Federal Brass & Reloading

[UNC151]

I reload my brass to save on costs and I recently noticed something with Federal and Blazer brass. It seems to be a cheaper or lighter "version" of brass out there. Federal brass that carries the headstamp of .FC. (brass on left of first photo) is "indented" surrounding primer pocket (the same for some Blazer brass). I tried to capture what I am talking about in the photos, but I realize it may not be easy to see. It is almost like the brass is lightweight and I thought I read somewhere the government asked for this as part of a major order. If so, it would seem like ATK is using this specification for all of the economy brands they sell (American Eagle, Blazer, etc.).

The problem I have with it is the overall consistency of the brass and the fact the head stamp area and extractor rim is not completely flat and perpendicular to the remainder of the case. I believe you can see the extractor rim is not as thick on the .FC. brass as the standard FC brass. Has anyone else noticed this?

 

[danthaman1980]

I've noticed it, sure. I've reloaded the regular FC , the .FC. , SPEER, BLAZER, and probably other variants of ATK brass. I was guessing that the regular FC was the older version and the newer .FC. was the newer stuff, but I have no confirmation of that. .FC. and Blazer brass looks the same to me. Although it isn't my absolute favorite brass in any caliber, I can't say I've had any issues with it either. Except in .40S&W, with Nosler .40/10mm bullets (which tend to be narrower than others... they seem like .3995 instead of .40). When reloading .40, I use Hornady bullets in Federal brass, and usually only use the Nosler bullets in Winchester brass. If I try to put Nosler bullets in .FC. brass, I get a high number of rejects due to insufficient neck tension.

I think the newer ATK brass (.FC., Blazer, Speer) tends to be in between Remington and Winchester in quality, but ATK brass is much easier to clean for some reason. Perhaps their propellants burn cleaner, perhaps their process polishes the insides a bit more thoroughly. I like Remington and Magtech for .45, Winchester for .40, Starline for 10mm.

 

[hatt]

I believe they are simply made in different plants. If they're not causing an issue I wouldn't worry about it.

 

[UNC151]

Originally Posted By: hatt
I believe they are simply made in different plants. If they're not causing an issue I wouldn't worry about it.
There is a bit more to it than that. Until this year, I have never seen brass with a concave area surrounding the entire primer pocket. I am about to load some in the next few days, but if it is anything like the .223 brass I recently loaded, the primer pockets will be looser and have a tendency to blow out more often. Since I do reload, this situation has steered me away from the cheap ATK brands.

 

[bunnspecial]

I have loaded a LOT of Federal brass-in fact for some calibers I shoot(specifically 327 Magnum) the choice is either Federal or Starline. Of course, Starline is in some ways the gold standard(except for their 32-20 being too short), but I've not run into issues with any of the relatively new Federal brass I've used. Granted, I don't reload 9mm at current prices save for what I make for a friend's Luger and have enough old range sweep that I'll be going on that for a long time at the volume I load(of course that might change come November, which is why I still save brass). Some of what I'm using is from ammo purchased during the last shortage, and I often got FC and Blazer headstamps in the same box

.

BTW, unless it's a trick of the light or some crud, I wouldn't use the piece on right since it appears to have an enlarged flash hole. The irregularity of it makes me think it was punched twice or had some other manufacturing defect. It would probably shoot fine, but I don't like to take a chance with the relatively high pressure of 9mm.

 

[hatt]

Doesn't look like people are talking about any trouble. Should be fine for range use. I no longer buy handgun ammo for the brass if I don't have plenty of range pickups. I just buy new Starline.

Fired 5.56/.223 brass is all over the place. Even with the same headstamp. The primer will fall out of some pockets and be tight in the next. I haven't loaded .223 yet since I have so much I bought years ago but I did process a thousand or so a while back. All once fired by me. Tossed a lot of cases for various reasons. When I do get around to loading and shooting it I won't be picking those cases up again.

