Hey guy's first post here, but I have been reading for a couple years now. I recently purchased an x bolt in 270 wsm. I fired two boxes of factory ammo through it while I waited for my dies and bullets to arrive. One box was federal 130 grain SP the other was winchester power max bonded in 130 grain. The federal ammo seemed to be out of speck right from the start, some of the cases were tight closing the bolt and I was getting a small circle on the base of the case after firing, from the ejector on the bolt. Well my dies arrived yesterday, so I started getting my brass ready to load as I always do. When I started seating primers(wlrm) they went into the winchester brass as they should, but when I moved on to the federal brass the primers went in with little to no resistance. I knew it didn't seem right so I took my case length gauge and gently pushed on the primer from inside the case, well, they popped right out again. I then tried my cci LRM primers and they fit a bit tighter, but still seemed to go in too easily. I have never encountered this before and was wondering if I need to use federal primers with this brass, or is the brass defective?
federal brass problem
- Thread starter nshunter
- Start date
The Federal rounds were loaded too hot for your rifle. That is the reason that you got ejector marks on the case and it stretched your primer pockets. Federal brass is also know for being softer than most other makes. I would scrap those cases because of the too large primer pockets. You will most likely get blow by around the primer on the next firing and it can gas cut your bolt face.
It could also have been that the ammo had gotten hot by the sun on it etc. and that will raise pressures also.
It could also have been that the ammo had gotten hot by the sun on it etc. and that will raise pressures also.
- Thread starter
- #3
Antelope_Sniper
Handloader
- Jan 25, 2008
- 2,618
- 0
NS, I've had the same thing happen with Federal Factory Loads in the .223.
These were not ever particularly hot factory loads, they were shooting a 40 grain bullet, but many of the cases has loose primer pockets after just the one firing. I've found Federal brass to be very inconsistant when I've tried to weight sort it. It's also very soft. For these reasons it's among my least favorite brands of brass.
These were not ever particularly hot factory loads, they were shooting a 40 grain bullet, but many of the cases has loose primer pockets after just the one firing. I've found Federal brass to be very inconsistant when I've tried to weight sort it. It's also very soft. For these reasons it's among my least favorite brands of brass.
BeeTee
Handloader
- Jul 27, 2011
- 400
- 0
Antelope_Sniper":1bu2orlo said:
I've experienced the same with Federal factory loads in 308 Win about 10 years ago - bright ejector marks on all twenty cases. This was in a Rem 7400 semi-auto. Rem factory ammo was fine. BT
- Thread starter
- #6
- Nov 4, 2004
- 26,267
- 11,832
nshunter
Welcome to the forum.
Sounds like a hot lot of Federal ammo. Scrap the brass.
Buy the W-W brass and roll your own loads. There are several fellas here that load for the 270 WSM and they will help you with suggested loads.
JD338
Welcome to the forum.
Sounds like a hot lot of Federal ammo. Scrap the brass.
Buy the W-W brass and roll your own loads. There are several fellas here that load for the 270 WSM and they will help you with suggested loads.
JD338
Guy Miner
Master Loader
- Apr 6, 2006
- 18,105
- 7,720
Yup - Federal brass can be good - but has a well deserved reputation for being "soft" resulting in the primer pockets opening very quickly. Even with the .308 Win, I only get a couple of loads from Federal brass. Accurate, but soft.
DrMike
Ballistician
- Nov 8, 2006
- 37,854
- 7,630
I've shot quite a variety of ammunition during break-in of rifles. In my experience, Federal tends to load its ammunition "hot." This seems especially true in the WSM family. Twice, I've had 300 WSM ammunition that was so hot that it locked up the bolt. Yup! It was Federal ammunition either time. I'm loathe to use once-fired Federal brass for that reason. Using new Federal brass is a different story; I control the conditions and it lasts quite well.
About two years ago I as given 1,150 rounds of once fired Federal Gold Medal Match brass in .308 Win. I know for sure the brass was once fired as I know the source. I took 50 rounds and leloaded them although the primer pockets felt a bit looser than normal. The load was a starter load for a new bullet I was working with and when I fired the first round the bolt locked up. The rifle was a Mauser I just had rebarreled to the .308 round and had a match grade chamber. Te gun was sub-MOA with factory ammo and I would have imagined that a starting load would not give problems. I took the rest of that ammo home, pulled the bullets and check weighed the charges. They were right on the money. The primer on the fired round iterally fell out with almost no resistance to my Lyman 310 Tong Tool which makes feeling how tight or how loose a fired primer is in the cartridge case very easy.
I sure broke my heart to scrap all that brass into the ecycle bin but I considered it unsafe for reloading purposes.
Paul B.
I sure broke my heart to scrap all that brass into the ecycle bin but I considered it unsafe for reloading purposes.
Paul B.
gerry
Ammo Smith
- Mar 1, 2007
- 7,065
- 2,240
I have only had a really hot factory loading once and it was Federal as well in my case it was the 225 gr Trophy Bonded 35 Whelen load one round was fired and locked up the bolt pretty good it almost blew the primer evidenced by the black ring around it. I ended up pulling the 19 remaining rounds and seating a 200 gr Hornady in their place and used them for practice. The Trophy Bonded bullets were loaded up with RL 15 and accounted for one black bear before they were all gone.
