Federal Brass

[powder smoke]

Got 200 308 Federal Gold Medal Match ammo doing some prep this morning and
had some shorter than the Trim To Length. Never ran into this, brass always stretches
when fired. This was factory ammo first reload. Whats up with that? Is it a Problem?
Trim to length is 2.005 some are as short as 1.997. The shot pretty well tho Thanks. ps

 

[Tom W]

Not a problem. I usually cut mine back a bit shorter than the trim to length. Mostly because I hate to trim brass.

 

[powder smoke]

Thanks for your reply Tom, trimming brass is a pain. My concern was seating depth
casing excessive pressure. I like to crimp my rifle brass cause I do have a semi auto.
What disappoints me the most is Federal's Premium ammo, one pays big bucks for evidently
is not very consistent at all. Oh well live and learn. ps

 

[kmoore]

Yeah, but it shoots damn good for a factory round. I cannot say I have found what you did with any brass. I just run all through a trimmer, some cut more than others. When I was shooting national match, I than weighted each case after sized, cleaned and trimmed. So when loading nothing was different in bullets, powder, primmer or case brand, but some cases weight more or less than others of the same brand of different lots. At least in the 308/3006. I bagged them in groups no more than 5 grains different. Why, because case weight differences can cause higher/lower pressure than the next round and of course that puts the bullet at a little different spot on the target. When I switched to 5.56 as a match rifle, the case weights where much closer already and not sure if it mattered at 600 yds.

 

[Twoboxer]

First, Federal brass is usually shorter than trim-to-length (in several calibers) before firing.

Then, during firing the case walls and shoulder are pushed hard against the chamber. These two events tend to pull the case mouth down, shortening case length.

The case will stretch some during full length resizing.

 

[Mobuck]

If you're roll crimping and there's that much difference, I'd segregate those short cases rather than load the entire batch short. Running longer cases into a roll crimp type die adjusted for a shorter case length will often cause a shoulder bulge. Another option would be a "profile" or collet crimp die. Case length won't make any diff with those.

 

[powder smoke]

Thanks guys that is exactly what I was looking for different perspectives.
BTW this is my first go around with Fed. Rifle Brass. ps

 

[kmoore]

Post again after shooting and let all know how they work good or bad.

 

[chuck]

always have primer pockets expand on federal brass, don't use it any more or for several years.

 

[Jimbo357mag]

I don't use much 308 brass but I have used Federal, Hornady, Winchester and a few others. I like Federal brass generally. It seems to be stouter than some of the others. I think if it is a little short it won't stay that way after reloading a few times. The length of the neck, that is what is short, should not make any difference unless you crimp into a bullet groove and then unless you are making precision target ammo where the freebore is expected to be a couple of thousands off of the lands, then what the heck?