Putting steel cased ammo through nice ARs?

[breachersup]

Hey all,

I’m trying to decide whether or not to cross the threshold—so to speak—and start putting steel cased (non-corrosive) ammo through my AR. I’m not looking for subjective opinion here, but rather information with which to make my own decision. The way I see it, even if steel cased ammo is worse for my rifle, depending on how bad it is, the value I get from so much more training by being able to afford way more rounds may outweigh the cost of putting a beating on my gat piece. My rifle is not a safe queen, she’s a battle rifle and as such, I have no concern for aesthetic damage, but wear and tear that degrades function is of course, of concern.

I’d love to hear other thoughts within those parameters, but my specific questions are somewhere along the lines of…

<span style="font-weight: bold">1)</span> Does steel cased ammo wear out the operating parts of the rifle significantly faster than brass-cased ammo? Lesser or worse on chromed bolt and chamber and whatnot?

<span style="font-weight: bold">2)</span> Is that zinc coated steel (like that Russian silver bear ammo) as gentle as brass cases in the rilfe?

<span style="font-weight: bold">3)</span> Is the lacquer or polymer coating on the casings a real nightmare to clean out—or do you just use a special cleaner/solvent and boresnake the rifle like nobody’s business?

<span style="font-weight: bold">4)</span> I keep hearing about bi-metal jacketing on lots of these steel case rounds—jacket is part copper and part steel? I’m no metallurgist here, but is that gonna way wear out the bore of the rifle? Lesser or worse in a chrome lined barrel?

So like I said, I’m trying to decide if the money saved, allowing me to train way more, is worth what it does to the rifle. To decide that, I need to understand what, if anything, it does to the rifle.

Thanks in advance all. I really appreciate the knowledge.

 

[Redmanss]

Re: Putting steel cased ammo through nice ARs?

Here's my take. All of the steel cased ammo I've tried is way underpowered. You can notice it at the first shot. I'd rather get a dedicated .22LR upper to train cheap instead if I'm going to have reduced recoil anyhow.

In my rifle it was fail happy too. Three different boxes and had multiple FTF in each. This was in a stock Bushmaster.

I don't know if they're harder on the parts, but I would think they are on extractors. Those are cheap anyhow and I don't see it harming a chromed chamber, but I'm a user, not a builder so I'm no expert on wear and tear. I never gave steel cased enough of a chance to show excessive wear.

They also shoot dirty as hell and I had multiple rounds leaving small particles of unburnt powder in my chamber and my arms/face.

Bottom line, I gave it a try and won't ever consider it again.

 

[woodsrunner]

Re: Putting steel cased ammo through nice ARs?

What price would you be buying the steel cased ammo at?

 

[TonyAngel]

Re: Putting steel cased ammo through nice ARs?

I've run a lot of steel cased ammo. I'll try address your concerns one at a time.

1) Does steel cased ammo wear out the operating parts of the rifle significantly faster than brass-cased ammo? Lesser or worse on chromed bolt and chamber and whatnot? <span style="color: #FF0000"> Although the steel cases are harder than brass, they are still significantly softer than the steel used in the parts of the rifle. The only part that I would even give a thought to is the extractor and those are so cheap and easy to change that the cost of any accelerated wear is greatly offset by the savings in ammo cost.</span>

2) Is that zinc coated steel (like that Russian silver bear ammo) as gentle as brass cases in the rilfe? <span style="color: #FF0000"> See above.</span>

3) Is the lacquer or polymer coating on the casings a real nightmare to clean out—or do you just use a special cleaner/solvent and boresnake the rifle like nobody’s business? <span style="color: #FF0000"> The lacquer or polymer coating coming off and leaving a buildup in your chamber is an internet myth. It does NOT come off. One of the drawbacks to the cheap ammo is that it shoots dirty. Clean as usual.</span>

4) I keep hearing about bi-metal jacketing on lots of these steel case rounds—jacket is part copper and part steel? I’m no metallurgist here, but is that gonna way wear out the bore of the rifle? Lesser or worse in a chrome lined barrel? <span style="color: #FF0000"> Again, the steel is soft. Far softer than barrel steel or chrome lining.</span>

I usually try to stay away from the really under powered stuff. I've found the Bear line of ammo to be pretty good.

