Steel Case Ammo Yes or No?

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I have fired a little bit of it, maybe 400 or 500 rounds in 9mm, 45Acp & 308Win. Fired a lot of 7.62x39 steel case with good results, never had an issue with any of it.. But I never warmed up to using it in my pistols for some reason.

WB
 
Lucky Gunner did a brass vs steel torture test back in 2019. They put 40,000 rounds through four different guns. Each gun got 10,000 rounds of a different type of ammo. They were able to prove that there are a lot of people didn’t know as much about steel case ammo as they thought they did.
https://www.luckygunner.com/labs/brass-vs-steel-cased-ammo/
 
Before the shortage hit 9mm Wolf and Tulammo was available for $140 per thousand delivered to my house. I shot many thousand rounds. The only problem I had was with my HK VP9SK, which had a hard time extracting the case. It worked well in all my other guns.
 
Just be careful at your range if they change their mind and disallow steel cased. It's not hard to separate but some use the brass as sideline selling or reloading it. The closest range to me, indoors, has "no steel case" outside in the parking lot, inside at the register, and leading into the range.

It's not steel jacketed, they know the difference. They apparently don't want to mess with disposal of all that scrap. Steel case can be reloaded, yet very few bother. It's considered throwaway at the pricing. There is a new "steel case" on the market, stainless crimped to an aluminum head, reloads easily, yet their policy implies don't bring that either. It's good premium carry ammo, tho, it will not corrode compared to brass.

The nearest MDC range 25 miles away, tho? They rake the cases into a pit periodically, for the most part tho people reclaim their brass and it's largely steel case and .22. Gets kinda crunchy ahead of deer season.
 
The steel case is not what you need to worry about, the type of projectile it has loaded into it is the problem.
Russia has been running steel case ammo for many years without any problems but they have chrome lined barrels that can take the BiMetal projectiles loaded in most of the steel cased ammo.
If you are questioning if your ammo is BiMetal if a magnet sticks to just the tip of your bullet is probably a steel jacketed round. The steel jacketed bullet sliding down your steel barrel will wear faster than a copper jacketed bullet will. The copper or brass wash they put on the bullet is for manufacturing purpose & is only about .0005 thick. It only on there to help release the bullet from the forging die, it doesn't protect your barrel like some want to claim.
 
mcb said:
Never bothered me. If I am lucky enough to wear a gun out due to using steel case I will count that as a blessing. The replacement barrel will be a small fraction of the cost of ammo spend getting to the point where I needed it.
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Buy a chrome lined barrel & shoot all you want next time. But if you put a lot of money into your barrel & want it to stay accurate stay away from steel case ammo.
 
I’ve a 9mm carbine made by Masterpiece Arms. I specifically asked about steel case. They said they did not recommend it. As I hand load and have several thousand brass cases it was a non issue.
 
When I had first procured a Ruger LCP, I called Ruger CS to inquire about the suitability of steel case ammo.
They confirmed that there were no problems using it in any Ruger product.

I've shot some through the LCP, and experienced no problems of any kind.

I doubt I can shoot that little pistol enough to wear it out no matter what I'm shooting in it. 3 or 4 mags is usually enough for one day.
 
My general rule is; "Commie ammo in commie guns." Eastern bloc guns were built with this stuff in mind. This is why the 7.62x39 has a more tapered case, and they chrome-line their barrels.

Having said that, I have shot LOTS of 9mm through modern polymer-frame handguns, and in my main M-4 I have run a LOT of steel-cased ammo through it, and never had a malfunction. It does run dirtier, because steel is less malleable than brass and it doesn't swell up during firing to seal the chamber as much as brass does, and more hot gas escapes around the case. I have never tried to do a torture test of thousands of rounds without cleaning to see how far I can push it, let the gun magazine writers abuse their donated gear that way.

Overall, I say use it, most shooters will never shoot enough to see any discernible difference in wear.
 
If have personally seen it cause several major failures in AR15 rifles, and experienced one myself when the empty case became stuck in the chamber and I had to beat it out with a rod. This also happened to a friend during shooting several years later and I’ve seen it cause issues from fellow shooters at local ranges, in ARs.

