[q] steel core or not: 7.62x25 surplus

[worker]

in my county
all the owners of the shooting ranges (I think we have
about 4) decided that will not allow to use
people their own ammo. So any range you go
in our county you have to buy their ammo.
For example 9x18 is 20 bucks for .50 rounds, it was at one time 26 bucks. .45 acp was $27 (this is all basic ammo: fmj). So needless to say, I stopped going there,
and instead have to drive about 25 miles to the closest range outside of the county. Even though the place is 6 minutes from work and 6 minutes from my appartment.

So the ammo that you buy from there is never
a surplus (cheap) ammo.
Therefore, for plinking you cannot buy cheap from them,
and for self-defense you cannot train with what you
are packing.

It is overall horrible, and has been like that for 3 years now.

One of the reasons they do not sell surplus ammo,
they told me yesterday (as I went to check again..), is that for example 7.62x25 tokarev
is 'steel core' and they do not allow that.

I know that previously they told me that the Wolf 9mm is steel core as well, and the 'proved it to me' by showing that
the bullet attaches to the magnet....

But arent' they full of 'cr***' because it is the case of the bulet that may be steel, not the bullet itself?... I am thinking that they are not truthfull about 7.62x25 surplus as well, so I just wanted to ask people on the board if the commonly sold 7.62x25 is steel core or not (and is there actually any surplus or newly manufactured ammo for civilian handguns is steel core)?

 

[BADUNAME13]

Alot of ammo has a 'mild' steel core...
It doesn't really do what they say... they are blowing smoke.
(I assume they say it cuts through the steel...)

 

[Mark_from_Iowa]

I just picked up a magnet with a bullet from a lot of 1983 production, brass cased, Romanian surplus 7.62x25. The case does not attract the magnet.

This is the same stuff AIM is currently selling ($110 for 1224 rd spam can).

I'd say that the bullet is, in fact, steel-cored. Sorry.

 

[Lucky]

http://www.marstar.ca/ammo-etc/images/ASC25A4-L.jpg

Steel cored

What's the point of the steel core anyway then?

 

[jonnyc]

The VAST majority of Tokarev ammo, surplus and commercial, is NOT steel cored, but steel jacketed with a lead core. Pull a bullet, cut it open, and show them.

 

[ConfuseUs]

Well it seems more like the range owners are trying to sell ammo more than anything else. However, 7.62x25 is fairly high velocity and even with lead core it might not be very good for their backstops (assuming they are using steel ramps to stop bullets).

 

[kellyj00]

I don't know what country you're in bro, but I'd look into finding an open piece of country to shoot at in a country that allows you to shoot. If this is Europe, I'm sorry.

If America had such gun laws, I think I'd move to South America or Africa.

 

[Onmilo]

Ain't capatalism great!
You own the shop, you make the rules.
If you do not wish to abide by the rules of the shop then find another, more tolerant, shop.

 

[worker]

Well, even in capitalizm there are anti-monopoly laws that prohibit price-fixing on large scale (which is exactly what the range owners have done by disallowing to use shooters own ammo). This is Palm Beach county, FL (and all the ranges in this county collaborated to do this). Except the police shooting range, however there no handguns are allowed (and I was told it was because the same gun range owners asked the county to 'not allow handguns on that range (which is opens just once a month for 2 days)' to protect their business).

thanks for all the answers.. I actually do not have a problem of following the rules of steel core stuff, I just want to make sure they are not lying (they do also allow rifles, so I doubt that the speed of 7.62x25 is a problem).

 

[chris in va]

The Romanian stuff I bought at the last gun show is lead core. Not all of it fits in the chamber though.

 

[tinygnat219]

Some 7.62X25 ammo is steel core. However, the stuff generally available now like the Romanian surplus is not. I don't go to ranges that make you purchase ammo there to use their facilities.

Make friends with a farmer if you can.

 

[Rampant_Colt]

Easy! Just do like i do and buy a box of their over-priced 'range ammo' so it looks like you're just shooting their stuff, but have your own ammo hiding in the bottom, or in discreet ammo containers in case they check your stuff

The excuse the local indoor range has for having to buy their ammo is lead pollution; you may only use bullets that don't have lead exposed on the base. . .What i do then, is find out what type of range ammo they offer and collect empty boxes to put my own cheap range ammo in


Right now i have about 4-5 boxes of CCI BlazerTMJ boxes filled with Wolf 230gr. FMJ -hahaha

Stupid rules were meant to be broke

 

[SDC]

What's the point of the steel core anyway then?

Mainly, that it was cheaper and easier to produce a steel core with a little bit of lead as a base or nose support than it was to produce a lead core alone; the Eastern Bloc had absolutely TONS of steel, and could afford to shoot it off in ammunition, but mining and smelting lead to get the end product ends up taking more time, money, and resources that you wouldn't want to go through it if you had an alternative. You can set up an automatic screw machine or punch press to churn out billions of steel cores with no problem whatsoever, and if those rounds end up penetrating a little more at the end of their flight, then so much the better.