Why I Should Not Use Steel Cased Ammunition

[Clyde]

Man, I saw the avatar and just assumed it was therm. Wow was i wrong.

The exact same thing happened to me...I had to double-check to be sure....

[Vulcan71]

The reason I posted this in the forum is because I know of the problems associated with steel ammo. I have not covered all of my personal knowledge and research due to lack of time. In other words I quoted experts like the US government. Can a person use steel case ammo without a problem, sure but what are the long term effects. I also covered Russian military ammo and they use brass except in cases where resources were in short supply. Com-Bloc (USSR) had different grades of ammo they used. Military use, Export and Battlefield Pick-Up (cold war). The most manufactured is the M43 7.62x39mm but the best ammo is the M67 7.62x39mm (brass case) military use (a hot load, as they made the export not as powerful) manufactured by PRVI PARTIZAN FACTORY IN YUGOSLAVIA (NNY) and other factories but PPU is the best.

What can cause lacquer or polymer to damage a chamber: Heat (sustained rapid fire), solvent left in chamber, lubricant left in chamber and expansion transfer over long periods of time. Gun smiths have repaired many damaged weapons due to this.

I am not against or for steel ammunition as I have no interest in doing so but if I have some knowledge I like to pass it on; that's it. So if you like it then it is a free country so use it.

Do not forget what I said about Tula as that is a red flag because the person at the range did not notice the damage to their firearm until it was too late and Tula did not care when I warned them about the ammunition.

In closing there are many experts in this forum that have the knowledge and expertise to use what they want safely.

[Wizzard]

All of these horrible myths about steel case ammo. I shoot steel case exclusively through all of my various weapons with zero issues (no accelerated wear, no extractor breakages, no gumming of actions, etc). A couple of World Wars were fought using only steel case ammo. If your weapon doesn't function properly on steel case then you need a more reliable firearm. No offense but it is amazing what people will try to convince themselves of after reading something on the web...I've saved hundreds shooting steel case. Even Hornady now has a steel case line of ammo.

[Visceral_Malice]

The reason I posted this in the forum is because I know of the problems associated with steel ammo. I have not covered all of my personal knowledge and research due to lack of time. In other words I quoted experts like the US government. Can a person use steel case ammo without a problem, sure but what are the long term effects. I also covered Russian military ammo and they use brass except in cases where resources were in short supply. Com-Bloc (USSR) had different grades of ammo they used. Military use, Export and Battlefield Pick-Up (cold war). The most manufactured is the M43 7.62x39mm but the best ammo is the M67 7.62x39mm (brass case) military use (a hot load, as they made the export not as powerful) manufactured by PRVI PARTIZAN FACTORY IN YUGOSLAVIA (NNY) and other factories but PPU is the best.

What can cause lacquer or polymer to damage a chamber: Heat (sustained rapid fire), solvent left in chamber, lubricant left in chamber and expansion transfer over long periods of time. Gun smiths have repaired many damaged weapons due to this.

I am not against or for steel ammunition as I have no interest in doing so but if I have some knowledge I like to pass it on; that's it. So if you like it then it is a free country so use it.

Do not forget what I said about Tula as that is a red flag because the person at the range did not notice the damage to their firearm until it was too late and Tula did not care when I warned them about the ammunition.

In closing there are many experts in this forum that have the knowledge and expertise to use what they want safely.

When exactly has Russia used brass casings? I have seen brass cased 7.62x39, but it was US made. Resources are very limited in that area and brass and copper are not exactly as common as they are in the US. All the surplus from eastern bloc countries are always steel cased. If they did have brass cased ammo, I'd have to imagine it would only go to the most elite shooters and it would be for bolt actions or some other semi-auto. I'd like to see citations of this supposed brass cased, high grade ammo because I just don't believe it.

[Vulcan71]

You can find 7.62x39mm brass case AK-47 M67 ammo by using google “M67 PPU” (Com-Bloc USSR era ammo). I reload so I have thousands of cases, brass, steel and aluminum so I see what happens after use. I do not reload steel or aluminum and since I can buy ammunition so cheap now I do not reload much anymore (RCBS). This post was intended to help novices new to firearms. I wanted to provide a balanced view of steel case ammunition, in retrospect I should have written a through paper in advance and placed it in one post. My information was based on technical documents/report from various sources. Please read my previous post.

Thank you.

[Vulcan71]

Finally, contact the PPU factory I am sure they have records.

[Wizzard]

Also the whole 'lacquer' thing is blown out of proportion due to internet myths. Lacquers are a thing of the past...plastic compounds that 'look' like lacquer are now used instead.

[Buffman]

The polymer, lacquer coating can be an issue if you shoot a shit ton of it, getting the firearm really hot, then switching to uncoated rounds..

Vulcan, you do know that 5.7x28mm has a lacquer/polymer coating on the brass, and there haven't been any FSN/PS90 failures to do that I'm aware of because their brass is coated. It does and can build up, but brake cleaner and a .40 S&W brush make quick work of cleaning it out.

Please cite verifiable sources with test guns that proove when firing steel case ammo in XX platform puts more wear and tear and then possible damage, compared to shooting brass cased round in the same XX platform.. We don't need any of this, well I heard it from my brother's third cousins sisters husband 4 times removed.

[SgtStrykerUSMC43]

The Norinco steel cased ammunition yanked more than its fair share of one piece extractors out of FAL's, as well as shearing the extractor's claw on the two piece design.

It was cheap and plentiful back then so we used it to test the upper for stretch (headspace).

Verifiable source: Me.

[SONYtec]

Can't get any closer to the source then that!!!