I also reload 5.56, so my rifle gets a steady diet of a mixture of my reloads and Bear ammo. I haven't cleaned my AR in thousands of rounds either. I just keep it properly lubed.

 

[dpairborneranger]

Re: Putting steel cased ammo through nice ARs?

Awesome thread and info early!

 

[breachersup]

Re: Putting steel cased ammo through nice ARs?

TonyAngel,

Awesome info sir. Thank you very much. I really appreciate it.

 

[breachersup]

Re: Putting steel cased ammo through nice ARs?

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: woodsrunner</div><div class="ubbcode-body">What price would you be buying the steel cased ammo at? </div></div>

By the way, I guess I should've mentioned in the OP, I'm talkin about .223 or 5.56

Ummm..... depends on what grain bullet I wanna shoot. So if we're talkin like a 55 gr bullet the steel cased stuff is really really affordable. As in like 21 cents a round for russian brown bear type stuff or 26 cents a round for russian silver bear.

For the heavier stuff, like let’s say a 75 gr bullet, we’re lookin at more like 30 cents a round – as opposed to like 50 or 60 cents per round (on a good day) for brass cased stuff.

So the money saved is significant if you’re lookin to shoot a lot of rounds.

 

[Tactical_Tom]

Re: Putting steel cased ammo through nice ARs?

I reload so I don't really shoot cheap ammo, As long as the barrel cost less than $300 I don't think I would worry about using steel ammo. The better idea is to just get reloading equipment though.

 

[breachersup]

Re: Putting steel cased ammo through nice ARs?

Yeah I've got my reloading equipment, and at the time of this post, I'm just barely getting into reloading -> which is to say, I don't know the first thing about it, but I have most of the gear and I'd like to crank it into high gear once I know what I'm doing to save a ton of money.

 

[eckma03]

Re: Putting steel cased ammo through nice ARs?

Breachers Up, you know who this is......we need to talk about reloading one of these days. Also, for now, thanks to TonyAngel's post, I'm going to purchase more of the silver or brown bear ammo and save some money until I get all the reloading equipment. Thanks Tony

 

[kchustle]

Re: Putting steel cased ammo through nice ARs?

I bought my AR piece by piece with value in mind. So, while it is a nice AR it isn't a top of the line build by any means. That being said, I shoot a lot of brown bear and wolf through it without problems. It gets dirty as hell, but I kind of appreciate knowing that I can put it through hell and have it work just fine.

As far as cleaning, I started using Gunzilla a while back and I really like the stuff. The longer you use it the faster it cleans because it builds up some sort of a barrier. I use it to clean and lube and I am a happy camper. Don't let it freak you out the first time you shoot a bunch of bear and clean your bolt. Whatever the red crap is that they seal the primers with will be on whatever you use to clean the gun and it will be red...at least that is my experience.

 

[DWood]

Re: Putting steel cased ammo through nice ARs?

http://www.youtube.com/user/Sturmgewehre#p/u/58/VR3fi1wCSmM

 

[317millhand]

Re: Putting steel cased ammo through nice ARs?

I shoot lots of Wolf ammo and have never had problems with any type of failure. Accuracy is the same as the cheap American Eagle stuff. The steel case ammo does ding up the brass deflector, so I stick a small piece of Velcro on there take the hits.

 

[HKinAK]

Re: Putting steel cased ammo through nice ARs?

I have put about 50 - 60,000 rounds of wolf ammo through various types of rifles (HK, Bushmaster, Colt, etc.) and never had a problem. I will say I stopped using laquer coated 5.56 ammo on my HK rifles because the lacquer does leave residue enough to clog the fluting inside the chamber. I can tell you of all the hassle cleaning the flutes of an HK 53 after putting about 2,000 rounds through it in both auto and semi-auto.

