I heard that using steel ammo is bad for your pistol? Is that true? I used about 150 rounds of steel ammo today and I am not looking to ruin my 9mm. Any insight on this steel vs brass? I'd really appreciate it.

Shooting steel is fine. The problem is shooting brass after. The steel does not expand like brass so you get more debris in the workings of the firearm. This will cause the brass case to get stuck. after I shoot steel cased ammo I make sure to give a quick stroking with a bore brush and some cleaning solution. Use a clean pad to wipe up and go to shooting brass.
I try not to each during one shooting outing. YMMV
Hope this helps a little.

I've fired I don't know how many rounds of steel cased 9mm, .40 S&W and .45 ACP ammo through various semi-auto handguns, i.e., Glock and Beretta and and my S&W 625-2 revolver. The brand that I've used is Wolf. I've had nothing but excellent results with this ammo in my handguns. I've also fired it in my COLT Hbar using the Wolf 5.56mm/.223 ammo. Again, results have been excellent. YMMV. Sincerely. brucev.

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Other than being a little dirty and smelly I don't have anything against the Russian made steel cased ammo. A lot of 45 acp was loaded with steel cases in WWII with no reports of problems.

I own several different 9mms and have had a few problems when using
steel cased Russian ammo. I bought a few cases with different head-
stamps and found that some lots are so lightly loaded that some of my guns would not cycle with it. Also some of the steel cases had a
burr around the case mouth combined with a heavy lacquer coating that
caused them to stick in the chamber. If you have a brand that works
well in your gun I would suggest staying with the same brand if you
buy more.

There is nothing wrong with steel cased ammo in and of itself. As stated above, steel doesn't seal the chamber as effectively as brass does. You get increased fouling in the chamber which needs to be cleaned more frequently. Difficulty chambering or extracting in a dirty chamber leads some people to believe that the laquer coating melts, but I do not believe there is any evidence that the laquer will actually melt.

The problem with the Russian ammo is poor quality control. I recently had a Tula 7.62x39 154 gr. SP loaded without powder. Some people experience a lot of misfires. I pull the duds that I find at the range. They often have a heavy firing pin indentation on the primer, and I see priming mixture inside after I dump the powder. It looks like some of the integral berdan anvils are short. In factory loaded configuration I would not want to have to rely on Russian ammo for any serious use.

Dave Sinko

I have had good luck with Herters but have had a few problems with Tula. Both Russian made. I only tried the Tula by accident. I bought it at Wally World and did not realize it was steel case. I went through 200 rounds and had 4 FTE problems with it (probably due to light grain loads). I switched to brass (Winchester) and not a single problem after another 100 rds. I find it takes a lot more to clean after firing Russian ammo but would not worry too much on its use...

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Doug;}
RSO from WA State

I have never fired one round of steel cased ammo in any of my guns. I'll pay the extra 20% for brass as long as I can get it. Never had to change an extractor, yet. Joe

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Wisdom chases me; I'm faster

Steel cases wearing things out is way over blown on the internet.

I've only shot tula steel cased ammo in 9mm. I shot 200 rounds with no problem. From what I could tell the tula ammo is even cleaner than the winchester white box 115gr fmj, the winchester white box seems to be a lot dirtier than other 9mm brands I've used. IMO the best deal on 9mm is the 100 pack of federal IF you can find them in stock.

I purchased the 40 Sigma years ago and found it hated steel Wolf ammo. If I was lucky I would get 30 rounds out before case would fail to eject. It would be bound up so tight I had to use a wooden dowel down the barrel to tap it out. Brass case no mater what brand gave me no problem.

I don't use steel because I reload, and reloading steel cases is not practical. Since factory ammo is required in classes, some bring steel and it usually-not always-shoots OK, especially in east bloc firearms.
Some guns don't tolerate it, but I haven't yet figured out how to guess which ones will lock up: have seen Sigmas, XDs, Kimbers, Colts, LLama, even a Glock. Had a Taurus 1911 9mm lock up with it this month.

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Science plus Art

Yes, someone told me the steel wrecks the extractor. I had bought a bunch of steel case 9mm and .223 ammo during the ammo shortage a awhile back cause there was no brass case in my local.

I'd be using it in a 9mm Shield and 9mm Mac. The .223 would be shot in various AR's. So far have not tried much of it due to the 'rumors'.

There is a lot of misinformation and half truths on the Internet. Steel is harder than brass but still soft compared to a PROPERLY made extractor. Cheap guns usually means cheap parts made of cheap material. If it was that big of an issue the US wouldn't have issued steel 45acp ammo in ww2 and US companies wouldn't be making them today. ....like Hornady.

But there are individual guns that don't tolerate steel case very well. In that instance don't use it.

I bought 250 rounds of Brown Bear steel case 9mm Lugers for the range only to find out Targetmaster won't allow me to use it. What is that about?

Could be they don't like steel case cause they can't resell it. Or could be they are afraid the bimetal bullet will damage the backstop

Indoor ranges around me forbid steel case because one range had a fire that was said by the fire inspector to have been caused by a spark off steel case hitting the concrete down-range, where there was a lot of unburned powder in the air. I suspect the insurance companies added that to their list of exclusions.

My range also recycles the brass to keep costs down. Unless you are a member, and ask at check-in, they don't allow folks to chase brass. I saw a guy go past the firing line on a hot range to chase some of his one night. He was expelled and banned.

First during ww2 we used steel cased 45acp ammo.

I shoot steel cased ammo in all my chrome lined chambers and bores.
Never a problem.

Steel cased ammo was issued during WWII not because they wanted to but because of a shortage of brass.
They issued the famous steel pennies at the same time for the same reason.
As has been mentioned the steel cases are much more likely to damage your reloading dies than your chamber.
I would not try to reload them.

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NEMO
"Everything 44"

Need to update this with...
Steel vs Brass vs Aluminum.

My H&K clone C93 has problems with .223 brass, yet loves steel. Sat about firing 10 rounds every day, at least, of Russian cheap steel case without cleaning it as a sort of long term torture test, to see how well it would work with being cleaned, lubricated, and with fresh residue being added daily. Never had a problem until way past 700 rounds and a couple of months finally ended the 100% success streak. Its a good rifle, and a good design, and it seems to handle cheapo better than civilian brass. On that note, I've heard the same thing from other C93 users, steel works well, brass not so well. Also heard the same about HK 91's and clones, that G3's and HK91's will shred civilian .308 brass, although my PTR runs them well. In any case, I have one rifle that truly duly prefers steel.

Before I started reloading .45 ACP, I shot quite a bit of Tula steel during the big Sandy Hook crisis, and I've never noticed any wear or failure due to them. I never put them through my Thompson carbine, both due to warnings from Kahr and from other modern made Tommy gun users, breaking extractors. 9mm steel has worked well in my Uzi carbine, and my Browning Hi Power, without any signs of trouble. As far as aluminum goes, all my pistols, revolvers, and the Thompson shoot well with Federal's line out of Walmart, but the Uzi had severe problems with accuracy and reliability, probably due to underpowered light loads.

Between all the myths and internet lore, I think its really best to go out and try steel and aluminum if you don't reload and see for yourself. Its very possible that every model, and perhaps every individual weapon, will perform differently. OP's question is a good one, but perhaps to broad for a simple answer.