Steel cased ammo won't hurt your pistol. Now, be aware that some steel cased ammo comes with copper bullets and some come with mild steel bullets, both work fine, however the cheaper mild steel jackets do ultimately cause more barrel wear, but you have to fire many thousand of them to wear out a barrel, and that ammo is cheap enough that it more than pays for the barrel wear. Its a cost/benefit analysis we all have to make.
Again, its only the mild steel bullet jackets that cause some barrel wear, steel casings won't harm your pistol in any way. When you look at ammo, the mild steel bullet jackets are often called bi-metal bullets, they have a copper cladding over a mild steel jacket.
You may want to check with the range you practice at if steel case ammo were allowed: I recently learned that mine (indoor) doesn't allow them.
I was told it's because they can cause sparks when bouncing on the floor that could ignite powder leftovers - not sure if this actually can happen, still: their range, their rule.
Regards, Erminio
Interesting topic. My brother just picked up his first AR, and the dealer told him to never shoot steel cased ammo in his new rifle. Told him it was fine in pistols, not AR rifles.
1) Steel case in ranges: 99% of them floor sweep the brass and either sell as brass for the metal or sell as cases for reloading (usually to resellers like seen on the net)
2) Steel case ammo in AR: Most any decent should be able to cycle steel case fine, however I am one that suggest running brass during break in, and I myself have had a siezed round in the chamber so my trust factor, after having to hammer out with a cleaning rod, is zero... even for zombies. An AR is not an AK, where as an AK/SKS is "designed" to run steel case, and AR's intended diet is brass. Thousands and thousands of steel case rounds may/may not be healthy for your weapon, you will have to make your own call... for me, Ive started to reload which is about the same cost/maybe less than steel case and keeps me to the "all brass" plan.
Someone will step in and correct me Im sure (It is the enternets after all), but Im 99% sure that my info is 99% correct so do your own validation.
The bottom line is steel cased/bimetal ammo will erode parts faster than brass. However, most shooters will never notice. Here is a link of a torture case of AR. The conclusion is basically the cost savings of steel cased ammo you could replace the barrel and still be ahead.
Welcome to the forum! I've shot a bunch of steel case ammo through my shields without a problem. I won't buy it if there is brass cased ammo available only because I prefer brass, but none of my guns seem any worse fro wear so far. Hope this helps!
Steel cased ammo used to be limited to Russian made ammo, Wolf, Tula etc, that is no longer true. Hornady has been selling steel cased ammo for a couple of years, and recently Winchester has announced they will be selling their own steel cased ammo. There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that Hornady and Winchester wouldn't sell steel cased ammo if it could harm your gun. One big advantage of Hornady and Winchester steel cased ammo is that it is sold with better bullets, no bi-metal bullets in those brands.
Note that some steel ammo is polymer coated to prevent corrosion. Polymer build up in the chamber has been mentioned as a concern. I would think regular cleaning would keep this in check.
Steel cased ammo will wear out an AR extractor faster than brass will...that's about it, unless you are using steel-jacketed bullets as well, in which case your barrel will wear faster than with copper-jacketed bullets. It's still a soft steel, just not as soft as brass or copper.
I've never seen a verified report of the polymer coming off the steel cased ammo, its really bonded on there. Many years ago most Russian ammo was lacquer coated, the lacquer coating could come off and build up in the chamber, and it could cause problems, those went away when they switched to the polymer coating. I believe the only lacquer coated cases still left on the market are Brown Bear made by Barnaul in Russia, they also offer Silver Bear which is zinc coated steel and Golden Bear which is brass plated steel cased ammo, neither one has been known to cause any problems. Wolf brand ammo which is polymer cased rarely has any problems. Russian ammo in general is a bit lower powered, it works fine in most guns but its a good idea to only buy a box or two to try it out before buying in bulk. Just be advised that almost all Russian made ammo uses bi-metal bullets, there may be some exceptions to that.
Thanks for all of your comments! I appreciate your help. The steel cased ammo seems more cost effective especially in bulk. I'll check with local range.
Some indoor ranges don't allow Russian ammo, they say its hard on their bullet catchers, I think it has more to do with their ability to sell the brass, the steel casings are essentially worthless to them. A magnet to the bullet is how they separate them, if the magnet sticks, there's a ferrous metal in the bullet, ie steel, if the magnet doesn't stick to the bullet, no steel. Make sure you are only testing the bullet itself as the steel casings will definitely stick to a magnet, just stick to the pointy end and you will know for sure.
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