I think a lot of the negative attitude is from prima donnas that have an attitude. I will be going out this weekend with Wolf polymer coated ammo and running it through a select-fire Colt, Bushmaster, and a HK 33K and 33.

 

[JelloStorm]

Re: Putting steel cased ammo through nice ARs?

Sometimes when I just want to put holes in paper I use cheap shit. I find no flaw in this.

 

[Meat Hunter]

Re: Putting steel cased ammo through nice ARs?

I have shot lots of Wolf and as was said before the only real problem was that it was way dirty. Now that there is a surplus of military ball ammo the price difference is not that great. Wolf is just under a quarter per round and good newe manufacture Lake City is around thirty cents. I shoot the LC M855 62 grain exclusively now.

 

[Captain Moroni]

Re: Putting steel cased ammo through nice ARs?

At my Tier One Training AR-15/M-16 armorers class they told us that it can be hard on extractors. I have shot quite a bit of steel case crap with no problems but I have seen a broken extractor on a friends that shot nothing but wolf.

 

[317millhand]

Re: Putting steel cased ammo through nice ARs?

I have heard the same thing about the extractors, but have shot thousands of rounds with no issue. Even if it does happen, an extractor is extemely cheap. Wolf is $200 per 1000 and cheap brass ammo is atleast $300 per 1000. Dont get me wrong, Id never use steel case for a duty weapon. It is perfect for a cheap range day.

 

[breachersup]

Re: Putting steel cased ammo through nice ARs?

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: DWood</div><div class="ubbcode-body">http://www.youtube.com/user/Sturmgewehre#p/u/58/VR3fi1wCSmM </div></div>

Well dang, I don't know this dude's credentials, but he sure sounds confident and knowledgeable. His points seem to make alot of sense to me. Great video link. Thank you.

So I’m getting a lot of awesome feedback on this thread everybody, I really appreciate the input.

I just wanna steer clear of opinion on whether or not to use steel cased (We all love saving money, love shooting as much as possible, and don’t wanna hurt our prized ARs). (please know I don't wanna come off as an arrogant jerk here--I'm here to learn and I'm learning alot.)

<span style="font-weight: bold">So anymore knowledge on the topic? Specifically, can anyone contradict what TonyAngel said, or what the guy in that video link says? (with facts, numbers, or personal experience)</span>

Thus far, its looking like the answer is “heck yeah, go with <span style="font-style: italic">polymer coated </span>steel cased ammo cuz the only downsides are it tends to run dirtier and can’t reload it”

Thank you again all.

 

[Rob01]

Re: Putting steel cased ammo through nice ARs?

I have shot thousands of rounds of Wolf years ago when it was $89/1000 in my Bushmaster AR and never had any problems.

I also shoot Hornady's training ammo which is loaded with the same bullet and powder as their TAP line but with a steel case to keep cost down and again no problems. I shoot that through my POF.

 

[DWood]

Re: Putting steel cased ammo through nice ARs?

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Breachers Up</div><div class="ubbcode-body"><div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: DWood</div><div class="ubbcode-body">http://www.youtube.com/user/Sturmgewehre#p/u/58/VR3fi1wCSmM </div></div>

Well dang, I don't know this dude's credentials, but he sure sounds confident and knowledgeable.

<span style="font-weight: bold">So anymore knowledge on the topic? Specifically, can anyone contradict what TonyAngel said, or what the guy in that video link says? (with facts, numbers, or personal experience)</span>

</div></div>

I think there is enough info based on experiences of others posted here to say go for it. The Military Arms Channel reviews like the one I linked are all pretty good and, I think, regarded as good information.

 

[BCP]

Re: Putting steel cased ammo through nice ARs?

Steel case is for AK's and cheapskates.

PMC bronze is 300 a case, wolf is 250 I think. Spend a little extra & save the brass for reloading later.

