Interesting comparison of brass vs. steel cased ammo.

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http://www.luckygunner.com/labs/brass-vs-steel-cased-ammo/

In short, steel cased ammo will wear your barrel down more quickly. It's also less reliable but I read that as being because the steel cased stuff isn't manufactured to as good a standard.

I would have liked to have seen them include Silver Bear since the zinc coating is supposed to minimize wear and make it act more like brass.
 
I just bought 500 round of Wolf Military Classic steel cased ammo.

I am fine with it for now because it was cheap, and it was what the gun store had. I don't worry about these 'tests' unless you are shooting thousands and thousands of rounds of the stuff.
 
[cerberus];2802271 said:
Just think of it this way, buy all the ammo you can, because there might be a time when you do not care that it is steel.

Yup.

As long as my gun fires it with no or minimal issues, I'm shooting it.
 
The steel will wear down the barrel more because on the hardness scale its number is much higher than brass...i.e.Which is figured out by doing "The Rockwell Hardness Test" which measures the depth of cut a material makes on another when a load is put on it! Stick to brass
 
Yup.

As long as my gun fires it with no or minimal issues, I'm shooting it.

The other thing they point out is that it's cheaper to shoot steel cased and replace the barrel more often.

Of course, reloading is even cheaper in the long term.
 
The other thing they point out is that it's cheaper to shoot steel cased and replace the barrel more often.

Of course, reloading is even cheaper in the long term.

True.

If I was firing 20,000 rounds a year, I am sure I would choose brass. I just don't shoot nor can afford to shoot that much. That's why I am fine with steel. I also shoot brass.

I am talking .223/5.56 here. All of my handguns I shoot nothing but brass.
 
I would have liked to see them throw like Hornady Training ammo into the mix. The rest of the results really aren't a surprise to me, although I didn't realize that steel case was THAT shitty.

-Mike
 
True.

If I was firing 20,000 rounds a year, I am sure I would choose brass. I just don't shoot nor can afford to shoot that much. That's why I am fine with steel. I also shoot brass.

I am talking .223/5.56 here. All of my handguns I shoot nothing but brass.

Same here.

I have an AR with an 18" stainless barrel and I'm not going to run steel cased through that. I also have an XCR with a chrome lined, cro-mo barrel and that one gets fed whatever is cheap.
 
The steel will wear down the barrel more because on the hardness scale its number is much higher than brass...i.e.Which is figured out by doing "The Rockwell Hardness Test" which measures the depth of cut a material makes on another when a load is put on it! Stick to brass

I would bet that the problem is a lot more complicated than that. The primers and propellants used in steel case russian ammo are probably not exactly top shelf, either. All we know is that its some kind of mysterious slow burning rifle power, but nobody knows the temps it burns at, etc. That might also play a role in the actual erosion of the barrel throat, as the steel case itself only touches the chamber.

-Mike
 
Aren't AR's suppose to be like Glocks where you just beat the crap out of it anyway? [laugh]

Dude, get with the program.

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I don't get it. Steel case is just the shell casing, not the bullet. The bullet is still copper jacket, so how is that gonna wear the barrel more?

I shoot milsurps & don't reload, & I'm cheap, so I'll keep rolling with the steel.
 
Last time this came up a member here Rockwell'ed the steel and is was softer than the brass. The facts will confess to anything if you torture them long enough. I bet the author of the article has it out for steel and loves brass. Many here hate steel for no reason. Steel case ammo is shot all over the world everyday for centuries with no trouble. Many here say their AR will never see steel. When asked for a reason they have none. If I shoot 20,000 rounds of steel a year the money I save I can buy a spare AR or 10 extra barrels. There is no comparison when it comes to cost. I'm not a 1000yd shooter so the accuracy difference is of no issue. I don't care myself, as long as it goes bang it's good in my book, Especially at this time in our country. Brass, steel no problem as long as it ammo.
 
I don't get it. Steel case is just the shell casing, not the bullet. The bullet is still copper jacket, so how is that gonna wear the barrel more?

It might have nothing to do with the steel case and eveyrthing to do with the projectile, powder, and primer that is used in the cheaper steel cased ammunition. That's why I think the Hornady training ammo would have been an interesting test comparison- because it is steel but it probably uses a hornady FMJBT bullet, and probably some decent grade of propellant that wouldn't foul things up too badly.

-Mike
 
I don't get it. Steel case is just the shell casing, not the bullet. The bullet is still copper jacket, so how is that gonna wear the barrel more?

I shoot milsurps & don't reload, & I'm cheap, so I'll keep rolling with the steel.

It says right in there that the steel cased ammo also uses a bi-metal jacket on the bullets. The Federal brass cased stuff uses a pure copper jacket.
 
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