Is Federal / FC 223 brass fit to use?

[frkelly74]

I was just out at the range and there was a younger man there shooting a 9mm pistol of some sort and I noticed he was collecting his brass so I asked if he was going to reload it and he said yes. He was using up the last of his supply of Unique and his plan was to go to blue dot, Which I have been using in my 9mm for carbine loads. I told him it worked great and was capable of some good hefty loads at reasonable pressure. Then I noticed he had a Remington 700 laying on its case and he happened to tell me that he had fired a shot after about 30 shots and had gotten a face full of debris and smoke and the bolt would not open. It was really locked up tight so I offered him my hammer and a block of wood to get it open. I was really wanting to know what had happened. We got it open and the brass looked like it had flowed back into the bolt face and a pin hole had ruptured out, that was the only place i saw where the gas could escape. The shooter had his glasses on and was okay. The brass was still wedged tight in the bolt face. So that leads me to ask, is Federal brass ok to use for reloads? I have heard it is soft in the head, should it be saved for light loads or scrapped or could something else be going on. They were reloads and regrettably I did not get a look at any of the other brass that he had fired.

[USAFrox]

I haven't had any issues with the ones I've reloaded. Of course, I usually load in the mid-range, not too hot and wild. For my purposes, I have no complaints.

[BruceB]

In competition Circles, Federal .223 brass has the reputation of lasting only about half as long as other makes (number of reloadings).

In my personal experience, I bought 1000 once-fired FC .223 cases from an Ebay seller, and ended up scrapping the entire batch after only one or (at most) two reloads. There were MANY neck and shoulder splits, maybe as high as twenty per cent or more.

Given a choice, I would not buy any more Federal .223 cases. I must add that Federal brass in other calibers has given me good service, but the .223 stuff was dreadful.

[Freeandcold]

Never had a problem with Fed cases. The situation you described sounded more like a load problem than a case problem (to me). Unless the case were too long in the neck and jammed into the throat crimping the bullet in place? But, that could still be a loading problem (case prep/inspection).

[Love Life]

IME, Federal brass is soft and is toast after a couple reloads (all depending on the pressure of the load of course). Loose primer pockets are the largest culprit. I've experienced this in several different rifle calibers using federal brass.

[FISH4BUGS]

Sounds like a classic case of poor reloading techniques such as failure to trim the cases, excess powder charge, etc.

[akajun]

I have noticed that on my service rifle loads, which are by no means over the top, but are stout, I get about 10-15 reloads out of Lake City brass, it usually dies from a neck split. Winchester and Remington, about 10, usually dies the same way. Federal, usually gets about 6-7 before the primer pockets get too loose. I get all the Federal I want for free, and do use it, but I prefer LC brass.
In my 308 Palma gun, I get about 3-4 reloads from Federal before the primer pocket wallows out.

[DR Owl Creek]

I've read on other sites about Federal .223 brass being soft and not lasting through many reloads, but I haven't used that much of it, so I can't comment. A couple of years ago before all the craziness, I bought 300 pieces of new, unfired Federal 300 WSM brass. At least 10 pieces had the necks crack when I sized them (still unfired at that point). That batch had to be annealed before it was even fit to load. FWIW.

Dave

[GRUMPA]

I use a lot of FC brass, but....do you know there's more than 1 head stamp of FC?

I've gotten to the point I separate by head stamp according to the conversion. The head stamp that has FC and a 2 digit date is some of the toughest to convert over but it sure does last.

The FC 223 with a 2 digit date are so-so when it comes to conversions, but last just as long.

The FC 223 (what I dub commercial) is rather soft to convert over compared to the FC 2 digit date, but so far no issues.

The FC 223 with 2 dimples 180deg from each other acts just like the FC 223.

When I do the conversions there's always the same thing that happens. The necks have to be reamed because the brass thickness at the neck is all over the place. Some I just barely skim material off and others it's like holy cow I think something moved.

The reaming gives me a good indication what the quality is like, and frankly I would fire the whole lot in the QC dept. The only time I've experienced that type of quality is the stuff that comes from another country, and it makes me wonder.

With the thousands I've sent out to people I have yet to hear of a complaint from them. So I have to take it what I'm doing in the procedure I'm doing it in is OK. I think if there was a problem I would be the first to know about it....

I make FC 223 brass into:

221 Fireball
222 Rem
22TCM
7mm TCU
300 AAC Blackout (On Request)
7.62x25 (Not available to anyone but me)

EDIT: All the brass that gets converted over also get annealed, EXCEPT if requested on the 300BO brass.

[Bullshop Junior]

I use a lot of FC brass.

[s mac]

I bought some once fired military, FC 223 Rem with what looks like N7 on the headstamp. Is this a date code?

[Rich/WIS]

Use it in 223 for my son's M4 carbine, and in 06 and 243 for cast loads. Seems to hold up well, especially with the mild cast loads. The bulk FC 223 I use I don't keep track of the number of loadings so can't give a good answer. Since I find it 1X on the range constantly case life is moot. Would definitely be an issue if I were buying it.

[lonewelder]

I'm thinkin it was not the brass.

[woody1]

IME, Federal brass is soft and is toast after a couple reloads (all depending on the pressure of the load of course). Loose primer pockets are the largest culprit. I've experienced this in several different rifle calibers using federal brass.

My experience also. Regards, Woody

[MT Gianni]

I have Fed 308 brass with over 15 reloads and no problems.

[MaryB]

I get a lot of neck splits in federal brass after 4 or 5 uses so I pretty much retire them at 5. Why take a chance when brass is cheap enough and readily available. It does seem softer than LC brass to me, sizes different, not as much spring back in the necks...

[freebullet]

I've had blown primers from factory loaded fc 270 ammo in the past, 2-3 from a box of 20. I reserve it for reduced loads, even then loose primer pockets lead me to scrap them fast.

[shooterg]

I've used Federal .223 brass since early 90's when it came in the plain white box. Good brass. Then something happened and for years the stuff wasn't much. Seem like now that the same people are running the Lake City plant for the government, the GI spec commercial brass seems OK again. I only load each case 5 times(for AR's) before it goes in the practice pile anyway, so Fed brass has been no issue with me.

But really, if you have several thousand pieces of once-fired, please send it to me and I'll perform safety checks on all of 'em, one at a time ! About 25 gr. RE-15 should do it.