 

[BCP]

Re: Putting steel cased ammo through nice ARs?

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Breachers Up</div><div class="ubbcode-body">“heck yeah, go with <span style="font-style: italic">polymer coated </span>steel cased ammo cuz the only downsides are it tends to run dirtier and can’t reload it”

Thank you again all.
</div></div>

Just make sure your rifle runs with it, a lot of the AR's I've had didn't chamber or cycle lacquer-coated steel. I've never had that problem with PMC bronze or Federal (can usually find either for 300 per case).

 

[breachersup]

Re: Putting steel cased ammo through nice ARs?

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: BCP</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Steel case is for AK's and cheapskates.

PMC bronze is 300 a case, wolf is 250 I think. Spend a little extra & save the brass for reloading later.

</div></div>

True for 55 gr, but I wanna run 75 or 77 grain, so nope.

 

[breachersup]

Re: Putting steel cased ammo through nice ARs?

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: DWood</div><div class="ubbcode-body"><div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Breachers Up</div><div class="ubbcode-body"><div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: DWood</div><div class="ubbcode-body">http://www.youtube.com/user/Sturmgewehre#p/u/58/VR3fi1wCSmM </div></div>

Well dang, I don't know this dude's credentials, but he sure sounds confident and knowledgeable.

<span style="font-weight: bold">So anymore knowledge on the topic? Specifically, can anyone contradict what TonyAngel said, or what the guy in that video link says? (with facts, numbers, or personal experience)</span>

</div></div>

I think there is enough info based on experiences of others posted here to say go for it. The Military Arms Channel reviews like the one I linked are all pretty good and, I think, regarded as good information. </div></div>

Yeah I think I’m gonna go for it. The money saved is incredible.

Another biggie that we haven’t touched on here is instances when you won’t be pickin up your spent casings to reload them—such as courses or classes with a high volume of fire when you won’t have time to carefully pick up all your brass. Under these circumstances, no worries that it’s not reloadable.

 

[smokebomb]

Re: Putting steel cased ammo through nice ARs?

Ive run maybe 2k various steel/lacquered/zinced cased rounds through my ARs... The only two issues Ive noted are: Its a bit dirtier and in my rifles accuracy is not practical for upper torso sized targets over 300yds.
On the dirty point, Ive run 1500 of those rounds without cleaning in 1 AR just to see how long it would go. It kept going... I finally cleaned it because the black toothpaste feel on my charging handle/bolt made me sick to my stomach and even my girlfriend was giving me apprehensive looks as to my rifle's hygiene.

As for accuracy, in both of my rifle (clean and not) I was averaging 4-6 MOA. For most purposes that was fine with me for practice ammo.

For any accuracy practice I run PMC, as it will ALWAYS run sub 1.5MOA in the same rifles.

I agree though with a comment earlier, if you are going to run over 5000 rounds for practice, you paid off a dedicated .22lr upper.
If you want to talk DIRTY, get one of those .22lr conversion bolts! Take off your gas tube if you want to run these!

 

[BCP]

Re: Putting steel cased ammo through nice ARs?

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Breachers Up</div><div class="ubbcode-body">I wanna run 75 or 77 grain</div></div>

Eh, the wolf 75 grain stuff I saw was about 8$ a box for steel case (not sure if you can find it anymore). You can get PRVI 68 grain for the same price and in my experience it shoots better.

PMC 55 grain is cheap, accurate enough for practice and the brass reloads well enough so that when you actually care about accuracy you will have plenty of brass to work with.

 

[Awesymoto]

Re: Putting steel cased ammo through nice ARs?

Just for thought, DPMS recommends against steel cases, something about it being soft and the dust created by the cases is bad... Either way my AK loves wolf

 

[JD42]

Re: Putting steel cased ammo through nice ARs?

I Run Steel case ammo though my Ar15 and Ar10s. No problem. Some of it as stated is under powered. Tula seam to work quite well. No problem so far.

