Brass or steel

[kbm6893]

There is a reason some ranges don't allow steel, none of my guns will ever see steel and I advise my students to not shoot steel, a penny or 2 a round is not worth shooting steel.

What is that reason? Too much trouble to sort through the brass they won't let you pick up? Is steel case ammo somehow dangerous?

Last public range I went to has a "no steel cased ammo and no picking up your own brass" policy. Purely to maximize their profit. If paying $25 an hour to shoot at their range isn't enough profit, then to hell with them. Since I started reloading I always pick up my own brass. It bugs me to even lose some cases at the outdoor range I shoot at.

 

[sandog]

Lots of misinformation here concerning steel case Russian ammo.
I have enough brass case ammo in handgun calibers so have never shot it in my handguns.
Although I'd prefer brass, I shoot an equal number of brass and steel in my carbines.

Nothing against 5.56mm, but all of my carbines are 7.62 x 39mm.
Makes it easier to stock up on one caliber instead of several.

I was against using steel case when all I had tried was Tula. But after testing some other brands of steel case, I realized that not all brands suck, it's just Tula.

Yes, brass is much preferred if you plan on reloading.
The steel used in the case, and in the bimetal bullet, is much softer than the steel in your chamber and bore, and isn't going to wear your barrel out, unless you shoot 10's of thousands of rounds.

Steel cases don't contract as well as brass in that millisecond after firing, so theoretically are harder on your extractor. I have heard of extractors breaking or chipping in some pistols, it is rare in a long gun.
It's a good idea to keep a spare extractor (and firing pin) on hand for any gun, they aren't that expensive or hard to swap out.

Some guns have ignition problems with Berdan primed steel case ammo, but it's not because primers are all that hard, as many believe.

It is because the primers are seated deeper. It's easy to see where a light hit on a primer would led you to believe that the cause was the primer being overly hard, but the firing pin being a bit short to reach a deeper seated primer will also result in a light primer hit.

AKs and SKSs have a much longer firing pin protrusion, than say, an AR in 7.62 x 39 or a Ruger Mini-30.
If you want to reliably fire Com-Block ammo in a x39 AR or Mini-30 you need to install a longer pin.

The lacquer coated case was phased out years ago and replaced with polymer coatings. The lacquer did deposit in the chamber and build up, but only if you did mag dumps and got things really hot.
Lacquer was never an issue with AK's and SKS's because of looser chamber tolerances and chrome lining.

My favorite steel case ammo is Silver Bear. It is very consistent and accurate, clean burning and full velocity.
Red Army Standard and Golden Tiger are decent as well.
Many, myself included have been turned off by steel case because of ammo like Tula.

Tula is like the Budweiser of ammo, it is low priced and common, it seems every store in the country stocks it.
But I have found Tula to be lower velocity, dirtier, the least accurate, and hardest to ignite of any of the dozen brands I've tried.

I would not be adverse to shooting a few hundred rounds of steel out of my M&Ps for range use if I didn't have so much brass case ammo.
Just clean well after use and inspect the chamber, extractor and firing pin.
Just like you should do after firing a few hundred rounds of brass ammo.

 

[cracker57]

steel case issue
M&P 40C Failure

 

[Igiveup]

LGS today only had Barnul, steel cased 9mm. Only two boxes left, but I passed. I just can't bring myself to shoot steel in a pistol. I do shoot it in an SKS, seems like it goes with the gun, does shoot well without any problems.

 

[Tim357]

The range I shoot at in Az will not allow steel and runs a magnet over your ammo before allowing range entry.

Are they looking for steel core bullets, or steel cased cartridges? Steel core bullets will mess up a backstop in short order, steel cases shouldn't matter one way or the other. What range is this?

 

[austintexas]

steel

Just for the heck of it, I reloaded some steel case .45 acp and 223. I had no problems. shot it out of my SP1 and a 1913 era 1911. I've reloaded the .223 3 times, I'm going to see how many reloads I get. I reload the .45 on a Dillon Square Deal I bought way back when they cost $138.00. No problems yet. I checked the cases to make sure they were boxer primed. Some of the boxes steel comes in are marked as to what kind of primers are used. NOTE, steel cases do take more force to resize.

 

[scoobysnacker]

Brass case is generally preferred, but steel is not the devil it's made out to be.

Steel cased will usually be cheaper, and depending on the gun it will run as good or better.

Case in point- I have a C308, which is the latest iteration of the Cetme from Century Arms. I know, cheap terrible gun made by angry beavers... but that gun has been fine, only a couple issues. I had 2 failures to extract, both with Armscor brass. The Cetme, like the HK and PTR, has a fluted chamber, and softer brass can flow into the flutes and get stuck. Steel has been 100% reliable, as has surplus Korean (PMC?) brass. This gun beats the daylights out of the cases with ejection, a lot of people say they can't reload them anyway. I don't reload, so I run what works in it.

Similarly, with my SKS and pistols in 9 Makarov caliber, I've shot 90% or greater steel, with no issue. I have shot some brass in the Maks but it doesn't seem to make a difference, so why pay more? I bought some of this earlier this year, the Tula 7.62 was $210 a case, the Silver Bear 9 Mak JHP was $190. I keep my CZ 82 loaded with 12 rds of the Silver Bear, with 2 spare mags. I don't know if it expands, but for that price I won't complain. It's plenty accurate at the range.

I picked up some entry level AR's recently (earlier this year, while I could still find some at/below the $500 point), picked up a case of IMI brass, then picked up some steel (2 cases of Tula, 1 case of Silver Bear). The IMI was 369, the Tula was $250 apiece, the Silver Bear was under $300. my AR's shoot these. Initially had trouble with Silver Bear with one, but a good thorough cleaning fixed that.

For point of reference-
Silver Bear .223 62 gr JHP, $280 for 1k, end of July.
Silver Bear 9x18 Makarov, $190 for 1k, end of June.
Tula 7.62x39, $210 for 1k, middle of July
Tula .223, $250 for 1k, middle of July
Tula 9x19 fmj, $167 for 1k, end of May.

Prices have surged since then, but the initial covid panic was underway by then (we didn't have the riot panics yet). Brass at that point was scarce and starting to climb.

It's not the best stuff, but it goes bang.