Steel cased ammo?

[ned]

I have a bunch of Wolf steel cased .30 ammo, non corrosive, berdan primed, made in Russia.
Dirty stuff but it shoots fine in my M1 Carbine and Blackhawk. A guy at the range says it will ruin the guns. Opinions?

 

[Bull Barrel]

Ask yourself...how many Russian and Middle Eastern firearms have been using that stuff for years?
Now ya have yer answer.

 

[Kanook]

Ask yourself...how many Russian and Middle Eastern firearms have been using that stuff for years?
Now ya have yer answer.

Better yet, ask your local gunsmith how many steel cases he has had to unstick vs brass. I'm betting steel gets stuck a bunch more than brass.

I would not shoot it.

 

[ndcowboy]

Won't hurt your guns. But you may have to clean a little harder with some of the dirty stuff.

 

[gunman42782]

I work at a range. Can't count how many times a customer has brought in his AR with steel case stuck in the chamber. Doesn't seem to be as bad with other guns, but ARs do not like it at all. Two weeks ago, a regular customer brought in a Sig 1911 that a steel case blew up in and ruined his gun. I would like to think that American company's have a tad better quality control. All that being said, millions of rounds of steel case ammo get shot every year with no issues. But none of my guns ever get fed any.

 

[pisgah]

This is one of those subjects that every yahoo on the shooting planet will have an opinion on -- many if not most of them with zero personal knowledge, only what they have read or heard. I've used the stuff for many years in many rifles with never the slightest problem. It's rarely the most accurate, and it is slightly sootier than other stuff, but the price is usually right and my rifles have never complained.

 

[reloader]

I've ammo the steel cased for 35 years or so. The only problem I ever had was when shooting it out of one particular mini 14 with a fairly tight chamber. If fired too fast to where the barrel got hot enough to cook bacon and a round was left in the chamber while cooling down. The shell stuck in the chamber but came out with the help of a cleaning rod, some brake free and a 2x4. I now always clear the chamber and lock it back after cooking...

 

[Kevin]

I've shot some in my 30 carbine blackhawk. It does stick. Brass never seems too though.

 

[eric conrad]

The stuff with the varnish? on them can be a problem. The 30 carb. BH has tight chambers to begin with. Trim length is a BIG thing with the BH.
Eric

 

[ned]

Thank you all. The M1 Carbine is not an original so I will keep a rod handy and shoot t his stuff up and switch back to brass. I did notice the Blackhawk did not like it and think Eric is right on the trim length. The BH will go back to a brass only diet.

 

[volshooter]

Perhaps I can help. I have fired thousands of Wolf/WPA ammo. Brass cased ammo will expand to the chamber helping seal off blow back. Steel cased do not so it seems dirter ammo. Yes there is more cleaning but don't we all throughly clean after every shooting session? A little extra CLP and all is well.
Now about accuracy. I cannot find any difference between Wolf steel cased or federal brass cased. Same groups, same reliabilty. A normal AR session at least 500 rounds are run through each rife, 0% malfunctions
Hope some of ya'll boycot WPA so the price comes down further. Last I looked 1000 founds could be had for $249. Good price, great performance and cheep blasting ammo.
I'm sure many of the premiun brass cased ammo is better, but for general blasting I'm good with the ruskie stuff.
BTW some of the WPA HP and SP .223 ammo show great potential for hunting. Same great groups.

 

[powder smoke]

I Spend good money on my guns, I feed them good ammo. nuf said. ps

 

[Rick Courtright]

Hi,

My only experience with steel cased ammo was milsurp 7.62x54R from several countries, shot thru a couple of Mosins. All of it was the "lacquered" stuff, and some of it was a tad bit sticky to extract, though I didn't have any actually stick to the point of having to get out a rod and "tap" 'em out, just had to smack the bolt a little harder than usual. The sticky stuff "felt" a little hotter, too. A couple of my Mosin buddies shoot tons of steel cased ammo, the copper looking variety, and haven't reported any problems.

Now, that's all bolt action experience. Flip the coin over, to owners of autos, and the complaints roll in. Thing is, the ones I've heard were shooting "Commie bloc" ammo in "Free World" guns, which I think tend to be considerably tighter than your average AK (that I'm told may also have a chromed chamber. Slicker maybe?), and that's where the problem comes in: while the steel expands to seal the chamber, it doesn't "snap back" the way brass does, so a tight chamber will grab it even under the best of conditions. Add some "glue" in the form of that lacquer coating melting a bit, and problems are easy to understand.

That's just one tiny observation of a much bigger world, of course.

Rick C

 

[GLGAR]

I never had any issues using Wolf/WPA ammo in a Mini 14 or AR15. I think the lacquer coating was replaced with polymer quite a while back and pretty much corrected the problem.

 

[blackhawknj]

Corrosive ammunition requires different cleaning procederes, the usual is flush with water to get the salts out.
Yes, millions of rounds of steel cased ammunition have been fired, but not through privately purchased and owned firearms.

 

[J.Johnson]

When you are on a serious budget and are just blasting away, I see no reason to spend the extra bucks on brass cases. The one advantage brass has is it is reloadable. I quickly gave up on brass in my Mini because it flings it (no joke) about 15-20 yards. It gets real frustrating when you go to pick up your brass and you can only find 1/3 of the box! So between cost and lost brass, my Mini-14 sees a vast majority of steel.

 

[volshooter]

As said, the lacquered ammo was long ago and did cause problems. Just getting out with friends blasting a few cases, I cannot pay twice the price for brass cases in .223. I don't reload them anyway.
Kinda like using premium non-ethanol fuel in you vehicle, if it works for you, great. Now my lawnmower, chain saw and weed eater get the good stuff. With these, I can tell a difference in power. My ride, I use regular or e-85. If I need more performance from a vehicle I reckon I would buy one with a stronger engine.

 

[pisgah]

Corrosive ammunition requires different cleaning procederes, the usual is flush with water to get the salts out.
Yes, millions of rounds of steel cased ammunition have been fired, but not through privately purchased and owned firearms.

You may find some surplus stuff from the '50s that is corrosive -- and that's not really a problem if you know how to properly clean up after using it -- but the stuff being marketed commercially now is noncorrosive. And if millions of rounds of it have not been fired through privately owned firearms -- why does every gun store stock tons of it? Millions of rounds are being fired in privately-owned rifles in the US every year, and that's very good evidence that there is nothing drastically bad about it. Otherwise, you'd be hearing howls of angst over damaged firearms everywhere you go, and not just from a few online "I heard from a buddy" types. Instead, tons are sold every day, and rifle ranges throughout the land are knee-deep in spent steel cases.