Federal brass works well for me. Tried the Winchester, found it too hard and brittle.

Wichester brass is well known for being the best of the 3 factory brass. I've never had a problem with Federal, and wouldn't hesitate for a minute to use it if it was all that is available.

yukonal… That's what I was told also, that Winchester couldn't be beet. I beg to differ though. I found it so hard I couldn't get a good seal with the cartridge around the neck. I had powder staining from the neck opening through to the shoulder. For the life of me I couldn't get it to seal. Even going through them when new, I culled more than a quarter bag due to “defects” and then another five during initial sizing.
I bought a bag of Federal and only lost two due to culling and sizing issues. They also sealed at the neck and I had no staining on it either.
Now, I'm not saying that all Winchester brass is complete crap and should be avoided at all cost, fact is, I probably had a bad batch and should have returned them.

Understood. I'd be curious to know the loaded neck diameter of a cartridge with the WIN brass vs the FEDERAL brass. I wonder if the Win has a smaller diameter than the Federal…allowing a tad of gas to get by.

I know that I have to use a completely different neck bushing when I load the same cartridge using Lapua brass, than WIN brass.

Also, are you using the expander button in your sizing die?

MSG me and we can discuss this… not our thread.  😛

I use Nosler Custom and have not had the first issue.

Some of the best accuracy I get out of my 300wsm comes from “Nickel Plated” Win brass / H4831sc / 180 Accubonds or 178 Amax…

I shot a few boxes of the Winchester silver tips when I first got the rifle, keep all the brass and now some of them have 5 reloads on them at least.

I have loaded the following 4 types of brass with no issues…
Federal
Nosler
Winchester
Winchester NP

Nickel plated brass is hard on dies.

I've heard this could screw up a Die, but so far no issues…

I would love to upgrade my reloading dies so they all have micrometer's for seating bullets.
Thats the plan anyhow.