Home Forums Hunting & Shooting AR and Tactical Rifles Steel cased ammo

Is it safe to shoot ammunition with steel cases as opposed to brass or will it damage an AR-15?

I am not an expert
I have run brass through my ARs and have a pile of steel
I tried to use some a few weeks ago in a 6920 Colt
It didnt function well at all
after doing some snooping everything I see tells me I will be looking to get rid of my steel cased ammo
Hank

i am not desperate enogh to shoot steel cased ammo out of anything. one thing i have noticed with it on guns that started to have problems brought to me by customers, it does coat the inside of your chamber with melted paint/laquer which it is coated with. not real fun to get out. leads me to believe all them aks in the world that use it have real sloppy chambers and the steel cases also add a margin of safety to those guns.

The instructions with a DPMS I had explicitly said not to use steel cased ammo.

Steel cased ammo is fine. One of my AR's has over 7000 rounds through it and has never seen a brass cased cartridge. Except for the barrel which gave out at 6000 rounds it's never given me any trouble.

My RR has had nothing but steel cased ammo fed through it and its never had a hiccup....also its as clean as the day it was new

Shot some Hornady Steel Match in my Bushmaster yesterday. Functioned fine, and made pretty, small cloverleaf groups.

Never had a hicup in my guns with steel. I don't buy it because I reload. I was given some and took my neighbors son to the range and let him have at it. He had fun and never a problem.

So I gather it caused some people problems and other people not.

There's a youtube video of a guying discussing the truths and myths of steel ammo in ARs. FWIW.

Anybody who's scared to shoot steel cased our of their AR needs a new one.

In 2000 rounds of steel through my own; it works great. Get some CLP and store your ammo in controlled conditions.

I have 3 Armalite barrels that shoot steel ammo like a champ. Yes, I prefer brass but if steel is what you have your rifle should be able to shoot it. Someday we may not have a choice. kwg

I have only ran it in full auto M16's but it never failed to cycle

I have seen a bolt gun so sticky from the lacquered stuff that I will not use it anymore. The zinc coated is worse. If you try to store it, it corrodes.

The Hornady TAP Practice .223 is very good ammo.

Probably from other dirtiness... the lacquer melting is a myth. Wolf changed to polymer coating to address customer concern. People still say it.

Whaddya gonna do?

I have.an auto-ord Tommy.gun it also.says no steel ammo
Hank

Here is a pretty good link on a 40,000 rnd ammo test.

Brass vs Steel 40,000 rnd Test by Lucky Gunner

John, are you becoming an AR packer zombie killer now?? Waiting for the apocalypse...If you have any videos of you shooting an AR long range, I'd like to see them. Thanks...