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Steel cased ammo bad for gun?
- Thread starter five5toad
- Start date
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cmayfield682
Plinker
I tried running steel ammo in my Sig for a while. Never had any problems with the gun itself, but neither of my mags liked it at all. I've had zero problems with brass.
2ADMNLOVER
Grandmaster
I can't run wolf or tula out of my DelTon M4gery , the cases get stuck and won't extract after about 50-75 rnds .
I was bummed to say the least , then I found the zinc coated steel from Precision Ammo .
I've put about a 1,000 rnds through it now with no problems from that ammo .
I was bummed to say the least , then I found the zinc coated steel from Precision Ammo .
I've put about a 1,000 rnds through it now with no problems from that ammo .
If I'm not mistaken, I think Silver Bear is also zinc coated... just for another option. It's my primary carry ammo in my 9x18 pistols.
MilitaryArms
Master
- Apr 19, 2008
- 2,751
- 48
No, steel cased ammo is not bad for firearms. Many people believe that just because the case is made of mild steel that it can hurt the firearm more than brass cases. The operative word here is "mild". The steel used in cases is very soft, not much harder than brass. It is physically impossible for non-hardened mild steel cases to damage hardened steel like that found in barrels, bolts, bolt carriers, etc. It's certainly no more damaging than brass cased ammo. Those that claim steel is damaging to a rifle can produce no evidence of their claims. I've been firing steel cased ammo through most of my rifles and handguns for decades and I've never had an extractor failure or any other damage to any of my firearms... and I shoot more ammo than the average shooter per year. My M16 has fired at least 15k rounds of Wolf without any issues what-so-ever, not so much as a stuck case.
The only thing steel doesn't do well is make a gas seal in the chamber upon firing. Brass makes a much better seal and thus prevents much of the carbon from blowing back around the case and into the receiver of the rifle. This carbon blowing past the case also can accumulate in the chamber and over time cause stuck cases in rifles with mostly straight walls, that's why the AK cartridges like the 7.62x39 and 5.45x39 have a taper to their case walls - it aids in extraction. It's also why its important to clean your rifle, like the AR15 every 1000 rounds or so if you're using steel cased ammo. If you shoot steel, it's important that you scrub your chamber before going back to brass. The carbon accumulation in the chamber can, and often times does, cause stuck cases if you don't.
Now, some rifles won't work reliably with steel cased ammo. There's a couple of reasons for this.
First, much of the .223 out there like that from Wolf is loaded pretty light. If your rifle runs the hotter 5.56mm mil-spec ammo some folks have found that lighter Wolf won't cycle their rifle. That's an issue with your rifle, not necessarily with the ammo. Most of the problems people have with steel cased ammo is with various manufacturers of AR15's. If you have a non-chrome lined chamber, or if you have a "match" chamber (meaning tighter tolerance than a mil-spec chamber) you many have issues with stuck cases. Again, it's more of an issue with that particular rifle than with the ammo. I've found that some AR's are improperly gassed, which is a common problem with lower end AR makers, and it will cause issues with steel cased ammo.
I own mostly Colt AR15's and all of them work flawlessly with Wolf .223. I have a Stag Arms AR that runs Wolf flawlessly, even when bone dry (see my Cerakote video). I even have an Olympic Arms M4gery that runs Wolf flawlessly. My two SCARs and my two ACR's run Wolf flawlessly as well.
At any given time I have 5 or so cases of Wolf ammo on hand because that's pretty much all I shoot. With the market the way it is today I see no reason to shoot ammo that costs almost twice as much for practice when I've been shooting Wolf for 20 some years through everything I own without a single problem.
If you want to run Wolf and haven't in the past, I recommend buying 100 rounds and trying it in your rifle or handgun. If it cycles for you, I say go for it and shoot Wolf as much as you like. It certainly won't damage your firearm.
The only thing steel doesn't do well is make a gas seal in the chamber upon firing. Brass makes a much better seal and thus prevents much of the carbon from blowing back around the case and into the receiver of the rifle. This carbon blowing past the case also can accumulate in the chamber and over time cause stuck cases in rifles with mostly straight walls, that's why the AK cartridges like the 7.62x39 and 5.45x39 have a taper to their case walls - it aids in extraction. It's also why its important to clean your rifle, like the AR15 every 1000 rounds or so if you're using steel cased ammo. If you shoot steel, it's important that you scrub your chamber before going back to brass. The carbon accumulation in the chamber can, and often times does, cause stuck cases if you don't.
Now, some rifles won't work reliably with steel cased ammo. There's a couple of reasons for this.
First, much of the .223 out there like that from Wolf is loaded pretty light. If your rifle runs the hotter 5.56mm mil-spec ammo some folks have found that lighter Wolf won't cycle their rifle. That's an issue with your rifle, not necessarily with the ammo. Most of the problems people have with steel cased ammo is with various manufacturers of AR15's. If you have a non-chrome lined chamber, or if you have a "match" chamber (meaning tighter tolerance than a mil-spec chamber) you many have issues with stuck cases. Again, it's more of an issue with that particular rifle than with the ammo. I've found that some AR's are improperly gassed, which is a common problem with lower end AR makers, and it will cause issues with steel cased ammo.
I own mostly Colt AR15's and all of them work flawlessly with Wolf .223. I have a Stag Arms AR that runs Wolf flawlessly, even when bone dry (see my Cerakote video). I even have an Olympic Arms M4gery that runs Wolf flawlessly. My two SCARs and my two ACR's run Wolf flawlessly as well.
At any given time I have 5 or so cases of Wolf ammo on hand because that's pretty much all I shoot. With the market the way it is today I see no reason to shoot ammo that costs almost twice as much for practice when I've been shooting Wolf for 20 some years through everything I own without a single problem.
If you want to run Wolf and haven't in the past, I recommend buying 100 rounds and trying it in your rifle or handgun. If it cycles for you, I say go for it and shoot Wolf as much as you like. It certainly won't damage your firearm.
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I ran that stuff + Wolf + Federal + White box in a carbine class. All mixed into the same mags (metal & PMags) all day long without cleaning the gun (Noveske upper/lower with a Colt 14.5 barrel & LMT BCG) once & it all ran great.
Rick @ Buckshot sporting goods got me a h#ll of a deal on that ammo.
I don't shoot much these days, I'm a family man now and work 55+ hours a week, but when I did a few years ago I shot a lot of wolf and silver bear. The performance was good no jams of any kind. My only complaint was that when loading mags the wolf would turn my hands gray. I kept thinking that powder would jam me up but it never did.
GunsNstuff
Sharpshooter
I never noticed where the extractor does any real damage to the case head of brass ammo so I don't think the contact is that hard on the extractor. If the steel extractor won't damage the brass case head then a steel case head probably won't damage the extractor. That would be my guess.
OVERTHEHILLGUY
Sharpshooter
I have shot many- many rounds of steel case ammo thru my Glock 17, 0.00 problems. Not so sure now, the BULLET attracks a magnet.
From now on it will be Federal 115gr. ball for me.
From now on it will be Federal 115gr.
ball for me.Site Supporter
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