M&P Sport II Which steel case ammo to feed it?

[Garman]

I have only shot 200 rounds thru my Sport II, all brass. I have been reading about steel case ammo and have decided I want to try some. I have been looking at Tulammo, Brown Bear, Wolf and saw some Monarch at Academy.

I would like to get some input from folks that have used steel case ammo in their Sport II's and learn from their experience with these brands of ammo. I am looking for what seems to work best.

If any one has experience with any that I have listed, or others, I would appreciate some feedback.

Thanks!

 

[jagular]

M&P Sport II Which steel case ammo to feed it?

The majority of ammo I’ve through my sport is steel Tulammo from Walmart. In the 2k rounds or so I’ve had about 3 stuck casings. I’m guessing heat in the chamber from 150-200 round firing sessions caused the case to expand. No other issues to report.

 

[smith627]

I am very new to AR's having owned my Sport II for less than a year and was curious just as your are. In the two boxes of cheap Walmart Tulammo I have shot, there were no malfunctions. When I cleaned it later that day, I noticed that the bolt tail was covered in green residue reminding me of corroded copper. I cleaned it off with Hoppes #9 and wire brush. The next trip to the range I shot only Federal brass cased ammo and when cleaning it later, the bolt tail only had black fouling on it. Someone on this forum may can explain why the difference since both brands are smokeless but maybe Tulammo primers might be the difference??
For me personally, I will shoot only brass cased ammo in the future. I can reload .223/5.56 since I used to reload for a bolt action rifle and/or buy brass ammo on sale.

 

[RGVshooter]

I wouldn't suggest shooting steel cased ammo in a AR. I've experienced far too many double feeds/jams using monarch steel cased 223 that could not be cleared without popping the upper off & trying to clear the cases out of the chamber.

 

[WR Moore]

The AR series wasn't designed for use with steel case ammo. Expect increased extractor wear at minimum.

There was an article on various ammos and how various AR's did with it. Increased rate of malfunction and decreased barrel life (if they're cheap on the brass, they're cheap on the rest of the components) with various steel case stuff was noted. They attempted to justify the increased wear by noting that the ammo savings on ammo would pay for a new barrel and bolt, but there's no real reason to abuse your investment.

That said, it's your toy do what you want.

 

[Garman]

I just ordered 450 rounds of the IMI 5.56 M193 that Midway has on sale right now. Looks like it may be awhile before I look at steel case ammo again!

 

[hdwhit]

Garman asked:
I have been reading about steel case ammo and have decided I want to try some.

Please note that for an AR, the material the case is made out of (be it steel, brass, aluminum or something else) has little to no effect on the rifle.

What you do need to look out for is the construction of the bullet. Conventional gilding metal jacketed bullets cause less wear on the barrel than steel or so-called "bi-metal" jacketed bullets.

Read this post:
https://www.luckygunner.com/labs/brass-vs-steel-cased-ammo/
Ignore the title of the post. As you read, note that the difference between brass and steel cased ammunition had nothing to do with the results; it was the construction of the bullet and the burn characteristics of the powder that determined how fast the barrel was ruined.

Also keep in mind as you read the article that barrels are "wear items" just like the brake linings on your car and you should expect to need to replace them periodically. The question is "How often?"

Over the last 38 years, I have shot roughly 2,000 rounds through my Ruger Mini-14. After retirement, I expect to shoot about 20 rounds a week for the rest of my active life or about 10,000 rounds total. Since this will all be gilding metal jacketed lead bullets spread across five rifles, I expect barrel wear to be something that will concern my heirs, not me.

I would be more concerned if I were shooting rounds containing bi-metal jacketed bullets.

 

[sgtsandman]

I wouldn't shoot steel ammo, copper bullets or not but that is my personal choice. There will be many for and against it and in the end it's your money and rifle. I don't want to deal with the stuck cases or extractor issues can come from shooting it.

 

[Wee Hooker]

I had a guy in the shop today. He was having stopages while running loads of surplus steel cased ammo through a $1800 Tavor x95 and blaming the rifle.
$223/556 in brass cased ammo is plenty cheap and available. Just my two cents, but when you do have issues , please don't blame your rifle.

 

[MTC(SS)Ret]

I am considering purchasing a M&P Sport 2 in the near future and this is a topic of interest to me. I have read in a few magazines that brass cased ammo is always best to use in a rifle of any type (semi-auto or bolt) due the natural lubricity of brass compared to steel, which allows for much easier loading and extraction of the ammo. Any opinions about the veracity of these claims?

