that won these was using Lapua brass in 220 Russian for a 6mm ppc, and Barts Bullets,, but both cases were formed for the loads they were used in,

View attachment 1319807
I hope you understand I'm trying to help with facts, not impress anyone with BS that will keep others struggling to find consistent results!! There are other firearms forums that are known for that!

You still got that calfee 40x?

 

[wildcatter]

Is that the best you could come up with? Yawn..... I just know you want me to prove my neener is bigger than yours...... But I think the website will not be happy if I have to post pics of plaques, rifles won, targets and such to validate a response to an old(er) dude that needs a wheelchair lube. And what of the cash I won but have since spent? Gee. What to do? All your club plaques won in one year? Were you on vacation the other 49? And for a guy who buys nice rifles and brass - what is with those scopes? Run out of dough? I'll expect least a page of explanation there. Entertain me.

You really can't comprehend what I am trying to get you to understand can you? I want you to understand,, this is not about the shooter, or me being better than anyone, it is about the equipment, and what it takes to week after week, month after month, using the same lot of powder, the same lot of bullets, the same 20 to 30 rounds of brass, delivering the same level of accuracy to be this consistent, for an entire season, not about how to get lucky with one or two groups, to accomplish the same thing over and over!! Plus assuring you I absolutely know what it takes, and what wont work if you are wanting to repeat excellence over and over!!!

The biggest problem with most brass is their components are not consistent enough in the first place, the alloys are not ideal, and when you find 5 cases that are capable of the same, in a loading or two, it's physical dimensions changes enough to be fugal trying to repeat identical results with it!! It might shoot good, but it aint repeating what your toting more than once twice if yer lucky!! I have Lapua brass that was stood on heavy and has over 30 loadings on it and still performing excellent.

If you think Tony Boyer, or Speedy Gonzales or Fred Sinclair, Walt Berger, Bret and Briar Hale, Jack Neary, Steve Theye, Skip Otto, George Kelbly, Hobby Bond, Joe Krupa, etc, are all inferior to you and don't know what it takes to win, you really are showing how clueless you are, cause they will all tell you what I am if you want it to repeat! I have shot with them all and can assure these guys know what it takes and what wont work,, but you impress yourself all you want!! I have shot with them all, I have outshot many of them of them on occasion, which is quite a feat, and requires easy conditions on my part to shoot in, as they are very good at separating the men from the boys when those conditions get tough!! But they are willing to offer advice, and wont sell what your trying to.

This aint about trying to tell you I am better at anything, but it is providing you with an example of how consistent even a little guy like me can be when you put the right components together and actually use components that are really capable of repeating, how anyone can repeat their results over and over!! I assure you neither one of them rifles would have done it with the brass and bullets your toting as capable.

I had the best Brass, with the right lot of bullets using the right lot of powder, and primers, dialed in that never changed, loading after loading, week after week, and as you can see,,, "if you open your eyes and realize what we are talking about, instead of thinking someone is trying to say they are better than you" you would realize I would never be able to do that with what your calling good brass!!

But if a group or two a year like that impresses you, and you don't want consistently better results, by all means enjoy and have fun thats the main thing, excellence means nothing if it aint fun! I'm done here, I think those looking for facts have the resources to decide just how successful they want to be, and what it will take to achieve whatever level they choose, even with you trying to to confuse them!!

Ya I just had the Zeiss backup on it till I got the Golden Eagle, I see your confusion, but money don't make things work,, quality does, and everyone of them have proven to work as well as anything I could put on them!! You really struggle with what it takes to be consistent don't you?

 

[wildcatter]

You still got that calfee 40x?

In a way I wish I did, I sold it and my Anschutz Super Match, and swore I would never play a game where anyone controlled my ammunition again! Besides it has become more expensive for ammo capable of winning with than centerfire cost to shoot today , and requires a lot more practice to stay competitive!!

But I have a custom 580 single shot, with the threaded and trued receiver, with an added bedding bolt and hard chromed with a 26" Pence hand cut-rifled stn stl bench grade barrel in sporter configuration in a walnut sporter stock I made for it, that might not be quite as accurate, but will give them a run for their money,,, and headshots on squirrels are easy out to 50 or 60 yards. My great grandads 34 Remmy and my grandads 510 Targetmaster with the 580 on the bottom that will never go anywhere,, that's all I have in RF long guns today.

But with cheap Lapua ammo it shoots almost as good!! Who'd a thunk it???

 

[searcher]

"if you open your eyes and realize what we are talking about, instead of thinking someone is trying to say they are better than you" you would realize I would never be able to do that with what your calling good brass!!

I said I think Federal brass is a good deal at 40% off of lapua for those willing to shoot reduced loads. I said I shot one 5-shot group that was really good from my Ruger varmint rifle. That was it. You are the one grand standing, dropping names, pictures of rifles, plaques, everything you can think of to validate your existence in the shooting world. I don't need to do that because being well known as a shooter is not as important to me as it obviously is to you. I shoot because I love doing it. Too bad for you that you can't simply enjoy it as I do. I will say that you disrespect the men whose names you mentioned - as they have class - and are not in the same circles as the likes of you - regardless of any fleeting victories you may have enjoyed.