 

[bpipe95]

Re: Putting steel cased ammo through nice ARs?

I don't care to run the steel stuff in gas guns due to just how nasty dirty it is. However I run it in my piston gun all day long. After 500 rounds of wolf/silver bear in that gun it looks almost like it was just cleaned.

As far as reliability, due to being rather weak on the power side it does not like some 14.5/carbine gas system guns. Others it will run fine in. This is mostly due to the size of the gas hole.

 

[slowkota]

Re: Putting steel cased ammo through nice ARs?

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Breachers Up</div><div class="ubbcode-body"><div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: DWood</div><div class="ubbcode-body">http://www.youtube.com/user/Sturmgewehre#p/u/58/VR3fi1wCSmM </div></div>

Well dang, I don't know this dude's credentials, but he sure sounds confident and knowledgeable. His points seem to make alot of sense to me. Great video link. Thank you.

So I’m getting a lot of awesome feedback on this thread everybody, I really appreciate the input.

I just wanna steer clear of opinion on whether or not to use steel cased (We all love saving money, love shooting as much as possible, and don’t wanna hurt our prized ARs). (please know I don't wanna come off as an arrogant jerk here--I'm here to learn and I'm learning alot.)

<span style="font-weight: bold">So anymore knowledge on the topic? Specifically, can anyone contradict what TonyAngel said, or what the guy in that video link says? (with facts, numbers, or personal experience)</span>

Thus far, its looking like the answer is “heck yeah, go with <span style="font-style: italic">polymer coated </span>steel cased ammo cuz the only downsides are it tends to run dirtier and can’t reload it”

Thank you again all.
</div></div>

I watched that vid back in febuary and felt pretty confident about running that ammo in my brand new M&P15... I ordered a 1,000 rounds of 55gr. from the link he provides.
It's WPA (same as wolf I guess), and it has performed flawlessly! Theres none of that red sealant junk on the primers either.

No signs of stress on the extracted cases or the extractor itself.

It's worth it in my opinion for cheaper steel ringing and paper punching!

I just wish that they were packed loose, not in 25 boxes of paper wrapped 20 rounds per box LOL!

 

[Casey Simpson]

Re: Putting steel cased ammo through nice ARs?

Doesn't Cheaper Than Crap run XM193 Lake City and or white box Federal inexpensively enough to avoid the risks of this nasty ammo from the Eastern Bloc?

And if only paper punching, why not a Nylon 66 or 10/22?

55 grain 223 is good 300 yard ammo.

77 grain 223 is good 600 yard ammo.

Why we punching paper at 50 yards with it? Don't get chaffed - Jus sayn?

 

[zombieh8r]

Re: Putting steel cased ammo through nice ARs?

Most of my issue seems to be the extractor ripping off part of the brittle steel case head leaving the case stuck in the chamber. I haven't seen anyone else mention this issue. Does anyone else have this problem? Any ideas to get rid of it?

 

[darkgun82]

Re: Putting steel cased ammo through nice ARs?

I've pumped thousands of rounds of steel cased ammo through my guns with no problems.
Many of the FTF problems are due to a weak hammer spring. The primers are quite a bit harder than most ammo so the extra power spring solves that problem.
As for the ammo being dirty, it isn't much dirtier than any other ammo. The reason most think it is is due to the fact the steel doesn't expand to fill the chamber like brass does. Therefore carbon and powder residue get in the chamber and action. Also, many of the FTE problems are related to this too, if you fire steel, then brass, the carbon fills the chamber from the steel, then when you fire brass the brass expands and sticks to the carbon. As for the coating on the steel sticking in the chamber, go ahead and take a small torch to the steel case for a few seconds and see if any comes off...it won't, and won't in a chamber

 

[Dirty D]

Re: Putting steel cased ammo through nice ARs?

