Home Forums Hunting & Shooting AR and Tactical Rifles Lubricating steel cases to improve function

Friend had a new Ruger AR556 MPR that wouldn't cycle Tula 55gr steel cased ammo. I took a bunch of the Tula and lubed them with a light coat of oil - they cycled fine. What do you all think - bad to do or no biggee?

Yeah, when shooting steel case ammo, which is rare these days, I always lube up the top round in a mag pretty well.

Used to do that in pistol comps too, to aid function & reliability as the gun got dirty.

But in both cases, the gun needs to be cleaned when done for the day.

MM

I’ve always been taught to keep a dry chamber, oil finds its way into the throat and carbon rings develop.

I can’t help but wonder if a good extractor wouldn’t be a better fix?

I was taught that too. Never questioned it till now. I've heard all sorts of scare stories about the lugs shearing, but I know that the lugs are designed for a worst case bolt thrust and do not depend on case friction.

Usually all a fellow has to do is clean the chamber, but this fellow didn't have a chamber brush handy. I lubed a few to make there wasn't another problem causing the malfunction. The MPR has a rifle length gas system and is touch more sensitive to wimpy ammo (Tula 55gr runs 2800fps out of my 16").

steel cases are coated with a lacqure (I dont know how to spell it) to aid in functioning and to prevent rust. your chamber needs to be polished to a mirror finish to prevent case from sticking when it gets hot from shooting.. lubing the case helps but causes another problem.. the coating on the steel case stick to the chamber while hot and cannot self clean when lubed... then will cause a jam when cooled if not cleaned right away... it is best to keep the chamber clean and not use lube on the ammo.. but do as you wish its your stuff...

Not using steel cased in the first place would solve a lot of problems.

It's a nice way to drag dirt into the chamber.

Stop dropping your rounds in the sand.......................

MM

I try, but I'm just clumsy.

LOL, happens to the best of us.

I did it once, I think, but I might be wrong.

MM

must not be a hard chromed chamber

Not all steel cases are coated with lacquer. Some of the newer steel ammo has a Teflon based coating.

Yep!

Not to be a smart ass AS, but these days you take what you can get. OTOH I would not own gun right now without a hard chromed chamber and barrel.

Well, I've shot LOTS of steel cased ammo over the years & have had no problems..............when shooting, it's a little hard to "keep the chamber clean", but they do get cleaned at the end of the day.

And the only guns that see SC ammo have chrome lined chambers.

Steel cases, upon firing, as with brass cases, expand, but steel does not contract in size as fast as brass, so, if there is any tendency for a round to stick to the chamber wall, that can result in a stuck case or even a rim torn off, or maybe even a broken extractor.

The purpose of some kind of coating on the steel cased to to minimize that sticking; some additional, periodical lube in the chamber also aids in minimizing sticking.

Does it risk more "dirt" in the chamber.................I don't really think so. But I do think it adds a level or reliability against sticky cases. So does the (lower coefficient of friction) chrome lined chamber.

YMMV, and as you say, it's your stuff, treat it as you will.

MM

“Not using steel cased in the first place would solve a lot of problems.”

^ THIS!

IMHO, the only firearms that “eat” steel cased ammo without apparent negative effects are SKSs and AK-47s.

I can’t tell you how many people come into the LGS where I work with stuck steel cases in their chambers. Glock 9s, ARs and mini 14s/30s mostly.

Life is too short to deal with lacquer coated, steel cased ammo. As a second negative, they are of no use to me as a reloader.

Pretty funny. At any MG shoot 90%+ of what goes through the guns is steel. Posties to $60k transferrables. Have over 30k Russian steel through the 16s, over 25k through the Uzis. Exactly two ammo-related failures (FTFires, bad primers). Which is better than any brass case I've ever used.

If it was such a bad idea to use steel nobody would use it in their transferrables.

Lacquer, BTW, does not melt. Well, not from heat generated by firing. Maybe with a torch? Whether the thick stuff (Barnaul) or the thin lacquer (Polymer). I have tried repeatedly to make it stick via lacquer melt by running back to back to back to back ad nauseum mag dumps leaving a round in the chamber. Nope. Never seen a fired case from my stuff, or anyone elses' (like 50+ line positions) demonstrating even a hint of lacquer melt. Over decades.

Steel obturates poorly, so the chambers get dirty. When you fail to clean before using brass you can get a case stuck.

Yes, steel shortens extractor hook lifespan. Two broken extractors in the 16s over all those rounds.

FWIW, our Glocks eat 9mm steel just fine.

Interesting Sam. Lacquer gums up at around 80C (176F), I would think semi, and especially full auto chambers would exceed that temp. easily.

Tom, Whatever the Russian plants use does not even get tacky following a sequence of four 30 rd mag Full auto dumps then leaving a round in the chamber. As said, I've done the test many times. With at least three different Colt uppers. Out of curiosity and later to demonstrate to steel naysayers. Round always fires and extracts. Or I can easily extract it following a 30-60 second "bake". Handguards at that point are hot enough that I need leather gloves.

To be fair, I don't run beta mag dumps. Cuz that's how gas tubes get pooched. But you will not find one single empty on the ground at a shoot that has any evidence whatsoever of melt. .223, .308, 9mm, whatever. Have been to many shoots over decades. It just doesn't happen.

The Box-of-truth guys debunked the melt myth demonstrating that it was carbon in the chamber from poor obturation - not melted lacquer - that resulted in stuck brass cases following steel. In fact, before they did the test I learned it the hard way, sticking brass tracer reloads. Even had a complete separation above the web. Possibly that piece of brass had come from a minimi chamber.

I've never had an issue with tapered steel cases, such as 7.62x39.

Probably about 20 years ago I bought half a dozen different steel cased ammo's for my AR. When I tried them, I had issues with all the steel cased stuff, an none of the various brass cased ammo I tried that day.

I've had similar experiences with steel ammo in the 7.62x51.

Since then, the only steel ammo I buy is for highly tapered soviet designed cartridges.