Steel Case Ammo in your AR15

Pr589 said:
This seems to be the best article available regarding steel cased vs. brass and bi-metal vs. copper jacketd. The TLDR version is that brass is more reliable and bi-metal jackets will wear your barrel faster but the money saved easily pays for a new barrel.

http://www.luckygunner.com/labs/brass-vs-steel-cased-ammo/
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This has no relevance whatsoever with regards to the steel case. Yes, bimetal bullets will wear out your barrel way faster. That is not because they have a steel case. Steel cased ammo with a standard copper jacket will not wear out your rifle appreciably faster than brass cased ammo. I shoot Hornady steel match ammo out go all my high end guns with no fear of excess damage.
 
If my rifles can't digest cheap steel ammo, I dont want that rifle. I'm not a picky eater and neither are any of my rifles.
 
8 ball said:
This has no relevance whatsoever with regards to the steel case. Yes, bimetal bullets will wear out your barrel way faster. That is not because they have a steel case. Steel cased ammo with a standard copper jacket will not wear out your rifle appreciably faster than brass cased ammo. I shoot Hornady steel match ammo out go all my high end guns with no fear of excess damage.
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Thank you for the info. And to the others for their thoughts on this
 
Well Tula steel cased 223 ammo is 35ish a round while Remington or Federal brass cased is more like 80ish a round so I have shot lots of steel cased from my Tavor and it shoots great not a single malfunction at all in almost 1000 rounds.
 
Good old Dominion Arms DA556 20" right now is getting a steady diet of Tula steel. So far sitting at around 2000+ rounds and little to no problems (like 20 FTF and a handful of FTE)
 
vancouverbc said:
This is why I said "evidence based", my question has nothing to do with the relationship you have with your rifle ;)
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i have seen guys in class cook a steel case round in the chamber during a rest period when the barrel was hot. Usually one would take precautions by ejecting the cartridge before the lacquer melts but if you forget you can have issues.

Hay I use steel in my 7.62x39 rifles but not my expensive AR's. That's just my choice.
 
The AR15 chamber was designed for brass. The "pressure relief valve" in case of an over pressure (obstruction, pistol powder load, firing with the bore filled with water) is that the brass case will fail at the last point of chamber support. Often just the extractor will be damaged and gun will be fine.

Steel will not fail as brass will.

I have seen two over pressure incidents recently where, while the steel case was not the cause, the case did not burst clearly increased the damage to the firearm considerably. As in destroyed.

An over pressure incident can happen with any ammunition, however it is more likely in cheap ammo where squibs or inconsistent loads are more common.

Brass is softer and therefore will obturate better, and then extract easier. The AK has a banana mag because steel cases make extraction more difficult requiring much greater flank angles on the case than brass. Brass is more expensive, but does not corrode as easily as steel which requires a lacquer. Brass can be recycled or reloaded - even if you don't reload it mitigates the argument that shooting makes lots of waste - like the drifts of steel cases at my range. Brass gets picked up.

I would not use steel cased ammo for these reasons.
 
8 ball said:
This has no relevance whatsoever with regards to the steel case. Yes, bimetal bullets will wear out your barrel way faster. That is not because they have a steel case. Steel cased ammo with a standard copper jacket will not wear out your rifle appreciably faster than brass cased ammo. I shoot Hornady steel match ammo out go all my high end guns with no fear of excess damage.
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How is It irrelevant that brass cased ammo is more reliable? Do you object to the additional information contained in the article that bimetallic jackets wear your barrel faster than copper?
 
Thanks Matt for factual reasons for buying brass cased ammo. Know what I'll feed my ar's...

Matt K said:
The AR15 chamber was designed for brass. The "pressure relief valve" in case of an over pressure (obstruction, pistol powder load, firing with the bore filled with water) is that the brass case will fail at the last point of chamber support. Often just the extractor will be damaged and gun will be fine.

Steel will not fail as brass will.

I have seen two over pressure incidents recently where, while the steel case was not the cause, the case did not burst clearly increased the damage to the firearm considerably. As in destroyed.

An over pressure incident can happen with any ammunition, however it is more likely in cheap ammo where squibs or inconsistent loads are more common.

Brass is softer and therefore will obturate better, and then extract easier. The AK has a banana mag because steel cases make extraction more difficult requiring much greater flank angles on the case than brass. Brass is more expensive, but does not corrode as easily as steel which requires a lacquer. Brass can be recycled or reloaded - even if you don't reload it mitigates the argument that shooting makes lots of waste - like the drifts of steel cases at my range. Brass gets picked up.

I would not use steel cased ammo for these reasons.
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I heard about this Gun Fighter AR15 thats been around for years. Passed hands like crazy and never had a easy life. Last I heard still got the same barrel.
 
Matt K said:
The AR15 chamber was designed for brass. The "pressure relief valve" in case of an over pressure (obstruction, pistol powder load, firing with the bore filled with water) is that the brass case will fail at the last point of chamber support. Often just the extractor will be damaged and gun will be fine.

Steel will not fail as brass will.

I have seen two over pressure incidents recently where, while the steel case was not the cause, the case did not burst clearly increased the damage to the firearm considerably. As in destroyed.

An over pressure incident can happen with any ammunition, however it is more likely in cheap ammo where squibs or inconsistent loads are more common.

Brass is softer and therefore will obturate better, and then extract easier. The AK has a banana mag because steel cases make extraction more difficult requiring much greater flank angles on the case than brass. Brass is more expensive, but does not corrode as easily as steel which requires a lacquer. Brass can be recycled or reloaded - even if you don't reload it mitigates the argument that shooting makes lots of waste - like the drifts of steel cases at my range. Brass gets picked up.

I would not use steel cased ammo for these reasons.
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A poster on this board just experienced this identical failure in his new 7.63x39.
 
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