Disadvantages of steel cased ammo?

LeeEnfieldNo.4_mk1

LeeEnfieldNo.4_mk1

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I was just wondering, why doesn't the military use steel cased ammo more? Other then the fact that you can't reload it, what are some drawbacks to steel?

You would think that the military would want the cheapest ammo they can find for use in warzones. And steel is considerably cheaper then brass, and They will both just sit on the ground after being shot anyways, so why wast expensive brass?
 
I have often wondered the same thing myself. I think part of the problem is that 5.56 and .308 has much less taper and extraction tends to be a little more iffy. I could be wrong on that one though.
 
Any 5.56, 7.62, & .50 brass salvage is palletized in a TriWall and sold thru auction by weight for the metal. I have seen the process firsthand. I can't speak about the big stuff.
 
Perhaps so, but steel cases could be salvaged and sold for recycling too. It still doesn't make sense to me why they would not be used more widespread in the west.
 
I would venture to say the issue of rust is first and foremost. Steel rusts, brass tarnishes, and I know which one I would rather be feeding in my rifle when lives are on the line. Adding a laquer to steel just makes for another possible cause of failure. In the West we pay a premium for ammo that goes bang evertime (well almost).

And Canada does not reload ammo. As hakx said, it is collected and sold as scrap.
 
I would imagine it is because steel requires a lacquer finish to keep the cases from rusting. Laquer turns to goo / glue / spew when exposed to heat (i.e hot chamber or action), and be a death sentence weapon in a combat situation.

My .02.

*Edit - Critter beat me to it!!
 
"...The military collects and reloads it's range brass..." Nope. The CF collects to keep the ranges clean. Scraps the brass rather than sell it through Crown Assets. Fiscal stupidity.
"...used more widespread in the West..." Steel cases are more trouble than they're worth. Rumoured to be hard on 5.56 rifles. Certain amount of "Brass is what we've always used." too.
 
FWIW, some larger calibres like 20x102 Vulcan are steel cased.
And the 30x173 used in the A-10 warthog use Aluminum cases as well.
 
hakx said:
I would imagine it is because steel requires a lacquer finish to keep the cases from rusting. Laquer turns to goo / glue / spew when exposed to heat (i.e hot chamber or action), and be a death sentence weapon in a combat situation.
Click to expand...

The lacquer you're talking about does not turn to goo/glue/whatever. Give those military engineers some credit :D
...and there are countries that use steel cased ammo. Lots of it!
 
France uses steel-cased 5.56 in their FA MAS, but mostly because the steel is not as elastic as brass, and this there is less stress on the FA MAS parts, which are lever-delayed blow-back.
 
The Russians make 308 and223 in steel cases and sell it in the Wolf line of ammo. Never had a problem yet in any of my Norinco rifles. The Herters ammo that Cabellas [US] sell is also steel cased. Rifle and pistol calibers.
 
I have shot my sks until the barrel is too hot to hold and the lacquer on the steel cases never turned to goo, stuck in the chamber or caused any problems at all. I can't imagine the powers to be sending their troops off with ammo that won't work once the gun heats up!
 
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