I've had bad luck with federal in more than one caliber. Seems the brass is soft. I've heard others on the net complain about it too. Primer pockets get loose quick.

As for shotshells, I load a lot of federals. The federal gold medal hull is as good as anything. Most of the rest is not so good.

I load steel shot, which is a whole 'nother breed of cat. I load federals partly because that is what I have, and partly because that is what the best recipes are for. The hulls aren't very good, often the crimps blow off straight out of the box new, so I can maybe reload them twice.

The aforemention gold medals have no problems. If you are loading lead, go with remmy sts, or nitro gold (they are the same) They are top notch, I've heard, although they don't have the capacity to load much steel shot.