If you bought 130 pieces of federal "gold" metal 308 brass off ebay that was advertised as once fired and fired by a police sniper. 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.

I was ticked. And from a person with over 2000 faverable sales. I emailed back and told how irresponsible that is for them to sale such a thing. And if fired like 5 times, I could get a case rupture and hurt myself and other around me. Do you think I was too hard or off base.

I wouldn't be too happy about that either!! I don't think that was being too harsh, because its the truth! I wouldn't buy any once fired brass unless I could see the brass before the purchase. That is why I stick with only new brass that only I will load, except for the .45 ACP brass that I can find at the range or that people are willing to let off their hands for free, because most .45 brass can be fired many times before any problems become present, and I do check each case before loading.

You were a lot nicer than I would have been.......

Well, I might have to eat my words. Wrote Federal and they said they have and do make some Federal Gold Metal ammo with gold plated primers. Well, sure won't be the first time I could have been wrong.

Still, there was such a visible ring on above the base from expansion, I am not sure of "once fired". Learned a lesson from this. Buy only brass you know where it came from.

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.

Dang BC I sell all kinds of used once fired brass on Ebay..too bad what happened and there is not much you can do except leave negative feedback. I am thinking buying and selling brass is a bad thing on Ebay anyway. In todays sue happy times someone can cook up a dangerous handload and blow themselves up and then sue you for selling faulty brass. I cleaned out what I could at home the rest I'll leave at the range secretly and no one has to know I owned it. Garbage brass gets thrown out after I wack the necks shut with a hammer.

eld, all I could do is look at the appearance. I measured cases I have resized, and compared against. I also notice a very visible bright ring near the base. The primers were much flatter than any I have ever reloaded. And thats alot of 308 ammo. Gut feelings, along with the primers being gold, made me send them back to the person. Maybe they are once fired, but alot of things told me different. Didn't have time or interest in finding out. So I got a refund. And from now on buy them new.

oldelk, so how is the 7mmSTW project coming along. You were telling people about your new project. Never heard the outcome.

I'd be pissed. But it doesn't mention what rifle the so-called 'sniper' fired these through. Could have been an old israeli mauser with excessive headspace and a loose chamber. I'd send the brass back and explainingg that the 'sniper' had better have his barrel set back before he makes any more brass for sale.[:'(]
If you can't do that, I would put in some serious negative feedback in the guy's column.

I don't like to use other people's brass unless its stuff fired from a handgun on the bench next to me from a person who was shooting new ammo and doesn't reload.

They said 700PSS rifle.