Federal 7mm BC ammo lot# to avoid?

[Animalmutha]

Has there been any release from federal on which lot #’s to avoid. I’ve seen a lot of traffic online and YouTube about them claiming the early ammo had accuracy and consistency issues.

Reached out to them. Haven’t heard back.

Want to dabble in it but my local store states that all their BC ammo is old stock from the initial release.

 

[Kyguy]

Highly doubt that they're going to release lot numbers and tell me people NOT to buy them. They would just recall the ammo at that point. If that hasn't happened, then they're going to deal with complaints as they come.

 

[Animalmutha]

Highly doubt that they're going to release lot numbers and tell me people NOT to buy them. They would just recall the ammo at that point. If that hasn't happened, then they're going to deal with complaints as they come.

Yeah I’ve read stuff like Federal sending people ammo 1 for 1 or sending them checks. I really just want to know when they “fixed” the ammo.

Too many critics of the round I guess. Federal doesn’t want to deal with them. It’s not like every other new round didn’t have hiccups early on.

 

[Nick4050]

It sounds like Remington is going to be releasing a few 7 BC offerings, which will at least give people some more options when testing out loads and maybe push Federal to dial in their stuff.

 

[UncleNommies]

Reached out to them. Haven’t heard back.

Did you ever get a response from Federal? I'm currently experiencing hard extraction issues. I've read that it could be from early production lots.

 

[Win54]

Did you ever get a response from Federal? I'm currently experiencing hard extraction issues. I've read that it could be from early production lots.

What brand of rifle are you using? I know a couple of manufacturers that had trouble with the 7 BC chambering.

 

[Animalmutha]

Did you ever get a response from Federal? I'm currently experiencing hard extraction issues. I've read that it could be from early production lots.

It was a while ago. They basically played it off as I remember. Sold that gun off. No longer in the 7bc realm. For what its worth gun was a Christensen. So can’t really say it was the ammo that was bad. I shoot other federal stuff with no issues.

 

[UncleNommies]

What brand of rifle are you using? I know a couple of manufacturers that had trouble with the 7 BC chambering.

Its a Tikka T3x action with a Proof Research PXT prefit barrel. Headspace is perfect with Go/ No-Go guages as well!

 

[UncleNommies]

It was a while ago. They basically played it off as I remember. Sold that gun off. No longer in the 7bc realm. For what its worth gun was a Christensen. So can’t really say it was the ammo that was bad. I shoot other federal stuff with no issues.

I appreciate the info man! I sent them a message as well, maybe I'll hear back, maybe not! Lol.

 

[Animalmutha]

I appreciate the info man! I sent them a message as well, maybe I'll hear back, maybe not! Lol.

It shot consistent speeds but was very inconsistent grouping with all the federal loads. Some groups .5” then it would turn around and shoot a 2” group with same lot. My local store that sold it said they had never gotten a new shipment of 7bc from the beginning cause of not enough being sold so I have no clue if my ammo was old or new.

 

[omicron1792]

It shot consistent speeds but was very inconsistent grouping with all the federal loads. Some groups .5” then it would turn around and shoot a 2” group with same lot. My local store that sold it said they had never gotten a new shipment of 7bc from the beginning cause of not enough being sold so I have no clue if my ammo was old or new.

Seems like the very first batches released had that issue

 

[UncleNommies]

It shot consistent speeds but was very inconsistent grouping with all the federal loads. Some groups .5” then it would turn around and shoot a 2” group with same lot. My local store that sold it said they had never gotten a new shipment of 7bc from the beginning cause of not enough being sold so I have no clue if my ammo was old or new.

I emailed Federal and they responded almost immediately, asking what rifle manufacturer and ammo lot #. Replied right then and I haven't heard back. According to good ole ChatGPT my lot #s are from the early production. It even told me my #s are known for causing extraction issues along with others, and Federal reduced the case dimensions slightly on current production to allow for proper case expansion. We will see what Federal actually says!

 

[UnckleBob]

It sounds like Remington is going to be releasing a few 7 BC offerings, which will at least give people some more options when testing out loads and maybe push Federal to dial in their stuff.

Federal and Remington have the same owners. They will be taking the same brass and simply loading different bullets.

 

[UncleNommies]

Federal responded finally to my email. They said my lot numbers on both boxes were made 2 months ago. My very first round was extremely hard extraction. Today I shot 4 more rounds out of one box and they cycled flawlessly. Pulled 5 from the next box, 1 had the same extraction issues and 4 cycled perfectly. I don't reload so I have zero knowledge, but the two cases that were hard to extract did not have the blue loctite looking stuff around the primers like the other 8. When placed primer down on a table the two with issues wobble like the primer is sticking out a little. Also im getting a brass looking imprint from the primer on the bolt face. Not sure if this is normal, I've never paid attention to this on any of my other rifles.