Anyone having trouble with FC brass?

[Whiskey11]

Well, I managed to get 9 reloadings out of my 120 pieces of Federal GMM .308 brass. If they where not getting a bit long in the headspace (bolt difficult to close) I wouldn't have tried to FL size it, but I'm losing about 4 out of 10 to split necks since they where never annealed. I stopped FL sizing after about 30 so I've got a few left that I could anneal and keep going. Some loose primer pockets, but really not loose enough for me to care. Only loading them with 43.4 gr of Varget under a 168gr SMK.

 

[BruceB]

There are several thousand 5.56mm/.223 cases in my shop. There are four different .223 rifles in the rack, three auto-loaders and a bolt-action. ALL the brass is sorted by headstamp, and all of it gets fired in all the rifles.

FACT: FC/Federal cases have failed far more often, and earlier, than any other brass from different makers. I scrapped about 800 FC-marked 5.56 cases last year, after numerous neck and/or shoulder cracks, and a fair number of partial head separations as well.

My .223 loads are moderate, as demonstrated both by the normal life-spans of my non-Federal brass, and by my chronograph readings.

To put it plainly, I won't even pick up once-fired federal cases when I find them on the ground....and that's saying something for a pack-rat such as I....!