 

[wildcatter]

I said I think Federal brass is a good deal at 40% off of lapua for those willing to shoot reduced loads. I said I shot one 5-shot group that was really good from my Ruger varmint rifle. That was it. You are the one grand standing, dropping names, pictures of rifles, plaques, everything you can think of to validate your existence in the shooting world. I don't need to do that because being well known as a shooter is not as important to me as it obviously is to you. I shoot because I love doing it. Too bad for you that you can't simply enjoy it as I do. I will say that you disrespect the men whose names you mentioned - as they have class - and are not in the same circles as the likes of you - regardless of any fleeting victories you may have enjoyed.

I would never argue those comments, and this is what I have said all along,,, except to me the work involved is not worth the tradeoffs and concessions you mention to make it work and accept less than my equipment is capable of. But to some I'm sure the savings are worth it, just not to me. Trust me I'm not well known, but I am thru here and quite thru with your rude continued personal attacks,, your ethics and knowledge have been well documented, and I am much impressed, good evening!

 

[wildcatter]

You still got that calfee 40x?

oop'S,, My mistake! the 37 I had was the one Calfee smithed,,, the 40X was smithed by Gorham, this was when him and Calfee smithed 1/2 of the top 20 rifles in the Nationals the year I bought it, 6 each were their guns, with the other 8 from random smiths. That was a wooden Trackers laminate stock called Indian Blanket, Super cool I thought, and one of the reasons I bought it, besides it being a shooter.

 

[Lee Whitsel]

Hmmm??? Interesting to me that your best group was with Federal brass as my .308 Federal brass (fired 5 times) also gave me my 2 best ever 5 shot groups (.017" and .071") using somewhat hot loads and primer pockets are so far just fine. It only took me about 10,000 rounds to achieve that. One batch of Federal brass I got 11 firings before they gave up the ghost. I actually like my Federal brass, as they've performed well and they didn't cost me a cent to acquire.

For what it's worth I had a guy at the local rifle range hand he his 3308 brass . Grabbed it up and got it home and looked and saw it was Hornady 308 brass crimped in primers. I hate that. I took the plunge and bought a Lee decrimping tool should have bought one of their kits years ago so cheap and works so good. I processed all the brass ready to load. Thought I'd weight the brass to compare weight to all other brands. What a shock the weight was like Remington in weight but some was way heavy like Lapua about 184 and most about 164. Could not figure out what was going on. Called Hornady yesterday and got the answer to that. What a good Suprise. All those 184 weight cases are their high quality Match brass and uses only Federal 210 match primers he said. The 164 weight is their brass I'd say like Rem., Win., or Federal hunting ammo. just fine for normal hunting and shooting. So back to the scales and weighted all the Hornady brass with silver colored primers that I had deprimed and the weight of all that brass that I then knew was match Hornady made brass. I was shocked to find out it was so close in weight it wasn't worth weighing all of them. They were all extremely very close in weight I guess like Lapua not sure. So anyone using Hornady Match Brass will need to reduce their loads for the extra weight to be safe. I'm waiting for the Montana wind to settle down to test some loads with this new to me great brass.

 

[Straightshooter1]

For what it's worth I had a guy at the local rifle range hand he his 3308 brass . Grabbed it up and got it home and looked and saw it was Hornady 308 brass crimped in primers. I hate that. I took the plunge and bought a Lee decrimping tool should have bought one of their kits years ago so cheap and works so good. I processed all the brass ready to load. Thought I'd weight the brass to compare weight to all other brands. What a shock the weight was like Remington in weight but some was way heavy like Lapua about 184 and most about 164. Could not figure out what was going on. Called Hornady yesterday and got the answer to that. What a good Suprise. All those 184 weight cases are their high quality Match brass and uses only Federal 210 match primers he said. The 164 weight is their brass I'd say like Rem., Win., or Federal hunting ammo. just fine for normal hunting and shooting. So back to the scales and weighted all the Hornady brass with silver colored primers that I had deprimed and the weight of all that brass that I then knew was match Hornady made brass. I was shocked to find out it was so close in weight it wasn't worth weighing all of them. They were all extremely very close in weight I guess like Lapua not sure. So anyone using Hornady Match Brass will need to reduce their loads for the extra weight to be safe. I'm waiting for the Montana wind to settle down to test some loads with this new to me great brass.

While at the shooting range the shooter next to me was shooting his .308, firing Hornady Match Black cartridges. He noticed I was shooting my .308 with Lapua brass and that I was a reloader. Since he wasn't a reloader, he asked if I'd like to have his fired brass. Since I was very curious about Hornady labeling "match" and that it was a black Nickle plating and have never see Hornady "match" brass, I accepted that I would take home and inspect to compare with some regular Hornady brass that I have. Upon measuring the fired case weight and case volume, here what I got:



Here's what those fired Hornady Match Black cases I measured and compared to regular Hornady look like:

 

[Wild Bill IV]

l came into a small quantity of ''Federal Premium Unfired Brass''. This is nickel plated brass in Federal Gold Colored Boxes, cal. 22-250 Rem. How does this Federal Premium brass compare to other premium brands like Lapua or Nosler?

