Will Steel Cased Ammo Damage My Weapon?

So we’re all in a similar conundrum- ammo is hard to find, and right now beggars can’t be choosers. On the other hand, it’s not like you were warned or anything, multiple times, and even told earlier this year that ammo was never cheaper than it was at the time I told you. Regardless, we’re here now, and the panic buying bug is hitting everyone.

Patriotman and myself were headed down to the Scout Course in TN last week and swung by Smokey Mountain Knife Works. There was a giant pyramid of ammo sitting beside the ESEE knives counter- all Wolf, mostly 5.56, for around $220 per 500 rounds. Kinda high for steel case but that wasn’t slowing anyone down. By the time we slid back in Sunday afternoon, it was all but gone. This begs the question again- just how destructive is steel case ammo, exactly? We’ve all heard its both just fine and bad for our weapons. So let’s see what American Partisan affiliate Brownells has to say:

So, they say it won’t. But I argue a bit differently. Steel is all I shoot in the AK. It was designed for it. The AR is a completely different animal however and the shooter has to take into account clearing malfunctions. Under normal circumstances, its fine. Although hideously inconsistent and dirty, it functions well. The average shooter is not going to see a difference in wear or premature throat erosion in the chamber. The problem with steel cases is what happens to the internals of an aluminum weapon when a steel case is jammed into a bolt override.

A bolt override is when an ejected case gets wedged over the top of the bolt and in between the charging handle. This type of malfunction, while rare, requires mortaring of the carbine (jamming the butt of the weapon into the ground to break it loose) to initiate ejecting the case and (hopefully) dropping the case without damage to the charging handle and gas tube. But that said, when inducing this malfunction in class, I show the students just how mangled the spent casing gets. And when I do I ask them- how much more stress do y’all think steel cases will put on the internals of your weapon?

So while I think the stuff is fine for running low-stress drills and maintenance, I’d never stake my life on it, nor would I use it in anything other than my training weapons. And when that time comes, if it comes, that things calm down, brass cased ammo is no doubt the way to go if the AR is your go-to.

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About the Author: NC Scout

NC Scout is the nom de guerre of a former Infantry Scout and Sergeant in one of the Army’s best Reconnaissance Units. He has combat tours in both Iraq and Afghanistan. He teaches a series of courses focusing on small unit skills rarely if ever taught anywhere else in the prepping and survival field, including his RTO Course which focuses on small unit communications. In his free time he is an avid hunter, bushcrafter, writer, long range shooter, prepper, amateur radio operator and Libertarian activist. He can be contacted at [email protected] or via his blog at brushbeater.wordpress.com .

20 Comments

  1. Matt Bracken October 31, 2020 at 08:37

    A few years ago, during a different ammo shortage, I bought a few cases of steel Wolf 556. It fed fine in my Bushmaster AR, but repeatedly jammed in a friend’s higher-end rifle. (I forget the brand.) Both rifles were immaculately clean and lubed. We concluded that very fine differences in chamber dimensions was probably the culprit. Steel just does not have the “give” that softer brass has. My point is that if you buy steel for your AR, make sure it runs in your AR. It may not. Or just buy brass. Like Scout said, it’s not like you haven’t had time to stock up.

    • wwes October 31, 2020 at 12:48

      I just view it as range ammo, but I have most of a case left of the older Wolf stuff with the lacquer coated cases that has run fin in my AR’s, just really dirty like you said. I had some of the Tulammo poly coated stuff that I bought a few hundred rounds of to try out, and it gave all kinds of trouble. I had some of the Ulyanosk (sp) stuff that ran fine too.
      Even in 5.46×39 I have much more trouble with the poly coated stuff than I do with lacquer coated. And all of this is with clean rifles.
      Brass usually gives me the least trouble of all though :)

      • the Bruce October 31, 2020 at 15:19

        If the chamber gets really hot from high round count fire, the lacquer coatings can start to melt. If you leave a round in the chamber and let it cool down after melting lacquer, it can actually glue the round in the chamber and the extractor can actually cause a case separation or failure to extract the next time you fire. If you use lacquer coated steel, always leave the bolt back, chamber open until you are ready to fire again.

        • wwes November 1, 2020 at 11:08

          I have heard that can happen. I guess that is one thing the old copper washed steel cases had going for them. One other problem I’ve had with the poly coated cases is that they have rusted on me a few times on ammo that stayed in a vehicle here in humid NC. That may have been more a function of low quality poly coatings though.