A Glock and most polymers will devour them without issues. Above all, the Kalashnikov and Simonov pattern rifles as well as Makarov pattern handguns are all specifically designed to use steel-cased ammo nigh exclusively in their country of origin where steel-cased ammunition is ubiquitous in military, police, and civilian usages.

I don’t think Stoner’s system is a good choice with steel cased. Kalashnikov’s system thrives on it however.
 
I've shot a bunch of it over the last year, including AR's in both 5.56 and 6.5Grendel. When the shortage is over, I'll buy a couple cases of .300BO. I use the stuff partly because I refuse to handload when I can buy blasting ammo nearly as cheap. Mostly because they're available with a hollowpoint that doesn't divot my steel targets. I figure if I ever prematurely wear out a barrel, the cost savings will have more than made up for it.
 
AK Hunter said:
Buy a chrome lined barrel & shoot all you want next time. But if you put a lot of money into your barrel & want it to stay accurate stay away from steel case ammo.
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I agree but the steel case is not going to hurt the accuracy of a barrel since they never touch the rifled part of the barrel. In theory the steel case is harder on extractors in semi-autos but again extractors are cheap. Bimetal jacketed bullets definitely will wear a barrel out faster and that will effect accuracy.

I run steel case ammo in my AR I use for 3-gun matches. For close stages there is no reason to run better ammo when your blasting. I switch to better ammo for the long range stages.
 
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I've seen that Lucky Gunner article before, good info.

Steel case is cost-effective, so if your gun shoots it, go ahead and use it. They mention the barrels on the steel were shot out- after 10k rds in 2 days. Started keyholing around 5-6k. My takeaway from that:
  • Last I checked, I can get cheap steel-cased ammo around $350 per 1k, this is the Maxxtech Essential Steel stuff made by Vympel. It was actually less, including shipping. The mentioned brass-cased ammo, Federal, is around $600 a case, and then you figure shipping extra. If you're going with a cheap, entry-level shooter AR, you can buy a replacement barrel with the savings on one case, and still come out ahead. You could buy a complete rifle after 2 cases.
  • I would have to assume one of the factors for the increased wear is shooting while the gun is smoking hot. A couple mags down the pipe will not affect the steel as much as a continuous flow (we're talking 5k a day, for 2 consecutive days). They mentioned the guns got so hot that a couple of the Eotech optics had heat-related issues, they also said at times they would fire off 10 mags (300 rds) in a row rapidly. It was mentioned that they had both dust-storms and rain, and kept shooting through these events.
  • I mentioned the Federal specifically, because that's the only brass-cased ammo they tested. That's relevant because it seems the issue with the Tula (vs Brown Bear or Wolf) was the powder. It follows that any untested brass might have a different powder charge than Federal's (Winchester, IMI, Wolf Gold, PPU etc).
  • One thing mentioned in the Lucky Gunner review was the build-up of carbon in the gas key and gas tube with the steel; I clean those when I clean my rifles. I shoot a little brake cleaner through them, and run a pipe cleaner through it.
Looking around the internet for specific problems with steel cased ammo (not just "I've seen failures"), I've come across a couple things.

