You recieve them and measure .02" of case head expansion and very visible mark from it. The primers are so flattened, you can almost see the markes of the bolt. The primers are gold, which to me means they didn't come from factory federals. At least I never have seen gold primers.
You mean the case heads miked .493" instread of .473"?? Two hundredths of an inch expansion? If so, you'd be hard-pressed to even get them into a sizing die, let alone a rifle chamber!
How can you tell how many times they were fired? Did you section a case, and discover incipient case-head separation? How tight are the primer pockets? Do they still hold new primers with correct tension? A lot of things besides excessive pressures can cause flattened primers.
I have seen gold (or brass) colored primers in Federal factory ammo, but it was in 7mm Remington Magnum "Hi-Shock" ammo, which was purchased many years ago. So it is conceivable that such primers were also used in some of their .308 stuff. But all Federal primers I have ever purchased as components were chrome-plated.