    • Brad October 31, 2020 at 13:49

      I bet you buddies gun was 223 Wylde. They put a lot of Wylde chambered barrels in upper end gums. I’ve seen them have problems feeding steel.

      • Matt Bracken November 1, 2020 at 06:59

        Nope, just an AR in 5.56mm.

        • Johnny Paratrooper November 1, 2020 at 10:58

          There are NATO spec chambers, Match Grade, Military Grade, and Wylde.
          It’s a standardized design thing. I’m not too familiar with it myself, but I have one Wylde chamber firearm, and the rest are just regular 5.56/.223 spec.
          I haven’t noticed any difference, but I am familiar that there is one.

          https://www.ammunitiontogo.com/lodge/what-is-223-wylde/

          https://americanweaponscomponents.com/clearing-the-caliber-confusion-223-wylde-vs-5-56-nato

          The difference appears to be a safety type of standard in short.
          I know that some of the match guns are designed to shoot some 5.56/.223 rounds that have a significantly heavier grain that the top tier 75 grain rounds. Making the cartridge length longer and resulting in pressure spikes above the SAMMI specs.

          All of this is why I stick to NATO spec in all my weapons.
          There is just too much to keep track of.
          It’s a headache unless you are a competitive shooter and find that stuff mesmerizing.

          I stick to M855 and M193… And M80. And that 9MM 124 gr. NATO that always works in everything. One of my guns is for hunting deer. The rest are for the ducks and the gooses.

    • Coyyote October 31, 2020 at 14:10

      Steel cased pistol ammo will also not function (FTE) in some handguns. Runs fine in my Sig P320 and a couple of my 1911s not so much in my Zev OZ9c or my Glock 34 with match barrel and match chamber specs. So if you have stocked up on some be sure to run a couple of mags through the firearms you intend to use it in to confirm function.

  2. Anonymous October 31, 2020 at 13:30

    5

  3. T October 31, 2020 at 19:10

    About 2011-2012, one of the Firearms Publications did a torture test on 4 identical AR’s using four differant brands of Steel case ammo. They were to run 10,000(?) rounds per carbine as quickly as possible. Three guns ran till they ran out of their allotted amount, and the fourth gun broke something minor at around 8k rounds-it could have been put back into operation with a part swap out. I believe those remaining rounds were split between the three other carbines-wish I could recall more details. Anyhow, having read that I called Sportsmans Guide to order some steel case during the run up to Obama’s re-election and while I was talking to the operator the very last case of steel case in their inventory was bought out from under me while the operator was filling out my CC info over the phone. The point was, after reading that report I decided to try out the steel case and see how it worked for me, whereas before reading this I was dead set against even considering it. My gun wasn’t entry level grade nor was it a Daniel Defense or Bravo Company product. Somewhere solidly in the middle. Whether steelcase is training or shtf worthy I would have had to learn. At a local public range recently I picked up alot of other peoples cases and steel case was by far the prevelant case on the ground. So lots of people seem to think it has value.

    • NC Scout October 31, 2020 at 20:27

      Did you even read what I wrote?

      • Johnny Paratrooper October 31, 2020 at 20:47

        [Laughs] Hard to tell…

  4. Johnny Paratrooper October 31, 2020 at 21:03

    Suddenly, I don’t feel bad because I didn’t purchase a bunch of this stuff. This article made me feel good about my ammo choices. Good old military surplus. Goes bang every time. I enjoy these “Smyth Buster” videos. Good article.

  5. James October 31, 2020 at 22:19

    I have recently had great luck with 7.62X39 uppers on AR with proper mags,ran a bit of brass and a lot of steel today with no issues,am very happy.I will say someone mentioned with said set up extractors on steel may wear more quickly,but then already have spares on hand(if needed).I get this is a different setup but was happy as have a boatload of 7.62 and have ordered while reasonably priced some more(OK,a small boats worth!).These setups have now over a few days run about 300 rounds each and seem very happy,nary a hiccup but do also fill mags to 29 max.Still working with them and till new glass comes in deciding perhaps on one a short term glass adoption.

