Are any 7.62*39 steel case ammo brands “better” than others?

I haven’t had a problem with any steel ammo brands running in my rifles. I found Wolf to be the dirtiest though over Golden Tiger.

"Steel" 7.62x39 ammo usually means steel core ammo. That means there is a steel core, surrounded by a thin layer of lead, then jacketed in copper. Here's a cross section of some typical steel core 7.62:



Steel cased ammo is simply ammo with the brass case replaced by a cheaper steel case. The steel is usually lacquered or brass washed to give it some corrosion resistance.

TheWarhammer said:

"Steel" 7.62x39 ammo usually means steel core ammo. That means there is a steel core, surrounded by a thin layer of lead, then jacketed in copper.

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I think the general understanding is steel ammo these days refers to the case material. A simple check of any online ammunition sight will immediately show ammo described steel vs brass cased and priced accordingly.

New 762x39 loaded with steel core bullets is kind of rare anymore after it was declared illegal armor piercing handgun ammo back in the early 90s and banned from importation. Far and away the vast majority of imported steel-cased ammunition now has a pure lead core and a bi-metal jacket which will attract a magnet. There are "range friendly" versions sold with the same steel case and a more traditional copper jacket which is non-magnetic. Keeping tabs on which specific one people are shooting is a pain. Many ranges forbid the use of steel cased ammo. I've been to a number where the a range officer has magnets to check your ammo before allowing it on the range. Possible fire danger from steel jackets sparking on targets is real and they often bring up added wear on backstops (I'm not 100% sold on this one). Of course lost revenue from reselling once-fired brass is there too though often unspoken.

I was never all that impressed with the old steel-cored bullets other than really low cost, since we were buying up obsolete surplus ammo inventories which foreign countries might otherwise have scrapped. Of course we were dumb enough to chamber pistols in the 762x39 (and later 545x39) leading to the steel core import bans. We are lucky to have enough domestic support not to have the various nato 556x45 penetrators fall to the same fate with the huge popularity of AR pistols.

That said, most of the steel cased ammo sold now is produced in just a few overseas plants and marketed under many name brands. Whether its Wolf, one of the Bears or Tigers, or house brands like Century's Red Army (used to called Hot Shot), Cabelas Herters or Academy's Monarch it's probably made by either Tula or Barnual. Ammo is made to the spec ordered which changes regularly mostly based on costs. You are likely to see anywhere from 120-126 grains of FMJ, HP, SP, or frangible bullets of varying profiles and overall length with stated velocity ranges from 2100 to 2450 fps all lumped together as simply "steel 762x39". The reality is this makes recommending any given one as 'better' simply by name brand a bit of a challenge.

Possible fire danger from steel jackets sparking on targets is real and they often bring up added wear on backstops (I'm not 100% sold on this one).

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Until ranges started banning steel case ammo a couple years ago, I shot steel cases almost exclusively.

I think people were mixing 5.45 armor piercing in with their commercial ammo when the surplus stuff was washing over the market 2009-2011ish. That’ll eat the backstop up. So, it was probably that combination that got everyone to go “steel case bad!”

Prince Yamato said:

Until ranges started banning steel case ammo a couple years ago, I shot steel cases almost exclusively.

I think people were mixing 5.45 armor piercing in with their commercial ammo when the surplus stuff was washing over the market 2009-2011ish. That’ll eat the backstop up. So, it was probably that combination that got everyone to go “steel case bad!”

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Anything over 3100 fps will cut steel and eat through backstops which is why I always questioned the whole argument for steel vs brass when it comes to 223 and 545x39. Heck it anything I'd want to keep the old varmint guys with their 25-06 and swifts away from the line. Those slow moving handgun loads and lower velocity rifle like 762x39 just don't think the jacket would make that much difference.

From what I understand the Russian ammo manufacturers at times are not very consistent with materials in their ammo. Different runs of ammo can use different powders and even slightly different bullets.

So YMMV when shooting different lots of the same ammo

I have both an AK and SKS, and I've never noticed a difference in any way between the brands easily available and cheap for me: Red Army Standard, Tula, Wolf, and Brown Bear. I'm not a good enough shooter to see a difference, and I don't think the guns are good enough to show any difference.

I haven't ever had any malfunctions of any kind with either gun using the previously mentioned ammo.

I've heard that TulaAmmo is not as good or lower quality, but that hasn't been my experience. I don't remember where/when/who said that.

I do remember watching Nut'n Fancy shoot a sub moa group (I think) with a Ruger American chambered in 7.62x39. I want to say he was using Wolf. Of course, that isn't typically, and says more about the gun than the ammo in my opinion.

American_Fusilier said:

I do remember watching Nut'n Fancy shoot a sub moa group (I think) with a Ruger American chambered in 7.62x39. I want to say he was using Wolf. Of course, that isn't typically, and says more about the gun than the ammo in my opinion.

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Pretty sure the video in question was using Hornady v-max which is way better quality than the foreign made ammo.

illinoisburt said:

Pretty sure the video in question was using Hornady v-max which is way better quality than the foreign made ammo.

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And WAY more expensive, too!

Why is it so difficult every 100-200 or so rounds to push a few patches of Ballistol through the chamber/bore, and wipe the excess?

Ballistol’s properties do Not require the psychologically uncomfortable step (It would seem...) of first putting rubber gloves on both hands.

Cleaning 7.62x39 guns must no longer be compared with cleaning radioactive waste in Chernobyl——

Mars5l said:

Totally said this is a FPSRussian voice in my head

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Stupid doper, no more toys for him.

Bill

TheWarhammer said:

And WAY more expensive, too!

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True. But he also got an moa group with Red Army Standard brass ammo