federal brass

[351 power]

are the cases thicker/last longer? how about hornady?

[John Traveler]

I believe that Hornady is made by Federal.  Ditto for the Frontier brand of ammunition.  Check the box labels and you will see that they share the same Minneapolis, MN address.

[Lone Star]

Just because multiple brands are made at the same facility does not mean that they share the same characteristics.  Hornady may have different specs for their brass than Federal does.  Some CCI and Federal primers are made on the same assembly line - does that mean that they are interchangeable?  In today's global market it is not safe to assume that 'similar' items made at a certain facility are identical.


.

[Mikey]

351 power:  I have used federal brass when wildcatting a pistol round and found that it lasted longer than either Winchester of Remington.  Both the later would flatten their rims (lose legibility of the print on the case head), losen the primer pockets just enough....) and turn out a bit softer after a couple of reloads.  Federal brass seemed to go on for about twice the reloads.  HTH.  Mikey.

[351 power]

thanks. i am reloading for .303 british. the longer i can make those last the better. i will save the federal cases for sure. any place to buy new federal cases?

[spinafish]

the last place I saw Federal brass listed for sale was at Graf and Sons..

[Brithunter]

With 303 British the thing to check with brass cases is the measurement of the case at the web. Most American made brass is undersize at this important point, a useful thing to some as we use these cases to make 6.5x53R cases, if the web is the correct size the cases will last longer as they don't have to stretch at this point where the case wall thins to fill the chamber. If it is undersize as most seem to be then the case has to bulge out to fill the chamber and lower case life is the result. They should measure 0.455" at the web but most are only 0.450" and if the chamber is slightly loose as a lot of ex-service 303's are then the cases have to expand even more which weakens them. I personally use a lot of HXP 69 brass and have not had a failure with them as yet. It was made to the correct specs which helps i am sure. Good luck with your handloads.

[351 power]

that is good info. thanks. i'll measure some cases. most fired cases do seem to have a bulge .25" ahead of the rim. i'm getting good accuracy with this rifle so i don't mind the extra details. what is hxp 69 brass?

[Brithunter]

HXP is Greek Milsurp brass the 69 is the year it was amde. I brougth a case of this ammo  which was 1200 odd rounds I also have afew HXP 83 brass so it was made quite late. They also made 30-06 ammo as well. It's boxer primed and of excellent quality.

[Dave in WV]

The .303 Enfield rifles have a loose chamber for dirty combat conditions. If you are full length resizing your brass, smoke a lubed fired case's neck. With the ram of your press at it's highest position, screw the die down until it touches the shell holder and then screw the die back out three full turns. Place your fired case with the smoked neck in the shell holder and run the case through the die and examined the case's neck area. Some of the smoke on the neck will be wiped off. Turn the down down a little at a time and resize the case until you have wiped the smoke off of the case neck just above the shoulder. Lock the die with the locking ring. You will partially full length resize the case but not set the shoulder back. Your brass will last longer if you do this.

[Brithunter]

Hi Dave,

   Not all Lee Enfields have loose chambers, it seems to be more of a common thing with teh No4's than the earlier No1's in my experience. And using correctly sized cases helps even more. I do not understand why they cannot make the cases to the proper specs. Winchester is especially bad at this and even make their own designed 30-30 brass with undesized heads. Oh and Lee collect dies do it even easier.

[351 power]

i'm using the lee collet die. and just recently i changed the bolt head to tighten up headspacing. this is a mk4 #2 rifle.

[Brithunter]

I have a sporterised (commercial job) No4 Mk1/2 rifle the chamber of which is slightly larger than that on the much ealier BSA built sporting rifle that is built on a Metford carbine action. It seems they changed the specs to loser ones with the No4's. Perhaps they encounters chambering problems in adverse conditions with the original tighter sizes?

Another thing to look at of course are the cases and check the rim thickness of them 

[351 power]

measured some recently fired cases. .454 at the web   unfired frontier cases measure.450
brithunter, is there a brand of brass that you can buy thatis full .455"?

[Brithunter]

Sorry 351 power but I cannot help you there as I have not brought any new brass for some years and that was the R.P brass I told you about which is undersize. 0.004" expansion is not bad as it's only 0.002" each side.

[351 power]

thanks. i will probably buy federal ammo and save the brass. with the adjusted headspace, the brass should last longer anyway