Steel cases or bullets?

My range is really serious about none of this there. They check my range bag with a magnet every time and have signs everwhere. I read about getting banned for life every time I go to the toilet. What is the big deal? And what kind of ammo is steel now anyway. I guess I am just an old guy who stuffs lead in brass cases and has not kept up.

Well, I'm not sure why the steel cases are prohibited but it's widely known that steel or "bi-metal" jacketed bullets are hard on backstops and can spark when striking the backers, target holders or whatever.

Mobuck said:

Well, I'm not sure why the steel cases are prohibited but it's widely known that steel or "bi-metal" jacketed bullets are hard on backstops and can spark when striking the backers, target holders or whatever.

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Yes, wildfires have been attributed to bimetal bullet jackets. A lot of the eastern-European and Russian ammo has bimetal jackets; much of it comes in steel cases, too. Also, companies like Hornady buy primed steel (rifle) cases and load their own powder charge and bullet into it for reduced-cost 'training ammo.'

At my club range it is listed No tracer or (AP) armor piercing bullets. Steel cases are fine.

The only reason I can see banning steel cases is it makes it hard to determine if the bullet is also steel clad. Or they don't like the steel contaminating the brass they pick up and sell for scrap.

Or if it messes up them picking up the range brass and selling it for scrap or range brass.

I don't know how/where domestics source their steel cases (FORGED pistol ammo for instance). The Hornady "Steel Match" cases look identical to "Wolf" cases but the bullets seem to be 100% Hornady.
If the OP is talking about handgun ammo, my guess would be that bi-metal jackets beat up their backstop and/or tend to bounce around worse than gilding metal FMJ. It's not that difficult to remove either steel jackets or cases from salvaged brass/bullets.

Steel or bi-metal bullets "could" cause a range fire so that would one valid reason for an indoor range to ban them. It is easier and faster for range staff to use a cheapie scrap magnet on any ammo brought in and deny its use, than to take the extra time to determine if the magnet was reacting to just the case or also the bullet?

I 100% agree that if the only steel is the case, there is no range safety issue.

The reasons listed above (range fixture damage and fires) are correct. I have 3 imported battle rifles that usually use steel cased ammo (5.45x39 and 7.62x39) but ave never fired any steel jacketed or steel clad bullets. IIRC, in 40+ years of reloading and shooting, I don' think I've ever fired a steel bullet in anything. I've read about it and I'm guessing it is cheap imported, surplus (?) ammo, but I haven't seen any for sale (steel bulleted ammo, not steel cased).

Banning steel bullet ammo is to me like banning the NFL games. No problem here as I don't shoot any steel or watch pro football anymore...

Many many years ago some Eastern Euorpe and Chinese steel ammo hit the market really cheap (I seem to remember about a quarter of the price of cheap US ammo). I had a bunch of misfires and a few hang fires. Having an ejected round fire is scary; maybe that's what they are worried about? But, I've not heard about that since the late '70s!

"but ave never fired any steel jacketed or steel clad bullets. "

Most of the foreign made steel cased ammo is loaded with "bi-metal" jacketed bullets. Even though the bullets have a "copper(?) wash" ( thin coating of non-ferrous material) for lubricity and/or rust preventive, the actual jacket is some combination of ferric alloy.

Hi,

"No steel bullets" has been the range rule at every SoCal range I've visited for a number of years. Simple reason: fire danger from bouncing steel off rocks, and most of the ranges are in rocky foothill areas prone to wildfires. My current club has had one small fire that I know of started by some of those sparks, and requires members to have a full sized shovel in their vehicle when on range property, "just in case."

At that club, we're kind of on the honor system, combined with some common sense. It's been raining for a week, and the hills are green and wet. So the range officers may allow a little leniency. But in a couple of months, when everything's starting to dry out, they'll get hardnosed until this time next year. Other ranges I've visited will check your ammo, and anything magnetic will earn you a trip home to leave it--can't even promise to put it in the trunk and not use it!

My only thought about disallowing the steel cases is that until recently, one was most likely to find them in Com-bloc milsurp ammo, which almost always also has a steel core bullet of some sort. CYA?

Rick C

"Other ranges I've visited will check your ammo, and anything magnetic will earn you a trip home to leave it--can't even promise to put it in the trunk and not use it!"

And you go back to a place like that?
I guess I'm spoiled. In 50 years of shooting/hunting, I've been to exactly ONE public shooting range. The other ranges were either military or private.

Mobuck said:

"but ave never fired any steel jacketed or steel clad bullets. "

Most of the foreign made steel cased ammo is loaded with "bi-metal" jacketed bullets. Even though the bullets have a "copper(?) wash" ( thin coating of non-ferrous material) for lubricity and/or rust preventive, the actual jacket is some combination of ferric alloy.

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Yep, you're right. I checked my "Red Army" 5.45x39 and the bullets are a ferrous metal along with the steel cases...

I go back because it is a nice indoor range close and I do not want to shoot steel ammo anyway. But I did want to know why they are so uptight about it. When I asked I really did not get a good answer. It was more like they took it as an argument rather than a question.