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Thread: Firing brass vs steel casings. Is there any negative with firing steel casings?

  1. #21
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    I've had both Tula and Wolf steel cased ammo stick in the chambers and fail to extract multiple times in my 2 stainless barreled AR's (one a BCM 5.56 chamber, other a Larue Wydle chamber) but all of my standard steel barreled AR's have shot steel cased ammo without any issues. Those incidences were enough to convince me to run only brass ammo since.

  2. #22
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    The negative side of shooting steel case ammunition is that it is, more often than not, less accurate that brass case ammunition. Hornady steel case match ammunition is the exception. If you are shooting a High Power Match, especially out to 300 yards, foreign steel case ammunition would not be a good choice.

    I, and a considerable number of students, have fired tens of thousands of rounds of steel case ammunition over the past 20 years. The weapons are really dirty after a day on the range shooting cheap, steel case, ammunition. The cost savings far outweigh the cost of barrel replacement. If you are shooting at ranges of 100 meters and closer, it is an economical option. For example, you do not need to shoot high precision, i.e. high dollar, ammunition to practice bounding drills engaging targets out to 100 meters. If you are competing in a High Power Match where precision is of paramount importance, foreign steel case ammunition is not recommended.
    Train 2 Win

  3. #23
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    Quote Originally Posted by bruin View Post
    https://www.luckygunner.com/labs/bra...el-cased-ammo/

    The most comprehensive test I've seen. Extractors wear faster grabbing steel rims, too.

    Sent from my ZTE A2017U using Tapatalk
    That test is fundamentally flawed and the results near useless.

    The way the rifles are fired are not representative of normal use. At normal operating temperatures the relative difference in hardness of the barrel and the brass/steel jackets of the bullets are vastly different. Once you get the barrel very hot through continuously shooting as they did the barrel steel is signifigantly more prone to errosion and the relative hardness is much closer to that of the steel jacket.

    If you did that test properly to be more representative of typical use, firing a few hundred rounds at a time allowing the barrel to cool the difference between the brass and steel would be last drastic.

  4. #24
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    great thread, please continue

  5. #25
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    Quote Originally Posted by legumeofterror View Post
    That test is fundamentally flawed and the results near useless.

    The way the rifles are fired are not representative of normal use. At normal operating temperatures the relative difference in hardness of the barrel and the brass/steel jackets of the bullets are vastly different. Once you get the barrel very hot through continuously shooting as they did the barrel steel is signifigantly more prone to errosion and the relative hardness is much closer to that of the steel jacket.

    If you did that test properly to be more representative of typical use, firing a few hundred rounds at a time allowing the barrel to cool the difference between the brass and steel would be last drastic.
    Let the reader take care how he extraplolates the results to his expected "normal" use. Note that the firing rate was up to 300 rounds in a row and barrel temps did not exceed 750 deg F. How would you set the max and cool barrel temps?

    I think it's unfair to call the test results "near useless." The pace of firing was reasonable given 40,000 rounds had to be shot. The gas tube occlusion from Brown Bear was unexpected and useful to know for anyone shooting that ammo. The chamber and gas port pressure data was unrelated to the barrel temp, presumably measured at ambient. Gas port erosion was higher for Federal than the rest. The myth of steel case coatings causing problems was debunked.

    No test is perfect, but even if you disagree with the methodology, some things can be learned here.

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  6. #26
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    It matters little what the case is made out of. The biggest difference is the powder, bullet and the QC that goes into assembly. Russian steel case has a bad rep due to their shitty components but I've had less duds with their ammo vs 5.56 XM bullshit so maybe their QC is better. Also Hornady steel match is far higher quality than most of the domesticly brass cased produced non match ammo out there.
    Last edited by vicious_cb; 03-16-18 at 13:11.

  7. #27
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    To expand on my previous post, the reason I won't shoot steel cased ammo through my carbines because of the potential for brass-cased ammo fired after steel to stick in the chamber unless one remembers to clean the chamber. Since the steel cases expand less than brass, one doesn't get the same seal when the cartridge fires that one would with brass, so you end up with more fouling in the chamber with steel-cased ammo. Not a problem until you go back to brass. When the brass expands, it'll get stuck because now the chamber is minutely smaller than it was previously.

  8. #28
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    Quote Originally Posted by hile View Post
    To expand on my previous post, the reason I won't shoot steel cased ammo through my carbines because of the potential for brass-cased ammo fired after steel to stick in the chamber unless one remembers to clean the chamber. Since the steel cases expand less than brass, one doesn't get the same seal when the cartridge fires that one would with brass, so you end up with more fouling in the chamber with steel-cased ammo. Not a problem until you go back to brass. When the brass expands, it'll get stuck because now the chamber is minutely smaller than it was previously.
    I've never thought of this and often mix and match at the range. Never had anything stick or stuck. My rifles are 100% factory 6920 and 6721

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  9. #29
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    Quote Originally Posted by Arik View Post
    I've never thought of this and often mix and match at the range. Never had anything stick or stuck. My rifles are 100% factory 6920 and 6721

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    Might depend on the firing schedule, too. I'm thinking of things along the lines of one of Pat's carbine classes, not necessarily a few rounds here, few rounds there.

  10. #30
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    Quote Originally Posted by hile View Post
    Might depend on the firing schedule, too. I'm thinking of things along the lines of one of Pat's carbine classes, not necessarily a few rounds here, few rounds there.
    Maybe something in between. A few mags of leftovers of type A then switch to type B... Definitely not in class. For no other reason than to keep everything consistent and not possibly having issues when I'm paying for a class. But like I said I never thought of that. All I ever did for class was to bring one type of brand

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