Federal 308 brass

303hunter

303hunter

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Got some federal gold medal match 308 ammo and want to know if this brass is prepared differently from regular federal brass? There are not any specific markings on this brass to differentiate it. Opinions? Need it for a long distance shoot.
 
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If you are wanting good brass to handload, Lapua is what you want. For loaded ammo, it’s all dependent on what the gun shoots well. FGMM is usually decent in most rifles, but I’d never buy anything federal for the brass.
 
FGMM is the best that Federal makes. Whether it is different/better than their other fodder, I dont know. IMO, Its still good brass. Lapua is great brass. The thickness of the two brasses is different especially in the necks. Some of the loaded FGMM ammo and some of their bagged brass sold for reloading components has a ring on the neck at the case mouth that needs deburring. Same goes for Lapua. The Lapua brass is harder and therefore it is "harder" to get rid of that ring.
 
Guess I should have said more about what I’m doing. Recently purchased an unfired Savage model 10 heavy barrel 308 from one of our members. It came with 2 boxes of FGMM. The rifle is extremely accurate with this ammo, but as a reloader, I gotta try. I’ve got Sierra 175 match king projectiles, a couple pounds Varget, CCI and Winchester LRP, PPU and Federal cases.

I’ve never reloaded for long range, but have put together some very accurate hunting loads. I’m gonna try to replicate the group below with hand loads. Two shots on the left are bore sighting a new scope, and to the right is the final group at 100 yards, all with 168 FGMM.

PXL_20240207_175703244.jpeg
 
I used to get loads of FGMM brass from a local PD range. I always had great luck with it. Full length size, trim to length, VLD chamfer and deburr. If you want to go one more step, after you fire it, neck size only. The savage model 10 I had liked 168gmm ammo. It liked 180gr better.
 
Burt Gummer said:
I used to get loads of FGMM brass from a local PD range. I always had great luck with it. Full length size, trim to length, VLD chamfer and deburr. If you want to go one more step, after you fire it, neck size only. The savage model 10 I had liked 168gmm ammo. It liked 180gr better.
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I’d appreciate any info you can give me, Brian, If you can get any brass I can use some.
 
You can generally tell FGMM from regular FC by the blue primer pocket sealant they use

According to Federal: “Each piece of Gold Medal brass is checked during production with gauges and optical comparators for neck run-out, depth, flash hole consistency and more. The Gold Medal cases have the most difficult threshold to meet…”


I like it, and try to pick it up whenever I can
 
My model 10 does well with FC brass. Anneal, size, trim, debur. H4895, varget. 168 smk is a ragged hole at 100 yds. 175 groups better at 200 and further
 
300tac said:
My model 10 does well with FC brass. Anneal, size, trim, debur. H4895, varget. 168 smk is a ragged hole at 100 yds. 175 groups better at 200 and further
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What charge weight of Varget are you using with the 175’s if you don’t mind? I know all rifles are different, but you’re also shooting a model 10, it would give me a good place to start.
 
The only Federal brass i have is the "Match nickel brass" all new or shall I say have used.
The other Federal brass i avoid, some of the Gold match stuff seems alright, do notice its hit n miss on the primer pockets staying tight, but some of that is load dependent. For match / Target / LR if you will, is Lapua brass, there is 2 different variations of it Small rifle and Large rifle. Depending on application / platform, determines the brass. Remington 700 S.A. with Hart SS barrels / Bartlein or M1A'S with Kreiger barrels, there are some other Rifles but the ones mentioned it's Lapua brass, even in the 338LM.

Now Hornady brass from what Ive observed has a tendency to "flow" leave false signs of high pressure ( it maybe in Hornady brass) but in other brass given same load no issues... Just some thoughts YMMV

-Snoopz
 
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Had a friend drop off 40 once fired FGMM brass today, so I’ll be good for awhile. Most places I’ve seen are out of 308 match brass, including Starline. I’ll get some eventually, but the gift horse is hard to ignore!
 
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Is FGMM different from normal Federal brass? I don't think so. I can't tell a difference in features or performance and I do use them interchangeably. But what I can tell you is that of all the headstamps I have other than Lapua, they are what has done the best for me. I do keep my Federal brass separate from the other headstamps, and it is the base assumption for casing on my 308win precision handloads at this time. I have 100 Lapua 308win cases I still need to load up and try, but aside from that my preferred case is Federal. You can't go wrong using it and I do think it's worth your time. For what it's worth, my preferred load is 175gr SMK, Varget, CCI BR-2, and Federal case. I think you're starting out on the right foot by using a similar combination.
 
303hunter said:
Had a friend drop off 40 once fired FGMM brass today, so I’ll be good for awhile. Most places I’ve seen are out of 308 match brass, including Starline. I’ll get some eventually, but the gift horse is hard to ignore!
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Oh dude I'll take all the free Federal 308 brass anyone gives me haha. 40 rounds of free brass is always great, but especially Federal. Give your friend a big thank you and load those up! :D
 
I'll echo earlier comments and say I've had great luck with FGGM brass in both my Tikka and a M14 clone.
I got some Norma brass from a forum vendor that's been working very well. It's harder than the Federal. The Norma will "chip" when I chamfer the mouth where the Federal would simply cut like butter.
 
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