IMO reloaded ammo can present many more issues to a gun than steel cased ammo.
Yes, if someone doesn't make their ammo properly, sure... but as a generality? You couldn't be more wrong.
-Mike
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IMO reloaded ammo can present many more issues to a gun than steel cased ammo.
Yes, if someone doesn't make their ammo properly, sure... but as a generality? You couldn't be more wrong.
-Mike
Have to strongly disagree with that. (From a personal standpoint)
Reloads are only as good as the person who made them.
Commercially reloaded ammo can have any number of issues but I trust my own over even new manufactured ammo. I've had more issues and inconsistencies with Rem UMC, WWB, Federal etc. than my own reloads. At least I know where they came from and who made them.
Steel cases do not fully expand and seal the chamber like brass. This is what causes failure to extract, a dirty chamber in a gun that never gets cleaned. I've shot over 10k rounds of steel ammo. The only failure to extract I've ever had was due to my extractor lip breaking off.
Also modern steel ammo is not lacquer coated, it's polymer coated.
I also reload steel case .223.
I don't think that's entirely true. They do expand and seal against the chamber. I know I don't notice more blow-by on my steel cased rounds than I do on brass cased ones.
The CTE of steel is lower than brass, so brass should expand and contract more. Brass has nearly double the thermal conductivity of steel. So in theory, the brass case should expand more and expand faster, then cool and shrink faster.
I think FTE is generally caused by the case still being expanded when the extractor attempts to rip it out of the chamber, because the steel simply has not cooled and contracted enough yet. I'm wondering if that is the reason some manufacturers use a faster powder curve in steel ammo, to give it a bit more time to cool before the extractor pulls on it.
We were shooting Wolf steel cased through my son's M&P 15 and experienced a stuck case. A very light tap from a cleaning rod cleared it. The extractor had ripped a chunk of the rim off. Not sure how this case got stuck, given the light effort required to remove it.
Newbie here. It looks like all the problems with steel ammo are relating to cycling and semi-automatic issues. Does steel ammo act any differently in a revolver?
Mostly its a gas port or buffer weight issue.
AFAIK the "issues" with steel cased ammo is the user, not the ammo.
only real issues I believe exist are 1. Overgased DI gun which could damage extractor or rip off case head and 2. Mixing brass and steel cases could result in stuck case due to how they seal the chamber differently. Just my 2c. Probably there are more exotic issues that could arise but thats always the case.
i have never had a single issue w steel case ammo in my life. None of the experienced shooters I know have had issues assuming their firearm was setup correctly (and I trust the experiences of those who have shot far more than myself).
excellent discussion...
[video]https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=P5ZB3UfG960[/video]
Think again.
I tried Wolf in 5 different 9mm handguns and my S&W 1911 (.45) with failures to feed in each and every one of them. Called S&W tech support (although they weren't all S&W guns) and they admitted that some (especially older model guns) wouldn't feed properly with steel cased ammo. Sold off all that ammo and never a problem with brass cased ammo.
What about barrel wear? I bought my first gun used, so it already has some barrel wear. Would using steel ammo exacerbate this at all?
I was reading this article and their conclusion was pretty clear that steel eats the barrel faster. But is this more related to other issues, such as rate of fire, gas port wear, and number of rounds so that the average shooter won't notice the difference?
i think your'e referring to the bi-metal casing of most steel cased ammo like TulAmmo. most steel cased ammo has a bi-metal jacket, meaning it's a copper jacket over a steel inner jacket on top of a lead core.
personally i have never had any issues and i've put >4000 rounds of TulAmmo through various .223 rifles. no issues.
when somebody can show me two barrels comparing the effects of a bi-metal jacket vs. a standard copper jacket, then i'll believe it....otherwise it's conjecture at best as far as i'm concerned.
Pistols are significantly different than ARs with respect to eating ammo. On most pistols the slide is the "buffer" and is machined to a specific weight to work with a specific ammo profile. Some pistols will not shoot steel case ammo because the rounds are notoriously underpowered when compared to most brass commercial ammo.
Pistols are significantly different than ARs with respect to eating ammo. On most pistols the slide is the "buffer" and is machined to a specific weight to work with a specific ammo profile. Some pistols will not shoot steel case ammo because the rounds are notoriously underpowered when compared to most brass commercial ammo.
Pistols are significantly different than ARs with respect to eating ammo. On most pistols the slide is the "buffer" and is machined to a specific weight to work with a specific ammo profile. Some pistols will not shoot steel case ammo because the rounds are notoriously underpowered when compared to most brass commercial ammo.