Lots of good ideas here as to why things were "sticky upon" opening. Both the primers and the steel heads sound quite feasible. They sell Remington stuff at the local clubs as well. Is that something I should consider instead of the Federals? Also, I should clarify...the 1-ounce Federals were clearly warmer than my usual RST loads. My perception of varying recoil could be merely because of the occasional stickiness upon opening.
I doubt that Remington Gun Club will solve that problem for you. It's a steel head too. The STS is a still a brass head to my knowledge. Brass rebounds better, and should not be sticky to open. Of course, STS is a premium and thus expensive shell.
You might try a one ounce load from Fiocchi. They make good ammunition in general. Even though they use a steel head shell I've never known Fiocchi to cause sticky opening.
Your RST is a euro made steel head shell too, they just load to lower pressure and that does help the head release it's grip after firing.
I had a Merkel for a while that was very difficult to open unless fed brass headed shells.
