How ''Premium'' is Federal Premium Brass?
- Thread starter sw282
- Start date
drop_point
Silver $$ Contributor
Its nowhere nearly as good as Lapua brass.
Primer pockets are the first to go . Winchester would be better choice if you don't want to spend the money on Lapua ,Alpha , Peterson, Nosler.
Federal “premium” brass has ranged between adequate and terrible for the reloader.
For one firing, as can be seen plainly from the record of Federal’s GMM line, it is very good. It won’t keep your -250 from
Then, you get another loading, and the pockets are blown.
The caveat to all this, and most of the rest of the comments above, is that the NEW Federal may be different, if they have changed all their brass to meet Mil Specs (since they have the contract at Lake City).
Dunno. (Won’t be finding out either.)
If you already own it, then just load away. It’s not going to hurt anything. Just be honest with yourself about the primer pockets, and be careful with your boltface.
-Nate
For one firing, as can be seen plainly from the record of Federal’s GMM line, it is very good. It won’t keep your -250 from
Then, you get another loading, and the pockets are blown.
The caveat to all this, and most of the rest of the comments above, is that the NEW Federal may be different, if they have changed all their brass to meet Mil Specs (since they have the contract at Lake City).
Dunno. (Won’t be finding out either.)
If you already own it, then just load away. It’s not going to hurt anything. Just be honest with yourself about the primer pockets, and be careful with your boltface.
-Nate
Theres some brass that just isnt made to reload... companies make more money by making a cheap case that is good for one firing then sell the heck out of loaded ammo because thats what 99% of people need. Brass is brass so it can last a few more firings, but the initial load is the best spec ita be in the life of the brass. Quality reloading brass is on a different level.
Same with hornady brass, remington brass, and everything else. Nickel cases are even cheaper, thats why no one reloads them.
Same with hornady brass, remington brass, and everything else. Nickel cases are even cheaper, thats why no one reloads them.
Don't throw it away and darn sure in my opinion use Winchester , last bag I used was the last bag of Winchester I will ever use.... Use it till the primer pockets are done and keep an eye on the nickel coating so it doesn't start flaking and screw up your die... If you're loading hot it won't really have time....
I inherited a bunch of 243 Win Federal Premium brass in the 90's but it was not nickel plated.
I got 18 reloads out it with moderate 243 Win loads with no primer pocket issues. I just simply retired it after 18 reloads. It didn't perform any better or worse than other brands I've use but I've never used Lapua.
I won't use nickel plated rifle brass - too hard to size in my experience.
I got 18 reloads out it with moderate 243 Win loads with no primer pocket issues. I just simply retired it after 18 reloads. It didn't perform any better or worse than other brands I've use but I've never used Lapua.
I won't use nickel plated rifle brass - too hard to size in my experience.
SSL
Gold $$ Contributor
Interesting. I have used Remington and TZ (IMI) nickel-plated cases for years and never had either the flaking or hard to size issues even after quite a few loadings. Actually, the nickel cases seem to size easier and last well. I use the Remingtons in my .17 Remington and both the TZ nickel and IMI standard brass for .223. It is handy to be able to use the nickel cases and the standard brass cases for a quick visual identification of loads/bullet weights in both cartridges.
Not saying it doesn't happen, but perhaps those problems are caliber specific.
drop_point
Silver $$ Contributor
Federal did have a contract to run Lake City, but their commercial brass wasn't produced there. That contract is gone and back to Olin as I understand it.
True on #1, which is why some/most of us “competition” guys were only HOPEful it would improve their brass line.
#2, good info. Rec’d.
In the mid 90's I purchased 20 boxes of Federal Premium 55 HPBT in 22-250, all the same lot. I have loaded those cases many times since then, no primer pocket issues, Have even used that brass for 600 BR and Varmint Silhouette. I have over 100 empty cases waiting for their first reloading. Zero issues for me. I would love to have new Federal Premium brass that is Nickel plated, easy way to identify the non-led hunting loadings from the target loadings.
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Dusty Stevens
Shiner
Federal premium is the loaded ammo itself. The brass may be marked fed premium but its the same old brass
Straightshooter1
Gold $$ Contributor
Just a few years ago I called Federal and asked about any difference in quality of their brass that they produced, like whether they produced any match grade brass vs. standard. I was told all their brass all comes off the same production line, so there's really no difference. But of course, nickel plating is simply something done after their brass is formed.
I've fired a lot of Federal's .308 brass and found that they're not quite as uniform as you'd find with Lapua. Federal's brass is a little softer than many others like Lapua or Nosler, which tends to result in fewer reloadings (like I've got 11-14 reloads out of Federal's brass with mostly moderate loads). I got way more reloads on Lapua brass. Other than these differences, brass Federal brass can be comparable to Lapua as far as load results as they had pretty much the same case volumes.
As for any of my Federal nickel plated cases, they too have performed just fine and I've fired them 4 times, which included annealing each time and had turned the necks too. So far, I've not had any issues with any nickel plating flaking off. Here's what they look like:
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Out of curiosity l took a random sample of these Federal Premium unfired 22-250 cases and weighed them on my old 5-0-5 RCBS scale. Lightest of the 20 was 165.0 gr. The heaviest was 166.3gr.. Seven of the 20 were 165.4gr. Weight spread was 1.3 grains for 20 cases. To find a standard for premium brass l accessed the 22-250 page of this FORUM. There l found a weight list for Lapua 22-250 brass. Spread for 200 cases was 1.4 grains. Avg @160grains. l have 140 of these Federal Premium cases. l have no intention of weighing the other 120. A fact catching my eye in this exercise was the weight of Remington 22-250 brass l have MOST of . All R-Ps were much lighter @150-155gr
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