Gold Medal Grand

It would appear these will be Federal's premium offering for the future. Comments have been very negative because of the steel base. In viewing other shells on the market from Winchester and a couple Remington the steel base and perhaps even the straight wall hull may be the way of the future... Rather than make a value judgment based on comments I bought a couple boxes to inspect for my own evaluation. Bases are copper washed steel and appear to have good primer pockets and in my reloading with my 9000H seem to size well. I see no difference in hull construction, I cut one vertically and the hull base is what I am used to in the Gold Medal design, basically a one piece hull. I have loaded one box 4 times using the 12S3 wad, 22gr Green Dot, Fed 209 primer and 1 1/8 shot..... at this point I see one pleat on one case mouth starting to split. I have loaded the other box with the same stuff other than the wad, I used the FIO RS-21 instead and see no damage at all in the crimp area. I changed none of the settings on my 9000H and the resulting crimp has been great.
I have no opinion on the steel base, all my guns seem to handle them well and my MEC apparently does not care what I put through it.....
I have enough brass based hulls for Fed and Rem to last forever so I am not going to purchase more but if push came to shove at this point I believe I would do just fine. Larry

 

I believe that steel bases are our future. I too have a 9000 and have no issues with steel but I do know a number of folks that run 800's that are not happy with the shift.

 

Last night I shot the "new" hulls again and ran a box of the "old" Gold medals through the gun for comparison. The "new" Grands still show no issues but the box of "old" GM I ran through the gun show splits in about half the shells. Perhaps the Grands have a different plastic compound?? A comparison of the crimp between new of both types shows a very superior crimp on the Grand and even my reloaded ones have a much better crimp than the Gold Medal's.... if it were not for the slight powder residue on my reloads you would not be able to tell them from new....... Primer pockets are still perfect after 5 firings......... Larry

 

It will be interesting to see if Claybuster or someone will try and copy the new wad in the Grand shells so not to interfere with the patent. I have not shot any yet but what I have heard from a friend that did, he likes them, nice and smooth at 1100 fps with nice breaks.

 

griz,
The ones I bought were 1200fps....... there is a definite difference in felt recoil between them and the 1200 Gold Medal. My gun handles recoil very well and I am not sensative to it but firing alternating rounds the difference was there. A friend back of the line was wondering what I was doing as the sound was even different. I then fired a few more of the Grand shells alternating with STS 1145 and the 1200 Grand FELT softer.......... Larry

 

Bit of an update.... I finally discarded the "Grand" hulls..... Loaded them a total of 8 times and observed no issues. Not sure why but the white hull still appeared fairly clean. There were a couple small cracks in the pleats of about 5 or 6 but no other issues. My experience would indicate that at least as far as the plastic in the hull the Grand is superior to the Gold Medal I have and the steel base is simply not an issue. I went back to Wal-Mart to buy a flat (just to have one) and found NONE and the manager indicated there were none on order. It would seem the store is shifting its inventory to Winchester. There were 5 boxes of Nitro27 and 3 boxes of Sporting clays....... I read lots of posts on other sites about the reloading of the Gun Club hull......... I've not seen any of those offered for several years....... Larry

 

I'm hoarding brass based shells to sell to the Koler/Ljutic/K-Gun/Silver S/Etc. guys.......should be worth $0.20 each soon

 

RIO ammo has now begun to switch over from brass washed steel, to all brass heads

 

my concern with new federal is steel base sticks up out of collet on mec loaders. so the entire head is not getting compressed by collet. loaders with the ring will be superior on these cases.

 

It's possible we are talking different hulls....... the Gold Medal Grand has the same configuration base as the old Gold Medal and the complete base becomes enclosed in the collet and is resized........ Larry

 

Just bought a new trap gun from my local gunsmith and asked him about steel gold metal grand -- Federals are all he and his wife shoot -- He said he has been seeing excessive chamber ware on guns using steel based loads --- He is searching The country for the remaining brass based Federals shell he can find.-- Steel might work fine now but might be a sleeping monster down the road?

