What's the deal with steel-case ammo?

[GreySmoke2]

I bought 500 rds of Tula .45acp about three months ago I ran about 200 rounds thru about 5 handguns. With a few FTFeed. No big issues. I cleaned the guns but not the mags. Fast forward to last week when I loaded up about 30 mags with the stuff and went to the range with my brother. The single stack ran ok with one or two FTF's but the double stack mag'd pistol were jam o matics. I examined the guns and even recleaned one and no change. Then I examined the mags. The rounds were not moving in the mag ie when I stipped a round off the top, the one below did not rise up to replace it or only moved a short bit. My guess is the blowback around the chamber from the steel not forming a good seal cause the mags to get gunked up somewhat and with the combination of the somewhat rough surface of the Tula cases the rounds were not presenting in the breech properly. Guess I got alot of mags to clean.

Anyone else experience this?

 

[pak29]

Ruger explicitly says that steel cases are ok in their P series manuals. That's as far as I think about it and if I find cheap steel case ammo, I buy it and use it.

Thanks for that bit of info, wlewisiii. It hadn't even occurred to me to check this, as a friend of mine was told by Ruger that his jamming problems were caused by off-brand ammo and Ruger's tight tolerances. This was a large part of my hesitation to use it in the first place. .

Good observation about magazine jamming, GreySmoke2. I'll keep a sharp eye out for that, too.

 

[USAF_Vet]

I buy TulAmmo for my 9mm and .45 for plinking and practice.

I save the more expensive brass for HD and carry loads.

 

[ForumSurfer]

What have your experiences been? Is it any less accurrate, and if so, any thoughts as to why?

Slightly, but for range fodder, it works just fine. WWB, S&B and other run of the mill range fodder fmj stuff is only very slightly more accurate. If I'm trying for really tight groups at distance, I'll most certainly look elsewhere.

Any feeding problems?

Ar - No
Glock 40/19/45 - no
Kimber 1911 with good mags - no
DPMS 308 AR - Yes, but only when I used pmags
SKS - No
Beretta 96/92 - no
XDM 40 - no
Para p12 - no
Smith and Wesson M&P - no

Thanks for your replies. I found another source, this article on Box O' Truth, observing that steel case ammo does not appear to expand as much to form a seal in the chamber, allowing gasses to leak around the cartridge and foul the chamber, leading subsequent brass cases to get glued in place.

Never experienced that issue with the above mentioned firearms. Most range sessions are 200 rounds or more.

Now when the session is almost over and all I have is a handful of brass and steel cased rounds, mixing brass with steel in the magazine causes magazine feed failures. I've got a few handguns with a few thousand rounds of Tula through them that don't cause me problems or experience any abnormal extractor wear.

 

[NMGonzo]

many a time this question has been posed.

It's fine.

 

[Kiln]

Just my personal opinion but I wouldn't use steel cased ammunition in pistols with an aluminum or soft alloy feed ramp for fear of developing little dings that decrease reliability but other than that I'm sure it'd be fine.

 

[mgmorden]

I reload so not being able to reuse the brass is a major detractor. Other than that, I have shot the handgun stuff a few times. Worked fine. I've had issues with extraction on the rifle stuff, but that was years ago and the coating on the newer stuff seems better.

Overall, when comparing the prices steel is cheaper, but minimally so, so I personally just opt for budget brass ammo. Shoots fine, and I get extra cases to reload.