Steel case ammo bad?

I doubt many out there will fire enough steel cased ammo to see the added wear and tear.

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I have shot tens of millions of it through one gun,

I mighta lied a bit. :yep:

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If itā€™s in the green boxes made in Russia, and I hope it is notā€¦
I had a great deal on it for 5k rounds cheap in the 80ā€™s IIRC.
Was a deal till i shot the crap.
It was the only steel case that ever pissed me off.
Weā€™ve run 1000ā€™s and 1000ā€™s of other steel, Wolf Tula Barnbul with good results.

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It is but I only have about 100 rounds so itā€™s no big loss to not shoot it.

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Steel case is great in an AK only. Itā€™s hard on everything else in most other firearms especially extractors.

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The only steel case ammo Iā€™ve ever run was in a double stack 1911 in .45ACP flavor. It made it a jammamatic since it didnā€™t have enough lubricity to go from double stack to single stack in the mag. So I used the Minwax trick and polished the cases leaving just a 1 molecule thick, and slick layer. Fed like a champ after that. Zero malfunctions and it runs fine. I never ran it in a single stack, but I assume it would run fine since they donā€™t go from double stack to single stack (where the problem was). Iā€™d buy more of it in a heartbeat if I could find some for a decent price.

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most of my 223, 308 or 762x39 are all steel cased (shiny, copper washed or lacquered". No issues with the bullet thrower, hell I even shot 9mm aluminum if I can find it.

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Correction: I also have shot and have on hand steel cased .223. I just needed to dial in more gas. Runs fine.

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We have 500 or 600 rounds of 308 Tula. The Veprs seemed to like it ok. We keep it Vac sealed for posterity :grin:

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It isnā€™t the steel case itā€™s self it is the coatings that will make it stick in the chamber but you would need to do a couple of mag dumps to get it that hot.

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Steel case is hard on extractors. My 5.56 ar pistols donā€™t like it a bit. Leaves stuck cases in the chamber a lot. My rifles not so much. I shoot a lot of steel case in my Grendels and except for breaking extractors itā€™s fine.

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Extractors in ARs are my only concern when shooting steel case. I donā€™t shoot ARs nearly as much as pistols, so itā€™s not a huge concern and it hasnā€™t happened to me YET. I really need to have some spare extractors on hand for when it inevitably happens.

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I keep spare bolts for the ARs and the Savage with them. Need to get some built for the Winchesters. Donā€™t have any for the AKs, need to though.

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I need an AK that I would then need a spare bolt for. :innocent:

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Yep I agree. Thatā€™s why I donā€™t have any. Figured they were GTG forever. :wink:

ARā€™s are more prone to bolt related issues, like extractors breaking. My reasons for having the spare bolts on hand is itā€™s easier to fix a broken extractor by changing the bolt. Broken bolts are kinda rare. Most AR bolts breaking that I have heard about were with Alt Cartridges, 6.5 G mostly, though 6.8 SPC too.

Extractors are what Iā€™ve heard about mostly with AKs. A bolt swap is snap, extractor not so much. Finding a Vepr 308 Win bolt was never easy, lately its been a unicorn search.

This is from 4 years ago, explains the dilema.

Now I am looking for 74ā€™s and theyā€™ve dried up too.

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