Brass vs. Steel Cased Ammo – An Epic Torture Test

[techres]

This is amazing and a must read - especially for the re-loaders and engineers among us:

Steel cased/jacketed ammo vs. brass-cased/copper-jacketed

A huge thumbs up to Oleg Volk for passing this one on!

 

[SnoopLoggyDog]

Great article. Thanks for posting this.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

Now if my wife ever questions why I buy brass-cased ammo vs. the cheaper stuff, I can refer her to this article.

 

[45calibre]

https://www.indianagunowners.com/fo..._ammo_an_impressively_comprehensive_test.html

 

[45fan]

This article only stands to validate my assumptions as to the issues my Armalite has had with Wolf ammo. I have used Fed, and never had an issue with it in my rifle, but Wolf has been unreliable to say the least. Velocity between Wolf and Fed ammo was comparable, but ejection patterns were always erratic with Wolf, where Fed always leaves a nice, neat pile.

 

[gunman41mag]

OH I bought 2,000 rounds of WOLF .223 steel case ammo, guess i'll shoot it out of my RUGER MIINI-14 rifle

 

[Mosinguy]

They said though one of the reasons the rifles lost their barrels so quick was the fact they fired them rapidly until they got real hot and then they kept shooting. I'm sure that has LOTS to do with the barrel life of any firearm.

 

[77broncoman]

Excellent article....a great read !!! Thanks for sharing...

 

[HavokCycle]

good science on a subject full of myth. good read.

 

[Limpy88]

VERY GOOD READ

 

[g00n24]

I was really surprised by the difference in wear of the barrels. I also really liked how they included the chart at the bottom showing how you can still save more money by replacing more barrels and using steel cased. (assuming ammo prices follow the trend of the raw materials)

The other thing I thought was surprising was the build up of carbon in the gas tube from the Brown Bear. I thought the gas tubes were supposed to be self cleaning?...I guess the Brown Bear must have so much carbon that it just had no were to go?

 

[the1kidd03]

To point out; the short stroke issue is easily solved with a slightly tougher recoil spring. I had the issue with newer polymer coated steel cases, whereas I never had an issue with the lacquer coated.

 

[TheDude]

Dirty, cheap Russian ammo in a direct impingment gun. Shocking!

Good read though

 

[jrainw]

Excellent article, thanks for sharing. I've shot thousands of rounds of wolf through my m16 and my experiences mirror those found in the article. It works better than most people give it credit for but it is not as good as domestically produced brass cased ammo. For my uses I will continue to use wolf for blasting ammo just because it will allow me to shoot more.

 

[Captain Morgan]

I was really surprised by the difference in wear of the barrels. I also really liked how they included the chart at the bottom showing how you can still save more money by replacing more barrels and using steel cased. (assuming ammo prices follow the trend of the raw materials)

Also assuming there won't be legislation that could prevent people from purchasing new barrels...

 

[Indy_Guy_77]

While a test like the above is much more "telling" for .Mil / "Contractor" types who will be treating their rifles much more harshly...

A much better testing methodology would be to repeat the test - but with a "slower and more realistic" rate of fire. As was mentioned - they rapid fired their guns. A lot. Got them so hot that they had "cook offs" of chambered ammo. Guns too hot to hold.

Keep that from happening - and I wonder what the barrels would look like. Let the guns "cool" and see what happens.

Also, I wonder if this isn't more telling about Bushmaster barrels/guns than it is an ammo thing? Further testing could involve more Bushmaster guns vs. others.

Don't make the mistake of inferring too much from this article. The only thing you can take from it is that these Bushmaster rifles, when run very very very very hard, will probably have issues with steel-cased ammo.

Change the parameters a bit - and you can no longer transfer the information here to another scenario.

-J-

 

[ckcollins2003]

This is amazing and a must read - especially for the re-loaders and engineers among us:

Steel cased/jacketed ammo vs. brass-cased/copper-jacketed

A huge thumbs up to Oleg Volk for passing this one on!

Dupe
https://www.indianagunowners.com/fo...ding/259574-brass_vs_steel_cased_testing.html

But IMO, this test really goes to show that the casing isn't much of an issue compared to the powder and projectile used (when talking about wear) and that the weapon system plays a much bigger part in how the ammo runs than the ammo itself. Notice, the HK416 had 0 malfunctions compared to the AR's used with the same ammo. Also, if you are not regularly cleaning your rifle you will have problems. I don't know anyone who shoots 2,000 rounds in a real world situation without at least a wipe down and proper lubrication when needed.

I've shot tons of steel cased rounds with no ill effect on my rifle, as have millions of other people. My opinion on the matter is that it is your choice to shoot what ammo you want, but if your rifle won't run steel cased ammo, you should get rid of it.