  6. boss21 November 1, 2020 at 00:27

    The Russians and their proxies fired trillions of rounds of steel case without issue but in fairness 7.62 / 39 and 7.62 /54 are tapered and run at lower pressures. 5.45 is tapered too I guess. Sloppy chambers help . The Chinks came out with a 5.8mm a while back , seemed a perfect round but don’t know what happened with with it but it had a good taper too. Green tip uber alles according to Kyle Lamb in 556. The only caveat is we use heavy pill reloads with less powder/reduced flash at night. Amazing we are using straight case geometry over a century old in this age of tech. 303 Enfield shows how slick extraction is with tapered case. Likewise 3030. Tonight is a picture perfect NODS night up here in the Adirondacks BTW. Illuminator almost invisible on the snow. Coyote action less than a click away. Praise God to be here to witness all this.

  7. Old Geezer November 2, 2020 at 09:41

    Funny enough, Lucky Gunner performed a brass vs steel torture test with 10,000 rounds each of Federal, Brown Bear, Wolf, and Tula, matched with four identical Bushmaster carbine rifles with 1/9 twist barrels and gauged 5.56 NATO chambers. (https://www.luckygunner.com/labs/brass-vs-steel-cased-ammo/) They tested the accuracy of the rifles at the beginning and every 2,000 rounds, and cut the barrels at 10,000 to examine barrel rifling conditions. The weapons were regularly lubricated and cleaned.

    The rifle with 10,000 of Federal performed reliably with no failures. Brown Bear had 9 failures, Wolf (poly coating) had 15, and Tula did not finish after 24 malfunctions, due to low pressure as its weapon fouled. (The Tula ammunition was used in three different weapons for a total of 6 more malfunctions, with a mid-length gas AR finishing off the remaining 6,000 with only 3 malfunctions.)

    The Federal lost some accuracy over 10,000 rounds, but remained within 5 MOA. The two remaining steel cased ammunition rifles lost significant accuracy (accuracy of more than 5 MOA) after 4,000 rounds, and were keyholing by 6,000 rounds. Since the accuracy test was every 2,000 rounds, the steel cased ammunition was probably keyholing around 5,000 rounds.

    When the barrels were cut after 10,000 rounds, the rifle using Federal brass cased ammunition still had serviceable rifling. The rifles using steel cased ammunition had no rifling remaining past the throat (effectively smoothbores).

    Keep in mind that the ammunition was burned through in an aggressive firing schedule, but the barrels did not exceed 750 degrees Fahrenheit. This is still far faster than most people shoot, so it’s expected that the barrels wore out faster. However, it’s noteworthy that the brass cased ammunition still had rifling and no keyholing after 10,000 rounds, while the steel cased ammunition keyholed by 6,000 rounds.

    The issue primarily was the steel jacketed (copper plated) bullets that are much harder than standard copper jackets. As a result, expect much more wear over time. The Tula had much lower gas pressure than any of the rounds (due to excessive burn rate), so when the gas tubes got seriously fouled, the rifle suffered from more malfunctions.

    Overall, steel cased ammunition is still a good deal, so long as it isn’t an expensive barrel that you’re burning through. Laquer coatings are probably better than the poly coatings, but both are adequate for range use.

  8. VonBismarck November 2, 2020 at 13:02

    I remember a barrel life test done several years ago by a magazine, or maybe it was TFB, that shot 10k rounds out of two identical AR-15s. One got steel cased ammo, with the bi-metal bullet, and another got brass cased ammo with a copper jacketed FMJ bullet.

    On the gun that got the steel ammo the barrel exhibited noticeable wear after 10k rounds, but the ammo cost savings allowed for a barrel replacement and it was still cheaper to shoot overall.

    On the other hand the brass ammo gun had no noticeable wear on it’s chrome lined barrel.

    I think then it’s a question of how you view your barrel and if it’s easily replaceable.

  9. Curious Passerby November 2, 2020 at 20:19

    Piping in late-been a busy weekend. Steel cased works fine in an AK, in my experience. I’ve used stuff that was in some cases 20 years old and spotted with minor corrosion. No problems.
    I would not use the steel case in ARs because they’re tighter and more finnicky and I’m afraid the laquer on the case could eventually gum them up.

  10. MNpatriot November 9, 2020 at 11:17

    Here is an interesting test by Lucky Gunner on Steel cased vs Brass cased ammo in an AR-15.

  11. Gray Man November 27, 2020 at 10:23

    5

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