Steel casing

I hit reply and all dissappeared - hope this doesn't double post.
I shoot a M&P Pro, last winter I shot close to 1000 rnds of Tula Steel Cased and all went well. I just ordered the Barnaul ones for this winter (don't have to look for the brass in the snow).
Others that know more than I, might have a different opinion.
 
Barnaul 9mm is mainly what i shoot, because i am a cheap bastard lol.

I have no complaints with it.

Actually i do. They are not as ###y as brass bullets ;)
 
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tna0066 said:
I've been told that steel casings can cause damage to barrel.
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How can a casing damage a barrel? That doesn't make any sense. Steel used to make the casing is soft steel. The only downside is the bimetal jacket is more abrasive than copper and it will wear our your barrel faster.
 
I've got some of the latest Barnaul, the primers seem to be armour plated - I tried running some in a new G19 (like right out of the box, zero rounds) and had multiple misfires. Pretty frustrating, but if you mix it in with your regular stuff, you'll get some very good IA practise with it.

Re: steel case/bi-metal jacket, barrel steel is many times harder than the soft crap they use for ammo, odds are you won't shoot enough of it to wear out a barrel, and if you do, you've saved the cost of a new barrel by shooting that much cheap ammo. A new match barrel for an M&P costs less than $200, it won't take a volume shooter long to save enough to cover a replacement barrel.
 
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I think the OP is referring to the bullet jacket being mild steel with copper plating. Don't worry about it. It's been a mainstay in most of the world since before WW1. Actually, there isn't steel on steel contact, the copper plating provides a bearing surface, and the steel is so mild as to be not much harder then normal jacketing material. I doubt you will shoot enough of them to notice a wear difference, but if you did, you'd probably have saved enough to purchase two spare barrels so your still out ahead. Unless you expect to shoot 20-30 000 rounds of it you will probably never notice a difference, and maybe not even then
 
When I shot some MFS brand steel cased and steel jacket ammo I found I got a lot more failure to extract issues with my usually 100% reliable CZ's. Likely due to the coating used to keep the steel from rusting sticking in the chamber.

I also got something else I've never seen before. Sparks coming out my muzzle. Sparks that looked oddly similar to what I see from my grinding wheel. There wasn't a lot. In fact not every round created a spark or two. But it's enough that I'm not interested in using steel jacketed ammo any longer.
 
tna0066 said:
Why is that??
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Steel cased ammo is probably fine. Steel cored bullets are not. Most steel cased surplus ammo has steel core bullets.

You have to check what kind of bullet is in the ammo and if your range has any caliber, bullet and velocity restrictions.

M
 
tna0066 said:
Why is that??
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for indoor ranges, steel on steel creates sparks and many (most) indoor ranges have something built into them that is flammable (usually its to cushion the pieces of bullets after they hit the steel backstop), not to mention if there is any unburnt powder at the backstop. TSE has had a fire or two from this.

Steel jacketed or cored ammo is also harder on steel targets than copper jacketed or plated, so it wears them faster at the very least and at the most causes dimples or holes. Steel targets are expensive so people want them to last a long time. I don't allow people to shoot the steel challenge night with steel jacketed or cored ammo.

barnaul is steel jacketed as well as steel cased.
 
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