 

[UNC151]

Originally Posted By: bunnspecial
BTW, unless it's a trick of the light or some crud, I wouldn't use the piece on right since it appears to have an enlarged flash hole. The irregularity of it makes me think it was punched twice or had some other manufacturing defect. It would probably shoot fine, but I don't like to take a chance with the relatively high pressure of 9mm.
It is some carbon that was not removed when I trued the bottom of the primer pocket. I use a Sinclair Carbide Primer Pocket Uniformer to square the pocket 90° to the case head and once it hits the shoulder of the cutter, it stops cutting which can leave some carbon depending on the starting uniformity of the pocket. With the exception of Lapua, SIG, Starline, and a few others, all of the American brass is all over the place with regards to primer pocket uniformity. I also typically chamfer the flash hole on the inside of the case on my long range rifle cartridges to ensure that I have the most uniform cases possible.

 

[UNC151]

Originally Posted By: hatt
Doesn't look like people are talking about any trouble. Should be fine for range use. I no longer buy handgun ammo for the brass if I don't have plenty of range pickups. I just buy new Starline.
Good to know. I am the same but a while back reloading supplies were not very available, so I grabbed up quite a bit of factory ammo. I have restocked to prevent the same thing from happening after November if a certain event takes place.

 

[UNC151]

I found a website with a bit of information. Although in my case, the "two dot" cases have concave bases versus what the website states. It may be there is no issue with the concave brass, I guess I just do not like it and prefer mine to be totally flat.

 

[ROLEXrifleman]

I've gotta ask... what are you shooting these out of as your going through some pretty critical steps.
I run sub guns and some 9mm handguns and sometimes don't even bother with running brass through the tumbler.

The only pieces that get that much, and more, attention are the ones going through my AI's

 

[UNC151]

Originally Posted By: ROLEXrifleman
I've gotta ask... what are you shooting these out of as your going through some pretty critical steps.
I run sub guns and some 9mm handguns and sometimes don't even bother with running brass through the tumbler.

The only pieces that get that much, and more, attention are the ones going through my AI's
I run a pretty tight ship on quality control of my reloading and this is just part of the overall process for me. I have been reloading since the early 90s and though some may say my process is overkill, I have never had an issue either and plan to keep it that way. My brass gets tumbled 3 times--once in walnut (after decapping) and twice in corn cob (once before resizing and again afterwards). I true the primer pockets for two reasons--consistency and to remove all carbon (it is a one-time process). I only chamfer the flash holes on long range rifle ammo. I trim all brass to minimum SAAMI spec and check it starting on the third reload (except on magnum cases). As I said, some will say it is overkill.

 

[ROLEXrifleman]

If it works for you that's all that matters. No such thing as over kill.

At our peek we ran 10k rounds of 9mm a week. The subguns all had brass catchers so we went straight from the bags right to the hoppers!

And if you wan overkill.... i used to meter all my bolt gun brass with water and sorted it be internal volume and weight b4 the other 5 steps!

 

[hatt]

Sounds like overkill to me but whatever makes you happy is the best course of action. Better to be overly diligent rather than blowing yourself up. Have you though about getting into wet tumbling with stainless pins?

 

[bunnspecial]

I could never bring myself to criticize someone for being too careful in reloading, even if it's more than I do personally.

As for me, I generally size/decap, clean ultrasonically, then tumble in walnut. The ultrasonic cleaner gets cases clean, while the tumbler gets them shiny. Once out of the tumbler, I put the brass in the "ready to load" pile. I do dabble in bullseye a little bit, so take the time to cull my 38 Wadcutter brass and do treat it a little bit differently. I have a little bit of auto wax in my tumbling media that makes subsequent handling easier(in terms of moving in and out of the dies)-the ultrasonic leaves them clean enough that cases sometimes gall.

There again, though, with anything reloading related far be it from me to criticize your practice unless it's blatantly unsafe.

 

[UNC151]

Originally Posted By: hatt
Have you though about getting into wet tumbling with stainless pins?
If I had not just purchased a new Dillon CV-2001, I would consider it because the primer pockets are cleaned better with ultrasonic or wet tumbling with stainless pins versus walnut/corn cob.