 

I must be lucky, having shot steel based shells for years and not one of my guns shows excessive chamber wear ... Me thinks someone is yanking someone chain ... Rios used to be as good as a bad shells could be because of the steel bases they would get stuck in many guns, have to beat the barrels on the pads at the posts to get them out on many occasions, not me personally but others ... I cannot imagine the amount of shells you would have to shoot to cause a detectable amount of chamber wear ... I think Kent used to have steel, I know Rio's did along with some others ... WPT ... (YAC) ...

 

You might be lucky or just haven't shot enough shells through it yet -- when you compare hardness of mild steel verses brass -- The hardness value of steel is almost %50 more for steel . How about those shells that don't stick in you chamber? what are they doing to your chamber? -- extractors? -- Ejectors? And how about your reloaders ?? Is that handle pulling any harder resizing with steel shells ? -- In my book any extra pressure equals extra ware! My chain has be tugged many times before , but I think this is just command sense. I am willing to spend a few cents more for a shell compared to what I have invested in my gun!

 

I have shot up to and including 37,500 (plus or minus) (this particular year I registered 11,700 Handicap targets) shells in a year including practice, games, etc ... I doubt that shotguns are made of soft steel when compared to the shells taking into consideration its from a block of steel versus a (paper thin) sheet the base of the shells would be punched out of and formed ... I have not reloaded in over 40 years so I do not care about that ... I broke one extractor back when I was shooting nothing but Federal Papers on the very first Perazzi MX-8 Combo I owned (1976 or 1977), those were not steel bases on the shells and they came 20 boxes to a case instead of 10 like the new and improved versions, I also wore out 5 or 6 firing pins and cracked a head space ring on a Winchester Model 12 ... Normal amount of shooting would be a guesstimate but between 25 and 40 flats per year on average the years when I was shooting (practice, games etc.) ...I will not shoot Registered shooting for personal reasons so I won't spend my money to benefit an association along with many others who won't either that' does not respect and benefit its membership, due to medical problems the past couple of years I have not shot at all ... I have the guns all cleaned up and ready, over 125 flats of shells in the garage (76 flats of Estates 3 dram 7 1/2s + 7 boxes , 31 flats + 4 boxes of Remington Nitro 27's Handicap 7 1/2's, plus a few mixed boxes of gun clubs and Rios, Kent, and Challengers ) (try saying that fast 4 or 5 times ) ... Me thinks someone is yanking your chain so if command ( common ) sense is applied and you do your home work you will find it hard to get shells with no steel in the base and find all your worry is needless ... I am not trying to convince you, think what you want ... My guns are no cheaper than yours and I would not give it a second thought ... WPT ... (YAC) ...

 

The only problem for me with the steel based hulls is they will not eject out of my 90t,and im running out brass based hulls,has anybody out there had there receiver reamed out to solve this problem.

 

Nitro's and STS are still brass. I would suggest you buy a few boxes of one or the other and not modify your gun. Several places were offering GM once fired and also STS and Nitro's. There may come a time when gun modification is needed but you still have alternatives........ you might also try one of the collet resizing devices to make sure the steel bases are taken back down to .805" or so and see if that works for you........ Larry

 

Thanks Larry for the reply , Ive used my super sizer and they still fail to eject, next step will be to polish out the forcing cone if that fails its off to the gunsmith.Sad to say looks like steel based hulls are taken over.