282

Federal premium is OK!! But the best of federal is the match grade in Nickel clad!! My 7-08 (necked down and reamed necks) shot less than 3/16" MOA with 160gr SGK SP bullets! A one shot killing machine out to 500 on big game (deer and antelope)!!

 

[Straightshooter1]

Federal premium is OK!! But the best of federal is the match grade in Nickel clad!! My 7-08 (necked down and reamed necks) shot less than 3/16" MOA with 160gr SGK SP bullets! A one shot killing machine out to 500 on big game (deer and antelope)!!

Hmmm??? Federal doesn't produce "Premium" brass separate from their other brass. Guess you'd have to call ALL of their brass "Premium"???

How ''Premium'' is Federal Premium Brass?

l came into a small quantity of ''Federal Premium Unfired Brass''. This is nickel plated brass in Federal Gold Colored Boxes, cal. 22-250 Rem. How does this Federal Premium brass compare to other premium brands like Lapua or Nosler? 282

forum.accurateshooter.com

 

[Big Mc]

Throw it away.

YUP Trash it

 

[TTE]

How ''Premium'' is Federal Premium Brass?​

IMO .... it's not nearly as premium as they think it is,


But I guess he figured that out 3 or so years ago

 

[Wild Bill IV]

Hmmm??? Federal doesn't produce "Premium" brass separate from their other brass. Guess you'd have to call ALL of their brass "Premium"???

How ''Premium'' is Federal Premium Brass?

l came into a small quantity of ''Federal Premium Unfired Brass''. This is nickel plated brass in Federal Gold Colored Boxes, cal. 22-250 Rem. How does this Federal Premium brass compare to other premium brands like Lapua or Nosler? 282

forum.accurateshooter.com

The OP found Fed. Premium brass that was made long time ago!!! I purchased, in the early 80' the best you could get, unfired new, at that time, FEDERAL match cases!!! At that time, you could also get military, once fired match cases if you looked hard enough, say at gun shows!!! Here is a photo!!!

 

[Wild Bill IV]

If you look at the part number, it is 308MUP which is 308 MATCH UNPRIMED!! Any cases falling out of Match spec were thrown into the Premium or Straight up Federal batches depending on the failed spec. I bought 200 cases (10 boxes w/20 cases per box) for $50.00. Expensive in those days, but you get what you pay for!! It was the best brass for 308 and 308 wildcats, like my 7-08. The neck cut in my rifle was tight enough to fire form completely the slightly thicker, sized down neck wall, with reduced loads, with only 1/2 thou OD clearance! DANGEROUS!! As a responsible reloader, the fire forming loads were carefully worked up with measured powder charges, not thrown charges!! And, the first three reloads were triggered with a STRING and the extracted cases were inspected for pressure and neck irregularities! Inside reamed the fire formed necks, not reformed, removing a 1/2 to 1-1/2 thou on the fired necks! Simply stated, FROM THE CHAMBER TO THE REAMER!! MY PHILOSOPHY in many case prep steps with this process being the number one key towards accuracy!! Bullet alignment and neck wall thickness consistency were outstanding and I could keep the nice shiny Nickel plated neck! The debate of INSIDE REAMING vs NECK TURNING was hot and heavy then. Inside reaming made those cases deadly accurate! I could ream 50 cases in less than one hour at the bench using a Forster hand crank trimmer!!! Then, it was time to continue other POST Fire Formed case prep processes!!

 

[Wild Bill IV]

IMO .... it's not nearly as premium as they think it is,


But I guess he figured that out 3 or so years ago

APPLES AND ORANGES!!!!
You are living in the present and not the past like I lived in!! I strongly believe that the third line up of Federal brass, highest quality cases that exceeded Military Match specs in the Federal line up that you are unaware of WAS, and WOULD BE, the best! And Lapau didn't make American cartridge brass. That was Federal 308, 223, and 30 -06 Match cases, not Premier!! Very expensive in those days!! And the quality QA standards were quite high!!! In fact, the Federal match cases shot better than military match 308 cases!! I trust the military specs more than civil manufactures spec any day since they know the true ballistic functions and standards! And the Federal Match specs were higher than Military specs!!

DON'T KNOCK DOWN ANYTHING UNLESS YOU LIVED IN THAT ERA!! That was the best you could get then, and Norma brass was the best brass for the flood of Swedish small ring Mauser rifles (6.5x55) flooding the US market in those days!!! Lapau and Norma were dominant in the European Market cartridges!!!

Back then, when Federal premium was offered, Lapau had nothing to offer to the American shooter except for the SURPLUS FLOOD of 6.5x55, 7x47, and 7x57 rifles with Norwegian Norma brass being superior in the 6.5x55!!

We will never know if the long gone 223, 308, and 30-06 Federal Match cases were better than the Lapau cases of today!!!