Pistols that function with steel cased ammunition ?

CZ’s

All guns should function with steel. It might be tough on extractors though.

Guns with super tight chambers also don’t like the lacquer finish. It melts and might cause sticky extraction.

Glocks

Which pistols are you seeing have issues with steel cased ammo?

Easiest answer is former Soviet pistols chambered in 9x18 like the Makarov, P64, etc.

I’m not sure if this was part of the design or not, but my Glocks and Sigs (P22x series) haven’t had any issues with steel cased ammo over several thousand rounds.

The lacquer finish on steel cases does not melt just like that... That's an urban myth. Any well made pistol will function just fine with steel cased ammo.

I've shot steel case 45acp through my Kimber and not had a problem.

Glocks, Sigma VE, and 1911s function well with steel case in my experience. But some other guns, especially those in .380 often do not.

Chrysler made a butt-load of steel cased Caliber .45 during WW2, and the stuff was still being used in the 1980s.

So, M1911A1s seem to function with it.

I have used it on occasion in a variety of pistols, mostly to check it to see if it works. It runs dirtier, because steel doesn't swell andd fill the chamber as well as brass does. I can't recall ever having any problems with any of them, Glock, Springfield XD, Ruger EC9, or a variety of 1911s. I replaced the extractor in my RIA 9mm with a Wilson Bulletproof extractor, I wouldn't think any or my extractors would wear out easily.

I am going to guess that if you lined up 1000 rounds of each in identical guns and magazines, and rapid fired all of them, they would probably both be fine, the steel-cased gun would be a lot dirtier.

I shot a whole lot of Tula out of a LCP during the ammo shortage and never a problem. I have been shooting my Beretta Nano lately with a lot of Wolf and Tula and the gun eats the stuff up. And I have been getting it at Target Sports for $6.43 for a box of 50 shipped free to my door step. I have two Nano's one with the APX grip. Both guns shoot it fine. Every now and then, I will get one that sticks when the gun has a lot of rounds fired in one session and gets dirty. I just take a swap and clean it quickly and keep on trucking.
My Kahr CM9 also has no problem with the ammo.

A whole case (1000 rounds) of S&B brass plated steel 9mm went thru my Glocks without a problem.

P5 Guy said:

A whole case (1000 rounds) of S&B brass plated steel 9mm went thru my Glocks without a problem.

Click to expand...

Only one?

rskent said:

Only one?

Click to expand...

I never saw the brass plated offered again.

Stopped off at the outdoor range yesterday to try out a new gun. (ourdoor range is near the area I hunt)
Also brought along both Nano's (one with standard grip and other with Apx grip). I was tired from being up at 4am to go hunting all day, but wanted to make use of the range time. I had my bag with 12 magazines for the Nano. I dumped both Wolf steel case and American eagle in a pile and mixed them up. Loaded up all the magazines and just did rapid firing to 10" targets at 10 - 15 yds. Rapid fired both guns, loaded up magazines and repeated. All bullets went into the targets at nice groups. Dang if I could feel any difference in the two or tell you which bullet hole in the target was which. Both guns shot flawlessly.
The only thing I knew for sure is one box of ammo was about $2.00 cheaper than the other.

About 30 min. at range, Got into my car and headed home. Most of the time at the range was spent loading up mags. Amazing how fast a box of ammo can go. You can almost hear a cash register going off in you head with each box of ammo shot. CHA-CHING!

I had a rock island 9mm 1911 that loved steel case tulammo but not aluminum case stuff.

I bought some Wolf 9x19. It feeds in my single stack P38 and P1 pistols but not in my High Power. At least until I sprayed a little RemOil on the cases. That got me through the range session but the Browning gets nothing but brass from now on.

Glocks, Beretta 92s, my PX4 subcompact. All of them work fine with steel in my experience. YMMV

Any decent handgun should work fine with steel. I've put about 30k rounds of steel through a g19, wore out some internals, sent it back to glock they fixed it for free and had it back to me within a week. I doubt that the wear (on the plastic housing that you connect the crucifix to) had anything to do with shooting steel. I still haven't seen an extractor wear out.

The only reason I shoot brass cased ammo is that you can buy (Speer 147gr) with a fully encased projectile so that there is no lead spawl when shooting suppressed. High quality brass ammo is also marginally more accurate, and the velocity is more consistent. However, if you are not shooting suppressed, and can't consistently shoot a quarter at 15 yds., it will make no difference. Indeed, you would probably be better served by buying more cheap ammo and practicing.

I have a hi power that absolutely will not tolerate steel cases. Don't know why.

Steel shouldn't make any difference. It never has for me. Why would steel make a difference?

I have never tried aluminum cased.

I've 4 9mm 1911s,2 92fs and a CZ75 and all function with Wolff steel cased ammo.

in my own experience:
makarov style ij70 in 380acp, because it’s russian.
ruger blackhawk convertible in 45lc/acp and 357/38/9mm, because they are revolvers.

Dan-O: have you seen any residue in a handgun chamber which is verified as a result of melted or hardened lacquer?

it’s just that I can’t remember reading a description of it as being solidified lacquer, despite hundreds of comments which seem to claim that it happens.

I put several empty .380 cases with lacquer coatings in our oven at 400 degrees F.
Only a very tiny drop from each was present, and these were absorbed by a paper towel.

if any liquid were present below 400 degrees, that might be a surprise.
Russian ammo was manufactured to function with such ammo— was it not? If so, it seems to have done quite well. I’ve never read about any Makarov, SKS or AK having a stoppage due to such ammo’s lacquer coatings.