Spend the extra nickel per round right now for the brass cased milsurp and save your brass since you said you want to reload, by the time I bought a reloading press I had a couple of 5 gallon buckets full of 9mm, 223 and 308. The only time I buy steel cased ammo is if I am taking a class or shooting/training where picking up my brass is an issue. If you figure just one reload on your 223 cases the milsurp is much cheaper than Wolf etc. Now go buy that press and start reloading.

 

[PLeighton]

Re: Putting steel cased ammo through nice ARs?

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Breachers Up</div><div class="ubbcode-body">I wanna run 75 or 77 grain. </div></div>
If you want to run the heavier rounds, the only logical reason for doing so is to extend your range.
If you extend the range, then accuracy becomes more of an issue.
Cheap soviet bloc ammo is not known for its accuracy, it is known for its value.
(Hornady claims that their steel cased training ammo is "Match Quality", but I have no knowledge of whether or not it actually is.)

FWIW,
I prefer for use LC / American Eagle, PMC Bronze, or Winchester White Box for training ammo.
(Just can't get use to the funny smell of the Wolf / Bear ammo and I take the value of the spent brass into consideration when purchasing ammo.)
When I need to go long, I use Federal GMM, Black Hills, or my hand loads.

In the end, find out what works best for YOU.
Then buy is cheap and stack it deep!

 

[msalm]

Re: Putting steel cased ammo through nice ARs?

I've built quite a few ar's for accuracy. They are tuned to standard ammo and the only problems encountered for function is when using the cheap steel cased shit. I tell my customers to use better quality ammo and start reloading.

 

[elephantrider]

Re: Putting steel cased ammo through nice ARs?

I run Brown Bear 55gr FMJ through my BCM midlength without any fear that it is damaging the gun. I use the Brown Bear for practice/drill at close range where accuracy is not the most important factor. The Brown Bear is somewhat uderpowered but has been very reliable in my AR. From what I have read Wolf is the most underpowered of the cheap Russian ammo and many can not get it to run reliably.

 

[smokey0118]

Re: Putting steel cased ammo through nice ARs?

Good solid info in here. One more thing to add is to become knowledgeable about the mortarting technique to clear a stuck casing. If you shoot steel long enough, you'll have a stuck casing in your chamber. It's no big deal. As said before the carbon dirties up the chamber walls and can cause a casing to get stuck if allowed to buildup too much.

If you get a stuck casing:
1) put on safe
2) eject mag
3) collapse stock
4) point the gun up
5) from about 8" or so up, pull the gun to the ground by the charging handle.
6) repeat as necessary.

this should clear 90% of your stuck casings. The shock of hitting the ground and the momentum of the bolt help overcome the friction in the chamber.

...also, make sure ure gun has the black extractor upgrade. It'll help ensure good, strong extraction.

 

[gunslotreaper308]

Re: Putting steel cased ammo through nice ARs?

Although I don't like too... I've put thousands of steel cases through various AR's. I've experienced plenty of FTE's with stuck cases and my buddys rifle had an extractor problem but the cost savings of high volume training may out weigh the minimal part replacement costs.

 

[Lefty06]

Re: Putting steel cased ammo through nice ARs?

Good information I've only put a few rounds of steel cased rounds through my ar and never had any issues.

 

[prplhaz72]

Re: Putting steel cased ammo through nice ARs?

I have shot 1000s of rounds of wolf as well. I have had a few get stuck in the chamber. I had one case get completely ripped in half leaving half of it in the chamber. That was lacquer coated round. I quite using it and have not had that same issue with any polymer coatings.

From my observations what typically causes the cases to get stuck is steel cased ammo gets the chamber dirtier quicker than brass cased ammo. The reason is because the steel does not expand as much as brass to completely fill the chamber. So the gases and crap can get in the chamber leaving more residue in the chamber and overtime it builds up enough to start to cause extraction issues like stuck cases. So just cleaning more often is the solution.

But for plinking ammo, I think it works great.

 

[volucris]

Re: Putting steel cased ammo through nice ARs?