 

[agksimon]

I just ordered 450 rounds of the IMI 5.56 M193 that Midway has on sale right now. Looks like it may be awhile before I look at steel case ammo again!

I use exclusively IMI 5.56 ammo and just bought thousands of rounds of this on sale, as it's cheaper than steel cased ammo, at this price. This IMI shoots 1moa or less, with rarely a flyer.

Steel cased ammo has many disadvantages, but the biggest one is the bi-metal bullet, which will wear out a barrel in 5000 rounds.

https://www.luckygunner.com/labs/brass-vs-steel-cased-ammo/

 

[Garman]

Hopefully the IMI ammo goes on sale regularly! That is an excellent price! I would buy another 450 now but I want to see how it runs in my Sport II first.

 

[sgtsandman]

I am considering purchasing a M&P Sport 2 in the near future and this is a topic of interest to me. I have read in a few magazines that brass cased ammo is always best to use in a rifle of any type (semi-auto or bolt) due the natural lubricity of brass compared to steel, which allows for much easier loading and extraction of the ammo. Any opinions about the veracity of these claims?

I don't know about "lubricity" but brass cases tend to rebound better after expanding due to the pressure created from firing the cartridge. This is one of the reasons it easier to extract a brass case. Steel tends to stay in it's new form more after firing, so has a tighter fit making it harder to extract after firing the cartridge.

Brass also normally does not have some sort of protective coating that can "glue" itself to a hot chamber. This issue seems to be more of a problem if a spent cartridge is allowed to stay in the chamber instead of an immediate extraction. Though, I have heard of instances where a spent cartridge will stick in a semiautomatic firearm.

Keep in mind the above are generalities that can happen and don't always do. There are some that run steel all the time and say they have never had an issue.

 

[TX-Dennis]

I have fired several thousand rounds of Wolf through two ARs along with smaller quantities of Tulammo and Monarch Steel. One AR experienced two stuck cases with the Tulammo (out of 500 or so fired). No issues in either with Wolf or Monarch.

 

[cyphertext]

Not all steel cased ammo is created equally. I shoot quite a bit of Hornady Steel cased match... in my area, the ranges do not allow FMJ, so the Hornady steel cased match is a less expensive hollow point. I have not experienced any stuck cases with this, and it is polymer coated. The projectile is the same projectile that is loaded in the Hornady brass rounds, no bi-metal stuff... the powder is also the same as the Hornady brass cased loads. I don't expect any issues or accelerated wear from this.

I've also used Silver Bear... no problems with that from my rifle either.

 

[WR Moore]

One of the big issues with steel case ammo compared with brass is ductility. The ability of the material to be shaped and, if stressed, to recover the original shape. Both expand to seal combustion gases, brass recovers/releases from the chamber walls better/faster than steel. This reduces extraction forces. As can case taper in the original design.

If you look at operating pressures, all the typical steel cased rounds I've found (7.62 x 39 mm, 8 x 33 mm) have lower operating pressures than .223 Rem/5.56 x 45 mm. This is also going to affect extraction forces. In short, you can expect higher extraction forces and accelerated extractor wear with steel case ammo in .223/5.56 mm.

As has been noted, there are many levels of quality to both brass and steel case ammo. There have also been, we hope, some progress in improving the ductility of steel cartridge cases. If you just gotta go steel, I'd lean toward the Hornaday product. But, it's Berdan primed and you can't reload it.

If you explore the internet, right now you can find good quality brass case ammo darn near as cheap as I can reload it.

 

[shep854]

Steel cases can allow increased fouling of the chamber which can lead to stuck cases, even with chromed barrels. A little extra attention to cleaning the chamber will help avoid this.

 

[shep854]

This is one of the best videos explaining how steel ammo affects rifles, especially ARs.
[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5ZB3UfG960[/ame]

 

[CBStuard]

I used to use Wolf steel but had way too many stuck cases. Wolf Gold seems good though. And MFS zinc coated steel seems good also.

 

[changemyoil66]

I used wolf aluminum. It was cheap but super dirty. Took me 3x the amount of time to clean. 50rds wolf is like shooting 500 brass in terms of dirtyness. I wont use wolf again. Rather pay more for brass.

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