Stuck case solution

[Doc Samson]

Encountered an issue that I've not ever had before: Shooting some Sterling 9mm (steel case) through my S&W Shield and, after several mags, noticed that the second to last round had a tendency to not eject, regardless of which magazine I was using. Okay, that's weird but not a deal breaker for plinking ammo. About 10 mags in, the second to last round FTE but, this time, I couldn't get the slide back to eject the case. Packed it up and headed home where I tried to smack it out with a wooden dowel to no avail. As I was getting frustrated, I decided I'd leave it for the evening and work on it the next day. Left everything in my very cold garage overnight. Went out the next morning, tried the wooden dowel again and the sucker popped right out. I HATE cold weather but, in this... case D), it was a great help! Figure the freezer would work if this should happen in warmer weather...

 

[JDeere]

Glad you got it out with no issues. I have read about this issue before and just another reason I don't run anything but brass cased ammo through my weapons. Just my own opinion though so use what you like and like what you use...

 

[MEHavey]

Simply clean/lube the chamber... lube the cases too.
Pain.... but it's just plinking ammo

 

[DoubleMag]

Oh, the occasional lessons learned from steel cased ammo... stuck cases....failing extractors...oh...

 

[BLACKHAWKNJ]

Interesting. I have made brass range rods for my 22s, encountering more stuck cases lately. It seems to a wooden dowel with some sort of steel cap would work nicely.

 

[Doc Samson]

Simply clean/lube the chamber... lube the cases too.
Pain.... but it's just plinking ammo

Went to the range yesterday with the same equip, as well as a plastic baggie and gun oil. Dumped 25 rounds and a few drops of oil into the baggie and mixed it around. Went through all the ammo with zero problems, so I did the same for the next 25. Again, no problems! Appreciate the suggestion!

 

[MEHavey]

You can google "Type 92 heavy machine gun"
SLAMFIRE has significant additional discussion in various threads
Try https://thefiringline.com/forums/showpost.php?p=5164423&postcount=9
to start.

 

[drobs]

Yeah I shoot only brass in my handguns. Learned that lesson a long time ago. I could actually see the slide of 1 of my Glocks slow down as I shot some Wolf Steel Case out of it.

 

[Skribs]

If this happens in the summer, you could put it in the fridge.

 

[Waveski]

The need to refrigerate your ammo is a clear indication that the ammo is substandard.
(I was going to say “crappy” , but I didn’t. Sort of…)

 

[dogtown tom]

Hate steel cases ammo and refuse to shoot it under most reasons. BUT that being said steel cases have a lacquer applied to act as a lube. and if the chamber is not cleaned the lacquer then gums up inside the chamber seizing the cartridge.
The cleaning can be a bore mop ( bore snakes work well for this) your just knocking the excess lacquer out of the chamber.

It's a myth that lacquer gums up chambers.
First, most modern steel case ammunition is coated with a polymer, not lacquer.
Second, neither lacquer or the modern polymer will melt or gum up in a chamber. Take an empty case and a flame and try it.
What does happen isn't related to the coating, but the nature of steel. Being less ductile than brass it doesn't expand and seal at the case mouth as well. This allows carbon to build up at the chamber throat and may cause some guns to experience difficulty in feeding, extraction or ejection.

It has nothing to do with "Commie guns are designed for steel" as the US produced steel cased ammunition during WWII. A cartridge case with a taper (like the 7.62x39) will have less problems than a case with straight sides.

Lucky Gunner published a pretty good test of steel vs brass back in 2019: https://www.luckygunner.com/labs/brass-vs-steel-cased-ammo/

 

[Sgt_Mike1]

LMAO ..... Ok not worth a argument over it. You win ....deleted the comment .

But I still don't shoot steel cases. personal choice. oh and BTW the Chinese / Soviet even used a copper plated steel (actually the term is copper washed) case at one time.

 

[Pat Riot]

LMAO ..... Ok not worth an argument over it. You win ....deleted the comment .

Good advice. I started to comment as well and decided it wasn’t worth it.

You all have a fantastic night and a much better tomorrow.

 

[dogtown tom]

LMAO ..... Ok not worth a argument over it. You win ....deleted the comment .

It's not an argument, its a discussion because THR is a discussion forum.
If you have better information than what I posted PLEASE post it.

 

[JTHunter]

Encountered an issue that I've not ever had before: Shooting some Sterling 9mm (steel case) through my S&W Shield and, after several mags, noticed that the second to last round had a tendency to not eject, regardless of which magazine I was using. Okay, that's weird but not a deal breaker for plinking ammo. About 10 mags in, the second to last round FTE but, this time, I couldn't get the slide back to eject the case. Packed it up and headed home where I tried to smack it out with a wooden dowel to no avail. As I was getting frustrated, I decided I'd leave it for the evening and work on it the next day. Left everything in my very cold garage overnight. Went out the next morning, tried the wooden dowel again and the sucker popped right out. I HATE cold weather but, in this... case D), it was a great help! Figure the freezer would work if this should happen in warmer weather...

It's always good to hear of a simple solution to a problem. Thanks for the info Doc.