 

Give WPS a call he says steel isn't a problem -- When Gun Smiths across the country are getting calls to hole chambers Broken Extractors and stuck shells I won't shoot them

 

rrisum (rrisumsumsisn ) ,
New
Give WPS (WPT ) a call he says steel isn't a problem -- When Gun Smiths across the country are getting calls to hole (hone)chambers Broken Extractors and stuck shells I won't shoot them ... I also said someone was yanking your chainor did you forget that part already ..? I looked in my records and it was 7 firing pins, (probably got some bad ones ) that I broke or wore out on Model 12's ... I have been a life Member of the ATA for 45 years and in those years I told you the problems I had, didn't care if you liked it, believed it, or hanged it on a toilet paper roll and W _ _ ed you A - - with it ... I still think you got someone yanking your chain and you are to uhhhh ST--p-d to realize it ... PLEASE name just a few of the gun smiths you are referring to, I know most of them and will call them to verify what you are saying they know all about ... I did have a Ljutic that didn't eject shells but it was not the shells fault, once it was polished there was no more problems ... Tom Larkin was the Gunsmith that fixed it, or maybe it was P & P , Tony De Simone, one of them... WPT ... (YAC) ...

 

I hope you leave instructions for your executor.

 

Actually, I did ... I said do not under any circumstances sell anything for the amount I said I bought it for, that includes the shells as well as the guns ... WPT ... (YAC) ...

 

Remington is offering the "Clay and Field" with the steel base, I understand the green STS is on the way out? My guns seem to handle most anything just fine in new but my experience with loading steel is limited to the Grands and a few years back I loaded Top Guns.
PETETGUN, does you gun handle new with STEEL bases ok? Seems locally the Winchester steel base (new) seems to stick in some guns........ Larry

 

Hello Larry, my 90 t cant handel any steel based hulls,while my old bt99 or newer golden clays will eat and eject anything.

 

Surprised at that. I have had 5 90T's. That is the one gun that should handle them. Check ejector spring. Or those hulls really suck.

 

A shooting friend bought 10 flats of the Rem Clay and Field. He had read up on them and shot several boxes just to test and when a dealer had a sale on them he made the purchase...... Shot ok and reloaded just great on his 9000 but upon firing his reloads the base came out and the hull stayed in the chamber..... he shoots 3 different guns.... BT99, 725 Combo and a 725 unsingle. Not every shell but 3 or 4 out of a box. The hulls are not stuck as when he elevates the muzzle they just fall out....... Its obvious some guns just "know what they like"...... Larry

 

Received a flat of the Gold Medal Grand, 1200fps version, for a birthday gift.... GREAT. Shot a couple boxes and when I ran them through the 9000H the primers (FIO) had one helluva time seating in the base. Jump, snap, pop, they obviously did not like the fit........ put some Fed 209 in the tray and loaded just fine....... gonna buy some Winchester today to see if they like the fit.... I have not had this issue before with any steel based hull..... Larry

 

OMG, I am going to have to fess up to........ making a mistake ........... I know, I know, hard to believe but yes I did.
I have my 9000H equipped with one of the CRS Ultimate Primer Punch assemblies. I had been loading some Nitro27 hulls and wanted to snug up the primer pockets when switching from FIO to FED primers.......... that all worked fine. I forgot to reset the primer punch when I switched over to Federal Hulls and FIO primers........ I did learn this, if you want to snug up a primer pocket the UPC will damn sure do it. Its amazing how nicely the Federal Grand reloads if I do not go out of my way to make the primer pockets way too tight................. Larry

 

There is a very simple test you can do. Smack your barrel, receiver, etc. with a steel hammer, then with a brass hammer, and compare the damage. You could also do it with the shells themselves if you think that would be a better comparison.

My 90-T does not like steel hulls of any kind. I reloaded some Remington Clay and Fields. The first round I had one stick. After loading them eight times, none stuck. Resizing though was way to much pressure on the press for my liking, along with the pressure it took to punch them out of a Hornady 366. Steel hulls for now while I have plenty of brass to reload are not worth the hassle, or the shoulder problems.

 

I shoot a 101 Diamond Grade supposed to be from the 2nd or 3rd year of production..... I am the 4th owner. The gun has probably had every conceivable load possible run through it... Perhaps if I knew what to look for I might see damage from steel bases but for a 50+ year old gun everything is fine and tight..... Like you I have a bunch of brass hulls, As long as possible I will continue to buy brass and 99% of what I shoot is brass. Looking ahead though some sort of preparation for a "STEEL" future is probably not a bad thing.......... Larry