Federal brass primer backing out

[3006softpoint]

I hate to knock any company but the other day i was at the range and a guy was shooting some factory federal ammo ! He was saving his brass for reloading! He had the spent brass stuck back in the box next to the live rounds! I could noticably see that 2 spent rounds the primers had backed out slightly of primer pocket! They were factory because there was that blue sealer on the primer and the case bottom! Whats up with the federal brass! I had a similar problem with some once fired federal brass! A once fired Federal case reloaded  fell of the reloading bench on to the carpeted floor and the cci 200 fell out ! Dale

[wncchester]

It's not uncommon!  If the rifle has excess headspace!   But it usually gets re-seated when fired!  Federal cases are not unique, any of them can do it!  It's not dangerous the first time!  May become unsafe if he doesn't resize them correctly tho!  It's quite safe to store fired cases in an ammo box!  (This is exciting!)    

[chutesnreloads]

And what cartridge are we talking about?I've seen American factory 8x57 (just happened to be Federal)have primers back out simply because they're loaded so wimpy.The brass can't seal completly in the chamber.Same brass with full power reloads are just fine.Could this be the case?

[3006softpoint]

30-06 was the case size! I know the cases were once fired! I fired them the first time!  The primers during depriming did not have alot of resistance after the first firing! I Hate to send any once fired or 3 times fired head to the scrap pile! Dale

[necchi]

It's not uncommon,  If the rifle has excess headspace, 

I'd side with that, could be the guy's gun.
 I'm reloading F-C stamped brass in 308 without trouble,,when a primer slides in a little too easy I mark it and it's headed for it's last shot. But all my fed brass is 2nd hand stuff.
 Caint really say about new fed brass, haven't bought any.

[Lloyd Smale]

first question id ask him is if hes every tried any other ammo in that gun and if it did it with them. Could be headspace. It also could have been a bad batch of brass with loose primer pockets or a bad bunch of undersized primers. Ive seen bad brass and primers but never from federal but thats not saying it couldnt happen.

[scratcherky]

As several of the replies suggested, one of the most common reasons for primers to back out is excessive headspace.

[sk330lc]

Low pressure will cause this if the head space in to much.

[skarke]

+1 sk330

[Siskiyou]

I have had absolutely no problem with Federal Brass I have reloaded.  I have loaded it in at least six different rifle calibers, and three handgun calibers without a problem.  I consider it a high quality brass.

The majority of this brass was generated from Federal factory loaded ammunition.  I have some Federal 303 British that dates back to the early 1960’s, I have more current Federal brass in 270, 7 Mag, and 243 that is a couple years old.

A few years back I bought a few hundred Federal factory loads on sale in 270, 243, and 30-30 as a good source of brass.

A couple months ago  My great-grandson-in-law and I had a reloading training session at my bench with 80-pieces of Federal 30-06 brass fired one time in his Savage 110 rifle.  I have a large lighted magnifying glass at my bench and each piece of brass was inspected by me and him under the glass before it was deprimed.  The brass appeared to be of good quality, and fired factory primers appeared to be normal. 

I would not place a member of my family or a fellow shooter at risk if I thought load components were faulty.

As a LEO I have fired a lot of 223, 9mm, 38 Special, 357 Magnum, and 45ACP Federal ammunition; it was reliable, accurate, and did not demonstrate any problems.  I am writing about thousands of rounds.

[Lloyd Smale]

got to agree. Id bet on the gun being the problem before the ammo.

[TheSilverSlayer]

"A once fired Federal case reloaded  fell of the reloading bench on to the carpeted floor and the cci 200 fell out ! Dale"

He did say that a CCI 200 fell out of the primer pocket when he dropped a case on the floor. If he was talking about processed brass with a new primer installed, this would be indicative of previous loads being too hot-enlarging the primer pocket.  But then again, I think he also said this was once fired brass. Something doesn't add up here.

[3006softpoint]

Silver slayer: Yes factory load that my savage 111 shot!(30-06) Then I processed the brass and yes one cci primer fell out! Out of the same box of factory ammo in a 7400 remington(30-06)I had one factory primer back out half the depth of the primer pocket! Needless to say there are very few federal brass yet still in the house to reload! Have not seen this happen with the remington brass , winchester brass or hornady brass! Usually the necks crack before the primer pockets get loose! I don't run my loads ever max loads! I am thinking Just a bad batch of brass or poor inspecting!

[Lloyd Smale]

i wouldnt doubt you got some hotter factory loads. I was fooling around earlier this year when i got a new 280. I didnt have enough brass on hand and my buddys gun shop had some 165 corelock loaded ammo on the shelf and he sold me 5 boxes for 50 bucks so i figured i got it for the price of the brass. I pulled the bullets to save for later and dumped the powder. I was curious what they used so i started weighing charges to compare it to a loading manual. I weighted 20 charges out of the same box and they varied from the lightest to the heaviest by 5 grains!!! It shows a guy that even those factory machines have problems metering stick powders like 4350 and 4831 and it would be pretty easy for a batch to sneek through that was a bit overpressure. I would deprime one of those cases and send it in to federal and have them take a look at it.

[TheSilverSlayer]

Did you possibly damage a primer pocket when prepping the case?