Steel cased ammo

[rammerjammer]

I have read many times about steel cased pistol ammunition creating extra wear and tear on the gun as well as being dirtier than higher quality ammo.

In short, how much damage/wear and tear should one expect from using steel cased ammo for target shooting?

I have never used any and wonder how much of a bargain Tula, Wolf, Herters etc really are when you consider the possible wear and tear issue as well reliability issues one hears about with really cheap ammo. I would hate to save a few dimes to later spend lots of $s on gunsmithing repair work.

[DefensiveCarry.com]

[RKM]

It's typically just hard on the extractor. Not an expensive part to have replaced.

[Ring]

the extractor grabs the rim and pulls back to remove the case..... brass or steel, dont change the forces and ware on that part

[gasmitty]

the extractor grabs the rim and pulls back to remove the case..... brass or steel, dont change the forces and ware on that part

Not necessarily. Even though steel cases use mild steel, it's not self-lubricating like brass, and it also lacks the elasticity of brass. Impact forces from the dynamic contact between extractor and cartridge case will be higher with steel. Realistically, it will probably take a few thousand rounds for the additional wear to manifest itself.

The bigger overall problem with the cheapie, commie-bloc steel ammo is the overall lower quality - dirty powder, inconsistent velocities, and hard primers to name a few common symptoms. I won't jump up and down and swear I'll never use it, but - I won't invest in an $800 course, spend almost as much in transportation and lodging, then try to save $100 by using low-quality ammo.

[Cornelius]

the extractor grabs the rim and pulls back to remove the case..... brass or steel, dont change the forces and ware on that part

Just to add what gasmitty said, steel expands differently than brass does, and has a tendency to FTE after so many rounds. In my experience, it'll be so jammed in there that you cannot physically rack the slide, but rather have to hammer the casing out of the breech from the muzzle.

Lots of ejection failures like this can be hard on your extractor.

I've learned my lesson with using Russian TulAmmo and Wolf steel-cased ammo. Not only is the steel prone to jamming, but the slow-burning powder affects accuracy and recoil enough to make training with it practically worthless, IMO.

[OldVet]

Steel cases have been used for many years all over the world. Some firearms don't feed it well. If it works in your firearm, use it. If it doesn't, don't. I wouldn't buy 1000 rounds of it just to find out though.

[glockman10mm]

Just buy spare extractor, and shoot away if you can get more practice this way, and if it functions ok in your particular arm, and save the brass ammo for more serious applications. Like has been stated by others, I would not count on it for serious purposes.

[varob]

My gunsmith told me that the Commie steel stuff has a coating on it to keep it from rusting. Apparently this will gum up the chamber and cause problems.

I don't use the stuff so I can't say that is a fact.

[JOHNSMITH]

^^ yea. A lot of that Russian steel ammo has some sort of polymer coating on it. I've also haerd it tends to gum stuff up over time. It's also pretty dirty ammo in general. I wouldn't bother.

I don't shoot steel cased ammo, but I do occasionally shoot CCI Blazer aluminum if I can ever find it.

[Guantes]

Only in AKs.

[violinjim]

I shoot it in my AK with no worries. I have 1/2 a case for .45 that I decided against shooting through my Kimber. (no reason, just someone said not to feed a steady diet of steel case through a thousand dollar gun)
The Blazer CCI in my .357 mag tends to expand and not eject well from the revolver. Don't care to sit there trying to get old casings out.

Guess I'm a brass man.

Jim

[rammerjammer]

I think that I will just avoid steel cased ammo altogether after the advice. It sounds like the pennies I save now will end up costing me dollars down the road.

[The Fish]

For only a little more you can shoot Blazer Aluminum when available.
Have shot thousands of rounds with absolutely no problems.

[ChihuahuaTN]

Like anything in life it depends....the last thing I am doing is running my Rohrbaugh R9s, EMP 9, or Kahr TP9 with any steel cased ammo. However my beater Beretta 92fs, and FEG HP (100% HP clone) eat it like candy at the range. I don't see why my well cared for range my beater guns cant enjoy "Brown Bear" at 8.25/50rds. More ammo for practice... bottom line for me. Steel cased ammo has a place for me in my range bag, just like 9mm WWB...my thoughts
Mike