 

[Doc Samson]

Never understood people's need to chime in on a thread with "well, I wouldn't ever (fill in various action/s here) in the first place." The purpose of my post was to provide a helpful solution to anyone that encountered the same issue.

As for the "never steel" crowd, I had found these for a good price and thought I'd give 'em a try. I ended up with 450 more rounds than I intended when the company I ordered from mistakenly sent me 10 boxes when I only ordered 1...

Sent another 40 rounds downrange yesterday using the same "trick" and all ejected perfectly. A small inconvenience but worth it imho...

 

[CoalCrackerAl]

I had issues with steel case Winchester in 9mm. In some of my 9mm pistols. I simply used them in the guns that would run them.

 

[drobs]

Next time you have a stuck case, after ejecting the magazine, try hooking the front of the slide next to the barrel on something solid - shooting bench, wall, etc and pushing the grip forward. Finger off the trigger!

I shoot steel case in my AK47's, a couple of my AR15's, and CZ Scorpion.
My go to deer hunting / SHTF Windham AR15 has never seen steel cased ammo.

Back in the early 00's I ran a test with multiple brands of steel cased ammo and a non-Chrome Lined Rock River AR15. I made it to about 3k w/out cleaning (only adding lube) before it started having failures. It choked on Silver Bear ammo.

Before the pandemic run on guns really took off, I bought 2k of Tula 223. Avoid Tula like the plague. The rims are soft and I got stuck cases / torn rims on 3 different brands of AR15's. Clearing requires the use of a cleaning rod.

 

[FROGO207]

We all really need to caution all those that say using a wooden dowel to remove things from a barrel is OK. It works OK untill the wood shears diagonally jams things even tighter in your barrel. Brass is best, aluminum is also soft and works. If you use a steel rod use multiple layers of tape or such along the length to keep the rod from scratching the bore. In the past I have used a fiberglass rod you would use to mark the sides of a driveway to knock out a shotshell that got stuck.

 

[BlankRow]

It's a myth that lacquer gums up chambers.
First, most modern steel case ammunition is coated with a polymer, not lacquer.
Second, neither lacquer or the modern polymer will melt or gum up in a chamber. Take an empty case and a flame and try it.
What does happen isn't related to the coating, but the nature of steel. Being less ductile than brass it doesn't expand and seal at the case mouth as well. This allows carbon to build up at the chamber throat and may cause some guns to experience difficulty in feeding, extraction or ejection.

It has nothing to do with "Commie guns are designed for steel" as the US produced steel cased ammunition during WWII. A cartridge case with a taper (like the 7.62x39) will have less problems than a case with straight sides.

Lucky Gunner published a pretty good test of steel vs brass back in 2019: https://www.luckygunner.com/labs/brass-vs-steel-cased-ammo/

Thanks for the link that was very interesting. But from my reading it sounded like the bigger issue regarding a stuck case is that the steel case does not contract as well as brass. So the casing would expand and grab onto the chamber, but not contract as much to release the tension, making extraction harder because of the greater force needed to pull the casing out of the chamber.

I don't doubt that the lack of expansion can cause power to accumulate and cause issues, but why would this cause a stuck case specifically?

It also make me wonder if OP's gun had a looser chamber this wouldn't be an issue at all for him, because the case wouldn't have such a tight hold on the chamber. The use of lube to prevent issues also seems to support the theory that the chamber tightness is related. Since the lube reduces the friction between the chamber and case making extraction easier.

 

[Doc Samson]

It also make me wonder if OP's gun had a looser chamber this wouldn't be an issue at all for him, because the case wouldn't have such a tight hold on the chamber. The use of lube to prevent issues also seems to support the theory that the chamber tightness is related...

Sounds like a strong possibility. What is odd to me is that each time, it was the second to last round in the mag. Regardless, I won't be re-ordering steel once this supply is used up...

 

[doubleh]

I haven't shot any steel case ammo in several years but doesn't it have some type of coating on it to prevent rust? Could the culprit be heat from firing eventually getting high enough to cause the coating to degrade and stick to the chamber. Also a chamber polish might be in order. It's a quick and simple task.

 

[dogtown tom]

I haven't shot any steel case ammo in several years but doesn't it have some type of coating on it to prevent rust? Could the culprit be heat from firing eventually getting high enough to cause the coating to degrade and stick to the chamber. Also a chamber polish might be in order. It's a quick and simple task.

See post #11.

 

[Doc Samson]

I haven't shot any steel case ammo in several years but doesn't it have some type of coating on it to prevent rust? Could the culprit be heat from firing eventually getting high enough to cause the coating to degrade and stick to the chamber. Also a chamber polish might be in order. It's a quick and simple task.

This stuff does not look like your typical Tula/Wolf steel. It looks like it has a nickel finish on it, i.e. very shiny...

 

[BlankRow]

I haven't shot any steel case ammo in several years but doesn't it have some type of coating on it to prevent rust? Could the culprit be heat from firing eventually getting high enough to cause the coating to degrade and stick to the chamber. Also a chamber polish might be in order. It's a quick and simple task.

I bet polishing the chamber would improve this. It should reduce the tension between the case and chamber, making extraction easier. But it may cause more issues if it's not cut true. Although I'm not sure what they would be. How do you polish while maintaining the geometry of the chamber?