Two things come to mind. Make sure you aren't getting any case lube on the shoulders of your brass when you go to resize. You only want lube on the sides of the case and a little on the case mouth. If you get lube on the shoulders of some pieces you will get a lot of variation on shoulder bump.
Federal brass isn't great, but it's adequate and I've made some very accurate loads with it. I guess it all depends on who's loading it. In any case if you are getting varying shoulder bumps the common causes are lube and or shellholder contact with die. You might consider the Redding Competition shellholder set for more consistent shoulder bump.
Yup the expander ball can do that. I polish mine with JB Cleaning compound although any polishing compound will work fine. Get it to a mirror finish and measure the diameter prior to starting. You want to polish it, not change the diameter unless you want more neck tension. I think Redding also makes a carbide expander ball for around 44 bucks. That might be something to consider too. Or you can use a mandrel expander, I think i had Lyman M expander dies.
I was in a small town in Northern Az and walked into a Pawnshop/Gunshop and they had a 4 bags of Winchester Brass, 200 total pieces, I bought all of it. Was $18.99 a bag. I've yet to use it but it was too good of a deal to pass up.
I use a lube pad and smear lube onto the pad. A little goes a long way. Roll the case on the pad and then just press the case mouth onto the pad like you would if you were dotting an eye but hold it there and turn the case a little. That will be enough for the case mouth. Be careful not to use too much lube. If you have lube coming out of the vent hole on the die or are getting case dents you have to much lube. With the right amount of lube on the case mouth you should have a smooth upstroke when your expander ball pulls back through the mouth.
Federal can produce accurate reloads for you. You just need to toss it after a couple of firings.
I wouldn't get too worked up over it. My 308 Win is an old PSS Gen 1 that my family got me when I returned home from the Army in 1991. It's very accurate and I love it due to the accuracy and sentimental value. Federal brass was all I shot out of it and I must have over 10k rounds through it's barrel. I tried all types of dies and finally now to make things easy I just size it in a RCBS X die. That way I don't have to trim brass anymore. You have to set up that die to cam over, but I do just a slight cam over and get around 2 thou shoulder bump. And it still makes great ammo. So don't get too worked up. This is all supposed to be fun.
Same here!
Plus 1 On the X Die. I have one in 223 and 308. Wish they made them in more calibers.I wouldn't get too worked up over it. My 308 Win is an old PSS Gen 1 that my family got me when I returned home from the Army in 1991. It's very accurate and I love it due to the accuracy and sentimental value. Federal brass was all I shot out of it and I must have over 10k rounds through it's barrel. I tried all types of dies and finally now to make things easy I just size it in a RCBS X die. That way I don't have to trim brass anymore. You have to set up that die to cam over, but I do just a slight cam over and get around 2 thou shoulder bump. And it still makes great ammo. So don't get too worked up. This is all supposed to be fun.
I rarely have to shoulder bump my Lapua brass fired in my 6.5-06. Most gets neck sized only with Imperial dry lube.
