steel case ammo

Status
Not open for further replies.
S

stevolene

Member
Joined
Mar 24, 2011
Messages
74
will the cheaper steel case ammo sold at academy sports hurt my glock 19 ?

I dont do reloads so the extra 3 bucks seems like a waste of money for range use, especially when your buying 4 or 5 boxes , any info is appreciated

also while Im at it, does anyone else leave the range with thier skin removed on the thumb nuckle after 15 or so mags?
 
I had problems with primer flow/flattening/backing out with Tulammo .45 ACP steel cased ammo.
It functioned perfectly reliably in my ATI 1911 and my Star Firestar .45, but it was dirty as hell.
It's not worth the slight cost savings to me, because I reload. Plus, it takes longer to clean the gun after.
 
I have shoot a lot of 9x19 Brown Bear. Had problems with one batch, but other batches hot well.
 
I died thousands of steel cased rounds through my glock 23 before i sold it, and i still shoot it in my glock 27. Never had any issues
 
Will it hurt your Glock? No
Will your range allow it? maybe
Will you find hard primers from time to time? Probably
Some brands are very high quality and some not so, normally it is cost vs inconvience. Many times you can find brass or Aluminium cased (boxer primers) ammo from major suppliers at very close to the same price. Check out your local Walmarts for WWB or federal 100 round value boxes for range ammo.
 
My experience is with Wolf, and some time ago (early 2000s), but I never had any trouble with 9mm in my Glock or SIG. The steel used in these cases is far softer than any barrel steel.
 
I have shot about 2000 rounds of tula/wolf in different guns. Only problem i have had was in my 380 pocket pistol would not strike the primers hard enough and about 5% would take a second strike otherwise no problems.
 
Steel is cheaper, and it works and won't really hurt the gun, but in my experience it doesn't shoot as well, is dirtier, and the primers are harder which causes light strikes in some striker fired guns (my M&P light strikes on Tula sometimes, and on nothing else).

For me the reloading thing is an issue too. Overall, while I shoot the stuff in a pinch, I generally don't consider steel cased ammo a good buy.
 
I tried three boxes of Hornady Steel Match and found it to be reliable and accurate load. The problem with most other steel cased ammo is that it comes from the EVIL Empire aka Russia. I would not spend a penny on the stuff.
After previous reign of Vlad Putin when Russian Neo-Nazism reared it's ugly head and Skinhead groups posted gruesome videos of beatings and torture of non-russians and evidence came to light in the West they had audacity to accuse Americans of making and posting them. Their ways know of no shame what is use of doing business with people like that?
 
Last edited:
I shoot tons of Herters, Wolf and TulAmmo.....no problems ever and for the most part the stuff doesn't group too badly.
 
"Will your range allow it? maybe"

I have heard of ranges that banned steel core ammo and even FMJ of any material, but I have never heard of a range banning steel cases. Any idea why? Do they want to sell brass cases to scrap metal dealers or commercial reloaders and don't want the trouble of taking out the steel ones?

Jim
 
I used to shoot that stuff in Russian Makarov and it worked well. The stink was quite bad and much residue was left behind but it was reliable. I have since got rid of that gun and made decision not to spend a penny on stuff from counties in which people do not like or help us.
 
The case are steel but it's a softer steel than most other things made of Fe and often it's coated to prevent corrosion.

Steel case ammunition is no worse on your gun than any other cheap ammunition. But being cheap, Quality Control will likely be less than with the more expensive fodder. That means more than the usual hard primers, shallow seated primers, high residue powder and etc.

If you collect brass cases, there are websites where you can sell or trade them. I've seen as few a 100 cases get sold at a modest profit for the seller.
 
Last edited:
just clean chamber before switching back to brass. AR didn't like the switch and had to rod the brass case out.
 
A fello shoter used the Wolf 9mm steel cased ammo when it was selling for less than $90 a case of 5000. I tried it but had feeding problems and it was awfully dirty. If it works in your gun and you don't mind the extra cleanup then shoot it.
 
In the 9mm glocks the presence of steel case will not affect functioning. The priming and physical dimensions might. The powder is dirtier than that of american manufacture, but is not normally a problem for the glock. I belong to another forum where people there fire thousands of rounds w/o problems. I have also so far had no problems. It should not be used for carry ammo, but is excellent for practice.

Some makes and models, especially in .380 maybe should not be used with steel. Check with the manufacturer and specialized gunforums for the specific models in question.
 
I've ran a couple thousand rounds of tula through my 19 with no trouble. Yeah, it's dirtier but there's not really any extra cleaning because I'm cleaning it anyway. Well...not lately. I've ran through 2 IDPA events and I haven't cleaned it yet.
 
My range banned steel cases - I'm sure it's because they can't sell it to Atlanta arms for reloading. It sux because everything else us about $3 more per box.
 
Through most service handguns? Probably not. I suppose if you REALLY made an effort to torture test it into the hundreds of thousands of rounds, next to another gun with brass ammo, you might see a difference.

My normal rule is to use Russian ammo in Russian guns. SKS, Makarov, AK, etc, no problem. for most other guns it probably won't hurt anything either. But I'm not going to burn through a lot of it in my grandfather's heirloom M-1 carbine to find out either,
 
Ive fired close to 5000 rounds of Tulammo through two G17's
It's never been an issue and it is consistant as heck. I find round to round it is more accurate than Winchester White Box that I have tried.
 
As with most things, you get what you pay for. Both a timex and a rolex will tell time, its the quailty that sets them apart. Same with ammo, i have had very few issues with the steel cases tul/wolf, maybe 4-5 out of a thousand with hard primers. The main issue like many have already said is how dirty they burn. This is even more of an issue with you two-tones/ stainless steel slides if they arent cleaned fairly soon, you will have tough time. With that being said, as long as you arent reloading and clean soon after use, they are fine for target shooting
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

F
  • Locked
Steel cased 9mm in Ruger?
Replies
2
Views
499
Dave Markowitz
Dave Markowitz
bullseyebob47
  • Locked
steel case ammo ever broke your pistol?
2
Replies
38
Views
5K
The Lone Haranguer
T
G
  • Locked
Steel cased ammo question.....
2
Replies
26
Views
1K
Glockurai
G
ahil925
  • Locked
RM380 and Steel cased ammo?
Replies
3
Views
551
mcb
mcb
R
  • Locked
S&B copper plated steel cased 9x19 ammo.
Replies
21
Views
2K
CoinMan
C
Back
Top