Is steel cased .223 bad for ar's?????

[joncon]

I don't reload and have used a lot of steel in my Colt AR, never had any problems with it.

 

[Plisken]

Havent had any problems in my Stag as of yet. And I shoot both with steel a little more cuz of the cost. But I will soon be setup to reload 223. But with no problems I will still use steel and brass.

 

[Principal Skinr]

It is terrible for AR's. Send it to me for proper disposal.

 

[arthrimus]

You can check for a bimetal jacket with a magnet. Like the Greek ammo that CMP sells, there is a notation on their website that says "This ammunition attracts a magnet" or something similar.
This is due to some (several) ranges/locales not allowing bimetal projectiles due the risk of starting a fire/wildfire caused by bullets creating a spark on impact with rocks ect.
A lot of 7.62x51 Nato ammunition is bimetal. A lot of US .30-06 M2 Ball and AP ammunition was/is bimetal. I have some bimetal WWI .30-06 ammo. Pre-M2 Ball.

I shoot a lot of steel cased .223 with few problems. I have stuck a brass cased cartridge in the chamber a few times because I didn't clean the chamber after shooting a bunch of steel cased ammo. It takes quite a bit of steel cased ammo to foul a chamber to the point that I've had problems chambering/extracting brass cased ammo. This is with .556 chambers.

Most of the cheap steel cased ammo is dirty. Real dirty. I compare it to Remington bulk pack .22 LR. Cheap, dirty burning ammo.

As I said earlier try running a single brass cased round every ten steel cased rounds and you shouldn't have to clean your chamber any more than usual. That single brass round will expand to the chamber and rip most of that carbon from the previous ten rounds out of there when it ejects.

 

[ghitch75]

The rifle wasn't designed to run steel. It's like putting E85 in your non E85 car and getting mad when it doesn't run right.

oh really?........don't say AK'S where because they weren't either....if my AR won't eat what i put in it i will fix it so it will or send it don't the road.....picky guns SUCK!!!!

 

[ghitch75]

I do not shoot steel, and i would NEVER recommend shooting steel cased ammo.

.....and why?

 

[Joq867]

A gun is simply a tool, keep the tool clean and well lubricated, and you should be fine with whatever you choose.
Everyone has their own opinion, and because it is an opinion it is not right or wrong.

 

[sgreen3]

Here is an article done, has some decent info in it http://www.luckygunner.com/labs/brass-vs-steel-cased-ammo/

 

[ddb40]

Steel cased ammo with copper jacketed projectiles began arriving here at the ProTEQ Ranges 10 plus years ago. About two years ago I realized nearly all of those manufacturers had converted to copper washed steel jacketed projectiles. My opinion was that those projectiles were harmful to barrels especially at center fire rifle velocities. I recently discovered an extensive and well documented torture test conducted in January of this year comparing and verifying the relative damage caused by steel versus copper. The testers subjected 4 NEW AR-s to 10,000 rounds each of 4 different ammo brands. The results showed extensive barrel damage and accuracy loss when comparing the three steel cased / steel jacketed ammo brands versus the one brass cased / copper jacketed brand.

It's no longer just my opinion...Steel jacketed bullets do more barrel damage than copper jacketed bullets, accuracy is lost sooner, reliability is degraded. An interesting side bar of the study was that relative cost might be lower in buying the cheap ammo, destroying the barrel, and then replacing it as opposed to purchasing the good stuff. It is a LONG read with lot's of data covering far more than mentioned above. You can skip through to the highlights, but you'll miss a lot that you need.

the study can be found here...

http://www.luckygunner.com/labs/brass-vs-steel-cased-ammo/


BE careful when you buy that next 'used' rifle.

 

[2tonic]

Have run lots of Hornady Steel Match 75gr through my AR's (Alexander Arms, CMMG, and Rock River) with no problems. Supposedly the same powder, primer, and bullet as their firstline match ammo, only difference is the case. Great accuracy, price, and performance.

As an aside, I had heard that a possible problem with steel cases was their diminished elasticity compared to brass cases. Upon ignition both cases obdurate to seal the chamber, but lacking the "springiness" of brass, the steel case was still clinging to the chamber walls as the extractor was trying to twist and pull it free, possibly causing premature wear to the chamber or extractor. A retarding of the cyclic rate would involve altering the gas flow, so they just put more lubricant in the protective coating and called it good-to-go!

 

[traderdan]

I broke an extractor once,on an older Armalite. I spoke with a technician at Armalite and he indicated to me that in the late 90s they had beefed up the extractors because of the steel cased ammo that was becoming popular.

 

[Sniper 79]

If you have a Frankin gun you like to blast with shoot it up!

If you have a nice bull target gun worth thousands then you should know better.