Steel-cased Foreign Ammo in a Ruger Mini 14 Ranch Rifle

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Crowman

Crowman

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I recently acquired an all-weather Ruger Mini 14 Ranch Rifle (.223 Rem/5.56x45) and wondered about using the cheaper steel cased non-corrosive imported ammo such as by Wolf or Brown Bear or other such. Price is considerably cheaper than domestic and I read a piece from one of my buddies that once fired military brass will no longer be available to the general public for reloading (all brass will be "de-milled" or otherwise destroyed). The owner's manual simply says use ammo made to US mil specs.

Any help?
 
I had some .223 wolf ammo, 40rds, It would not cycle through my AR, tolerance on it were to tight for steel case, so my son had his Mini-14, he said everything shot in it, took
20rds of my wolf, an bump fired a
20 rd. burst with no problems...so Wolf should work fine..however, steel cases cannot be reloaded.
 
It's not the metal that has anything to do with tolerances.

It's the coating (lacquer or polymer) they coat it with that cause problems in western firearms.

The commie guns are designed to eat this lacquered/polymerized ammo all day long, and ours aren't.

It's that simple.

It is suspected that the brass situation is a particularly virulent internet meme at this time, anyway.
 
Interesting...I had gottin from other threads that the steel cases expanded slightly more than brass, after firing, this in turn caused problems in tight tolerance rifles like the AR....?
 
I believe the manual says not to use steel-cased ammo, but I doubt you'd actually have problems if you did.

Yeah, that whole brass thing is way overblown. It only has to be demilled if it's exported.
 
Just curious....if it's not a dimensional or tolerance difference that allows those commie guns to fire Wolf ammo, what do you think makes the Saiga .223, for instance, so much different than the AR-15. Granted one is a gas piston while the other is not. Is that what allows it to eat Wolf ammo without a problem?
 
Steel case ammo works fine in my Mini-14. Just clean the chamber before switching between steel and brass cased ammo. Supposedly the steel cased ammo doesn't expand as much as brass cased. Therefore burnt powder builds up in the chamber when shooting steel cased ammo. Then if brass ammo is used it expands more and hangs up in the dirty chamber.
 
Its not the laquer coating, its the quality of the ammo, or a problem with the rifle or user(most Id venture to guess user error).
95% of shooters who use steel cased ammo, in AR-15s of all manufacturers have never ever had a single problem, but, most of the problems have been with one specific type of wolf ammo, probably also H2 and H3 buffers being used in ARs and ammo nowhere near spec.
If your AR is built to spec, with no serious problems, and it wont fire cheap target rounds from wolf, you have problems, bigger than what you may think.
 
Newer Wolf ammo is all polymer coated. You don't get the lacquer buildup in the chamber like you used to. What you do still get, however, is carbon buildup that needs a chamber brush to clean out. Because of this, you should not fire brass cased ammo if you have not cleaned the chamber since shooting steel. The brass will expand and the carbon buildup will cause it to get stuck.
 
I've fired Wolf steel cased ammo(the new polymer coated stuff) in my AR15 with no problems. I also know of a couple of other people who have fired it from their Mini-14's. One functioned flawlessly and the other jammed every few rounds. Personally I think its the gun and not the rifle. Wolf ammo is dirtier though. I say buy a couple of boxes and try them out. If they work, great. If not, go back to brass cases stuff. I would stay away from any ammo that has the laquer coating or the red laquer sealing between the bullet and the casing. This stuff heats up and leaves a hard residue in the chamber.

As for expansion, brass is softer and will expand more than steel.
 
I have run some Wolf polymer coated stuff through my AR, and it has worked just fine. I even bought a case of it to have on hand. It is dirty though, lots of carbon build up.
 
Price has its Price

STEEL Cases? Forget it swiftly. Brass has been around for many years for great reasons: Reliability-Reloadability-Resistant to Rust. Wolf cases are made as cheaply as possible. Fire it once, and bury it deep. Or better yet don't even dis-service your fine firearm, and bury that ammo deep, saying, "I made a mistake," then appologuise to your firearm for even considering . . . cliffy
 
STEEL Cases? Forget it swiftly. Brass has been around for many years for great reasons:
Click to expand...

the soviets, and a large portion of the world has been using steel since the 1940's if not before. its nothing new. its nothing worse.

if you honestly think its some thing new, or below you, your showing you ignorance. your rifle either takes it or it doesn't. millions of properly designed ( and even some **** designed) rifles eat it up

grow up and move on.
 
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I own several Mini-14's and Mini-30's. They would not shoot any Com-Block ammo reliably until I changed out the firing pin springs from 11# to 14#'s. Cost about $13 per gun. Now they shoot anything and everything I have put through them. Wolf, Silver Bear, Golden Bear, the "no-name" stuff in the cream colored boxes. It doesn't matter, it will work now.

t2e
 
if you honestly think its some thing new, or below you, your showing you ignorance. your rifle either takes it or it doesn't. millions of properly designed ( and even some **** designed) rifles eat it up

grow up and move on.
Click to expand...

I am forever amazed at people that will buy expensive guns and feed them cheap ammunition. The main issues with steel cased ammunition is one it does not expand to fill your chamber which is bad because gasses can escape causing backpressure and two the steel case wears your extractor because it is harder than brass. You may get away with it for a long time but wear is wear.
 
Rshooter, please cite examples of escaping gasses causing "backpressure".

Also, as for the "steel case causes extractor wear because it's harder than brass" debate... not all steel is equal in hardness. What's harder, the steel in your barrel or the steel covering the bimetal jacket of a Wolf 7.62 bullet?

I bought/built my guns to shoot. I shoot regularly. I consider myself a damned good shot because I buy cheap ammo and therefore get to practice more often. I use cheap softpoints for hunting with my FAL.

I've known people that bought the most expensive ammo they could find for their bambi-blasters and never get close to ruffling the fur of a buck because they didn't practice near enough.
 
two the steel case wears your extractor because it is harder than brass
Click to expand...

The AR-15 extractor is a very inexpensive, easily replaceable part that should probably be replaced on a somewhat regular basis anyway. Other rifles? Couldn't tell ya.


If the "wear on the extractor" argument is used, then how come many of the same people that holler about it will shoot steel cased through an AK without a bit of worry?

I have a simple rule. Use Russian ammo in Russian guns.SKS? Yes. AK, Makarov? Go for it. My grandfather's Inlane M-1 carbine? NO WAY.
Click to expand...

Of course you wouldn't shoot low grade ammo in a family heirloom, nor should you. But why not a modern, mass produced gun?

Nothing makes "commie guns" special in that they are the only ones suitable for steel cased ammo.

Just curious....if it's not a dimensional or tolerance difference that allows those commie guns to fire Wolf ammo, what do you think makes the Saiga .223, for instance, so much different than the AR-15. Granted one is a gas piston while the other is not. Is that what allows it to eat Wolf ammo without a problem?
Click to expand...

Nope, an AR-15 will chew through polymer coated Wolf without a problem. It's certainly not my first choice, or my favorite, but it goes bang just the same. My AR-15 isn't a gold plated fragile object, it's a working gun for me.
 
I will chime in-- My dad's late 70s Mini has had thousands upon thousands of steel "Commie" .223 through it...Besides some minor work on the rifle (which is expected on a gun that probably has 20K+ through it), the Mini keeps on cranking em out. And since it is primarily a 'yote gun, accuracy has never been that big of an issue--although he did put on an accu-strut sometime back-- which works I guess for more rapid fire stuff...He does clean his weapons extensivly, but sometimes the Mini rides around not so clean behind the seat...and it still never misses a beat.

Steel ammo is fine.
 
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