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Captain Moroni</div><div class="ubbcode-body">At my Tier One Training AR-15/M-16 armorers class they told us that it can be hard on extractors. I have shot quite a bit of steel case crap with no problems but I have seen a broken extractor on a friends that shot nothing but wolf. </div></div>

I think I will choose to never listen to these "Tier One" Training class people.


The alloy used in 'steel' case ammunition is formulated to have the plasticity of brass cased ammunition. It isn't any different to your rifle than shooting actual brass alloy cartridges.


There are a lot of myths about shooting. I find that people who blame Wolf for problems are the same people who are scared to use anything but a $50 teflon cleaning rod to clean in between shots when they buy their new barrel.



Challenge claims and find them out for yourself. Wolf is made for general purpose shooting and it works perfectly fine. The ultra hard chrome or steel of your chamber and bore don't give a shit.

 

[BBJones13]

Re: Putting steel cased ammo through nice ARs?

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Volucris</div><div class="ubbcode-body"><div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Captain Moroni</div><div class="ubbcode-body">At my Tier One Training AR-15/M-16 armorers class they told us that it can be hard on extractors. I have shot quite a bit of steel case crap with no problems but I have seen a broken extractor on a friends that shot nothing but wolf. </div></div>

I think I will choose to never listen to these "Tier One" Training class people.


<span style="font-weight: bold">The alloy used in 'steel' case ammunition is formulated to have the plasticity of brass cased ammunition. It isn't any different to your rifle than shooting actual brass alloy cartridges.</span>


There are a lot of myths about shooting. I find that people who blame Wolf for problems are the same people who are scared to use anything but a $50 teflon cleaning rod to clean in between shots when they buy their new barrel.



Challenge claims and find them out for yourself. Wolf is made for general purpose shooting and it works perfectly fine. The ultra hard chrome or steel of your chamber and bore don't give a shit. </div></div>


While I agree with your sentiment the part I bolded just isn't true. If it acted like brass it would expand like brass. It doesn't. So it may be designed to be "like" brass; it does not perform the same as brass.

 

[volucris]

Re: Putting steel cased ammo through nice ARs?

It does expand like brass. Try using a pair of calipers and compare them. You can also reload boxer-primed steel cases without too much issue.

 

[Arbiter]

Re: Putting steel cased ammo through nice ARs?

The price difference is considerably more than most people act like it is. These days it's safe to say that Wolf polymer-coated steel-cased .223 is about 19 cents per round for a thousand rounds (AIM will take it down to 18 cents for two cases). Brass cased is generally going to be about 29 cents per round for the same quantity. You're paying 50% more to upgrade from steel to brass, and in most quality rifles both types of ammo will function just fine for 200-300 yard plinking, training, and competition use.

People are hung up on the concept that steel is bad...personally, I'm fine to let them continue believing their myths, shooting fewer rounds per year, and completing stages slower than me.

 

[ThrottleJ]

Re: Putting steel cased ammo through nice ARs?

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Arbiter</div><div class="ubbcode-body">The price difference is considerably more than most people act like it is. These days it's safe to say that Wolf polymer-coated steel-cased .223 is about 19 cents per round for a thousand rounds (AIM will take it down to 18 cents for two cases). Brass cased is generally going to be about 29 cents per round for the same quantity. You're paying 50% more to upgrade from steel to brass, and in most quality rifles both types of ammo will function just fine for 200-300 yard plinking, training, and competition use.

People are hung up on the concept that steel is bad...personally, I'm fine to let them continue believing their myths, shooting fewer rounds per year, and completing stages slower than me.</div></div>

True but you can reuse or sell the fired brass cases to recoup some of that difference. I bet Hornady's new steel cased ammo is going to do a lot to get rid of the stigma of steel cases.

 

[Bizill]

Re: Putting steel cased ammo through nice ARs?

Thanks for the thread guys. I've pretty much come to the same conclusion that it isn't all too bad, but it puts my soul at ease to find more and more threads where the consensus is the same.