steel cased ammo disadvantage

[harokyle]

what is the big disadvantage to steal cased ammo ive heard that it can be corrosive?

 

[melensdad]

NEWLY made steel case ammo that is generally branded for sale in the USA is non-corrosive.
Much of the SURPLUS MILITARY steel case ammo is corrosive.

 

[Rick983]

Melensdad is absolutely correct. I shoot a LOT of steel case ammo and if it's military it will be corrosive. Anything newly made for the commercial market will be non corrosive. Wolf, Silver Bear and those types of ammo are actually quite good considering the price. By the way, the reason governments, including ours until the 1950s' used corrosive primers is their long shelf life. The compound that makes them corrosive also extends their shelf life to decades. I've shot 1930s' dated German 8mm mauser and it fired each time. If you clean your gun after each session, it won't bother you anyway.

 

[REM299]

NEWLY made steel case ammo that is generally branded for sale in the USA is non-corrosive.
Much of the SURPLUS MILITARY steel case ammo is corrosive.

Are there any other disadvantages like reloading issues or shelf life?

 

[Mr Evilwrench]

Shelf life is equivalent to brass. A lot may be Berdan primed, which you probably don't want to go to the trouble trying to reload. The newer polymer coated ones are supposedly fine, but steel doesn't expand into the chamber like brass, so you can get carbon fouling in the chamber which can make it impossible to extract brass later, so clean the chamber thoroughly after steel.

 

[CalebToNowhere]

Are there any other disadvantages like reloading issues or shelf life?

Since steal is not as amiable as brass, it has a tendency to increase the wear on your dies. That and I don't think that you will get much more than 1 or 2 reloadings out of them. Take all this as a grain of salt since I have only read tid bits on the interwebz...

 

[Jeremiah]

No. Steel used for ammunition is softer and more malleable than brass. It is easier on the chamber and the reloading dies. Its is hard to reload from what I understand because it is so soft. Most people I have talked too think it's more trouble than it's worth, when you can find boxer primed steel cases.

 

[Fishersjohn48]

what is the big disadvantage to steal cased ammo ive heard that it can be corrosive?

Plus if you do it and get caught, you could end up going to jail.....

 

[CalebToNowhere]

No. Steel used for ammunition is softer and more malleable than brass. It is easier on the chamber and the reloading dies. Its is hard to reload from what I understand because it is so soft. Most people I have talked too think it's more trouble than it's worth, when you can find boxer primed steel cases.

I stand corrected, thanks. I guess I had it backwards.

 

[IN1911]

Steel cased ammo is good to go in my opinion. Shoots great and is much cheaper.