  • The stuck case: I've seen this mentioned, seems attributed to the steel case's lack of elasticity compared to brass, allowing some gas bleeding around the case instead of sealing it off. Chamber gets fouled worse, and if you don't clean it well it could build up and give you problems.
  • Stuck case with revolver: I have seen this mentioned on the S&W forum. Seems the case expands differently than brass, causing 38 or 357 etc cases to stick in the cylinders.
  • Extractor issues- I've seen this brought up a lot, that steel is tougher than brass on extractors; but that always seems to be anecdotal fears, not documented events. I've seen someone do Rockwell hardness tests on steel, brass and nickel-plated cases, the hardest by far was the nickel (which was the expensive self-defense ammo). I've had to replace 3 extractors total on my firearms- 2 were on (older) Pre-B CZ 75's, that were fed exclusively brass 9mm by me. If you explore the CZ forum, you will see that extractors on those guns are a bit of an issue; I replaced both with extractors from the CZ Custom shop that were specifically stated to address that issue. I also had one extractor on an AR pattern rifle fail- very early. It was a Bear Creek Arsenal 7.62x39 upper, they use a different, thinner extractor (I believe designed for one of the 6.5 calibers), and the tooth sheared off. I replaced that with an $8 standard 5.56 extractor, which has functioned 100% with this caliber. BCA sent me a free replacement, which I have kept as a spare. Of note, I have since picked up a second BCA upper in that caliber, and everything thus far has been fine. So for AR's, I just keep a couple extra extractors around. I often take the extractor out when cleaning the BCG, it takes about an extra minute total to remove and reinstall.
Interestingly enough, I have one rifle that actually prefers steel over brass. This is a Century C308, which uses a lot of Cetme parts. The gun is roller-delayed, not gas driven; the chamber is fluted. The C308 is the cheaper cousin to the PTR and HK guns, but they all employ the same design (and thus would have the same potential issue with steel vs brass). The fluted chamber allows for 'floating' the case, to make extraction easier. This causes the distinctive striations on the case afterwards. In the 7.62 NATO vs .308 Winchester question (similar to the 5.56 NATO vs .223 Remington), it seems the NATO cases are the slightest bit thicker than the commercial cases. Not sure if this is why, but occasionally I get a brass case stuck in the chamber- the brass has expanded out into the flutes, and is stuck tight. I never get this with a steel case. The gun isn't a sniper tool, I get maybe 2 MOA with it. So it's not just cheaper to run steel, it's more reliable in this one.

I've had zero issues running the cheapest steel .45acp through any of my inexpensive (Armscor, ATI, Tisas etc) GI-type 1911's. Being primarily a 9mm shooter, I've always tried to keep the 45 as close in price as possible. This has meant grabbing Blazer Brass and S&B when it was cheap, Freedom Munitions reloads... but I've done Tula, and even Hot Shot steel and it runs just fine. We're talking $300 1911's with Sarco mags, zero malfunctions, center-mass hits at 25 yds. That's all I ask of those guns, serves my purposes just fine.
 
My general rule is; "Commie ammo in commie guns."
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This has been pretty much my general rule as well. Steel case in the AKs and makarovs are no problem. I reload for the rest so if I buy ammo its gonna be a case I can reuse.
 
Insignificant bill said:
No for me, I reload and steel case requires more work than I want
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I can accept this, because it's practical; as long as you can find components.

I can also accept the "it doesn't run well in my guns" answer, if that's a legitimate case. For most of the other reasons- I will politely defer to my wallet, instead of running blindly with the pack.

OP asked about steel vs brass, I assume that means he currently has neither. So your stash or mine, irrelevant to his situation. Same could be said about reloads, if he doesn't have the components, it's hard to find them at a solid price and amount right now also (as I understand, primers being the big issue).
If I had to buy today: 223/556= $325 a case, vs $600 a case. Steel wins that in a no-brainer. I could do the Lucky Gunner test (10 cases), and 3 cases in I can buy a new S&W M&P Sport II with the savings.

Before Covid and the panic prices, the answer was different... 9mm for example. Tula steel cased for $140 or so + shipping, vs S&B or Fiocchi brass for $180, shipped? Give me brass every time. It's worth $20-30 more per 1k. That's 2-3 cents a round... it's not 30 cents a round better for plinking.
 
I bought a few thousand rounds of Tula steel case .223 way before the pandemic. It was like $140 for a 1000 round cases. I use it when shooting somewhere the picking up brass is not practical. I’ve shot it in several of my ARs. I have only one AR that doesn’t care for it, my Dissipator. It has a 16” barrel with a rifle gas system and the Tula .223 is just a little weak to fully cycle the action.
12A24A6D-6A9F-44D9-BECA-04DADCE2DC03.jpeg 0FC586B9-35B9-4D6D-B912-8338F35863EF.jpeg
 
My question is more about experience with Steel case.

I have used steel case ammo before when I owned AK and Mosin rifles with no problems. I also feel that guns designed with steel ammo in mind normally run it great.

What I have been seeing on the range the past several months has been good and bad in AR platform rifles. Some guns run steel case with no problems others don't.

The purpose of the thread is to share experience with this type of ammo.
 
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