Steel cased versus brass cased ammo for your AR

[The Annoyed Man]

http://www.luckygunner.com/labs/brass-v ... ased-ammo/

Interesting torture text comparing Wolf and Brown Bear steel cased/bimetal bullet ammo to Federal brass cased/copper bullet ammo. The results were predictable. The test consisted of 10,000 rounds of each ammo being fired through identical Bushmaster MOE carbines with chrome-lined bores and chambers. The test took place in Arizona, and included monsoon rains AND sandstorms while the rifles were fired so fast that they became very hot to the touch and extremely dirty. So while it was not a battlefield, it WAS a torture test in conditions which were hard on the rifles.

Not surprisingly, the Russian ammo destroyed the bores of the two rifles they were fired in, while the rifle firing the Federal ammo was still within spec after 10,000 rounds, although it did have significant flame cutting to the gas port. By the end of the test, the Federal barrel was still accurate, while the two others were keyholing like crazy. In fact, with the two rifles firing the Russian ammo, testers were able to drop a throat gauge into the muzzle, and it would drop right in without touching the sides. A throat gauge shouldn't even fit into the muzzle because of the rifling.

The Russian ammo did experience various stoppages, while the Federal stuff had zero stoppages over the entire 10,000 rounds. The Russian stoppages included several stuck cases, including an instance of a badly stuck case that could not be removed with a cleaning from the cooled off barrel.

In a cost/benefit analysis, the article concludes that for the vast majority of AR shooters who will not shoot more than a couple thousand rounds as long as they own the rifle, the Russian ammo will not do enough damage over that time to badly affect the rifle's performance. But for someone who is going to shoot more than that, the Russian ammo should be avoided because it will ruin the barrel. However, the Russian ammo DID suffer a certain number of malfunctions that the Federal did not, so if this is anything more than a plinker, you might want to buy the better ammo. For me personally, I'm on my second barrel, and I've already put at least 2,000 rounds through this barrel. I have never shot a single round of steel cased ammo, let alone Russian steel cased ammo through either barrels. To each his own.

All this assues of course that you can even get ammo for your AR anymore.

[Dave2]

Yeah, I got some steel-cased .308 ammo for my AR-10 just because it was all I could find at anything approaching an affordable price (and that was before the panic).

When prices fall back to sanity I'll start accumulating brass-cased ammo, but for now all the .308 I've got in quantity is Herter's bulk from Cabella's.

[THX]

I messed around with Tula and Brown Bear a little bit and never experienced any anomalies during short 100-300 round sessions. This test confirms my suspicions though - thanks for posting it. Federal XM193 at a dollar more per box has always worked for me. I'm not sure if that's the same production run as the black box AE223 stuff or not.

[Dave2]

Federal XM193 at a dollar more per box has always worked for me.

That's the thing... Last time I could find any bulk .308 in stock, it was closer to half-off for the steel-cased stuff. If the price difference was as close as $1/box, I'd have gotten the brass-cased stuff.

[MadMonkey]

Good article. I've never been a huge proponent of steel ammo though I do use it in my AKs... it's not bad for occasional blasting, but I'd rather use 193 or 855 for my ARs.

[stash]

I am curious - Why can the AK take all the steel stuff you can put through it, but the AR cannot, or am I incorrect that the AK can take all the steel stuff?

[McKnife]

I find these results to be very interesting, but I'm still not completely convinced for my own situation.

I would like to see the same test with all-milspec rifles, or at least the proverbial "Tier 1" type rifle that has stronger steel parts (barrel) when compared with the Bushmaster and Spikes used in the test.

From my understanding, 4150 steel (Colt, BCM, Noveske) is FAR superior to the 4140 steel used by the tested rifles in the example provided (sans the hk416). I would guess that the difference in steel quality could significantly affect the results in wear and erosion rates.

That being said, Bushmaster is popular among novice and amateur shooters, so the results are conducive to the majority of AR shooters.

I still shoot steel case with great non-scientific results.

[nightmare]

My AR has a 5.45x39 upper specifically to shoot cheap Russian surplus in training. I got the upper and cans of surplus ammo for less than the cheapest 5.56 ammo I could find.

[Sputz]

Mine shot steel just fine and anything else I feed it. If it can't shot steel then look for an ar that will, thems the words I live by.

Sputz

[MadMonkey]

I am curious - Why can the AK take all the steel stuff you can put through it, but the AR cannot, or am I incorrect that the AK can take all the steel stuff?

I haven't shot an AK enough to wear out a barrel, so I don't know if it'll handle it better than an AR or not. All I know is that it's cheap and I haven't had a problem with it in any of the AKs I've owned. My ARs aren't what I'd really call "delicate", but I prefer to run better ammo through them.

[grim-bob]

I've used a mix in a plinker of mine. I also have one I baby that never sees steel...

One other consideration... what's the cost of a barrel? ~$200 or for a decent barrel for everyday use (keeping it to the basic AR user; could be cheaper)

Figuring about $1 more a box from steel to brass cased that works out to about 4000 rounds plus a new barrel to break even. So assuming you get 4000 rounds out of a barrel only shooting steel cased ammo before failure it's a wash. But if the barrel is going more than 4000 and keeping consistency before giving up the ghost then the steel is a better deal for everday fun. I suspect under moderate use, regular cleaning and not overheating the barrel constantly it would go more.

So for fun on a budget steel may be worth looking at. But since there is a higher chance of failure I'd keep it to the fun gun. Run brass in what you have to depend on.

[jmra]

My guns shall never be exposed to steel cases.

[stash]

Thanks for the easy to understand explanation Andy.

[The Annoyed Man]

This picture illustrates Andy's explanation:



The three cartridges are, from left to right, 5.56 NATO, 5.45x39, 7.62x39. As you can see, both the of Russian designed cartridges have a distinct taper from case head to shoulder, when compared to the 5.56 NATO case on the left which has almost no taper from case head to shoulder. The tapered case makes for a slightly less accurate rifle, but for easy and reliable feeding and extraction.