Steel cased 9mm Ammunition - Safe?

Steel case ammo works fine these days, although the stories you hear are true, it's just the root cause is a little more complicated.

Most of the problems you hear about are stories from when you would buy bulk military surplus stuff that was made decades ago, in some former eastern block country. The problem was the powder and primers used were corrosive. When you combine this with a steel case that doesn't expand as much to seal the chamber when fired you get the corrosive residue in the chamber, where if gun was not designed to use it and you didn't clean it after shooting you would get corrosion, which in turn would cause a cartridge to stick and not extract and/or cause wear on the extractor as it pulls on the thing. For a service rifle, which will be in the field, chrome lined barrels and chambers would prevent this from happening, along with other features that are built in to help them survive being dragged through the mud and rain.

These days, 20-30 years later, pretty much anything you buy with a steel case will be using a non corrosive propellant and primer, although the steel case is still the steel case and not seal as well, leaving more residue in the rest of the gun.

No, no, and uh, no. The steel in Tullamo and Wolf us soft, it is an alloy. The brass colored cases you use are not brass, they are an alloy. The steel cases are not quite as resilient or springy as the brass so they will start sticking earlier as the gun gets dirty.

I have been reloading steel cases for about 11 years, just because some guy who had no clue said it could not be done. I reloaded 50 brass and 50 steel cases six times, three if the brass cases split, none if the steel ones split, 45 acp.

My buddy and another guy started forming the Tullamo cases into 400 Corbon, last year. To our surprise, they formed just fine and not one of them split. What we did find is that steel cases do not slide as well, they are too soft to hurt your gun or chamber, but they do not slide well, so if you have a nasty, dirty dry gun you will get feeding issues sooner.

For example if you see guys getting ARs really hot and dirty, they are asking for a stuck case much sooner with steel than they get with the brass alloy ammo. Simple deal, ARs should have polished chambers and ran wet anyway, sonny time you see that it is really operator error. Nothing wrong with the steel.

You might note that Hornady Black and Hornady Match are steel cases. The general rule is steel us safer than brass, it takes more pressure.

So, no steel per se will not ham your gun. Sone of the import 9mm Plus P Plus that was designed for submachine guns will beat your gun to death, but not because if the case, the pressure.

Keep your chamber clean and lubed and never too hot to touch with a finger and you should never notice the difference.

I shoot lots of 9mm and 45 acp hardball. I had no time to reload due to job so I bought cases and cases of Tula and Wolf. I shoot hard and fast, run by a range and fire 150 or so and go. Never ever had a problem. I am retired ,
Military and LEO. I polish the chamber on every gun I carry about once per year, I use Flex Hones, I do not have chamber issues with steel or anything else.

I recently bought ten boxes if 357 mag Tula at Academy and have reloaded those cases for my ever action 357s and they are fine so far.. I have tons if brass cases, just load the steel ones because keep hearing from people who gave no clue that it cannot be done. Lane Pierce at shooting Times did an article on it eleven years ago, Google it.Steel-Cased Reloads, Cracks, And Fireforming Wildcat Cases - Shooting Times


IMHO

blackmesa96 said:

I have shot some steel cased 9mm that caused serious jams in my American and P938. That was after shooting quite a bit of it through them first. Looked to be a dirty chamber issue.

Still have some left, it's good to use to practice clearing a jam under pressure. Don't see much need to purchase it at present given one can find brass cased stuff for close to the same money in 9mm.

Steel stuff for the commie guns designed to run it hasn't ever been a problem.

Anyone had the opportunity to run any of the plated steel cased offerings? I think Classic had some Tula at one time, and was curious if it ran better. I'm too cheap to buy a thousand rounds just to try it.

Click to expand...

Yes, for years, I have run the brass colored plating, several brands over the years. Just a costing that keeps them cleaner, kind of like the Stingers 22 ammo, it us shiny so it feeds better. Here is a link about it. Brass-Plated Steel Cased Ammo at Ammo.com: Brass-Plated Steel Casings Explained Tula and Wolf sold it for a while.

Personally in 7.62 x39 for high volume hot shooting I like Silver Bear. It is zinc coated and costs more but you can get soft point far superior to any ball ammo.

If your steel cased ammo is not feeding perfectly it is not the ammo unless you can see corrosion, it is your rough chamber. And simply not understanding ARs, you gotta run them wet. One simple trick you can do in wet and cold weather or if you are deployed Long term, is simply to wipe your ammo down with food grade silicone just one time. You never spray it, you put it on a rag or paper towel and wipe each round down, not the primer, the case. One time lasts. Food grade silicon is the safe stuff you spray your tent and clothing with to keep them dry. There are two other types if silicon, they are petroleum base, uh, no. You already have silicon with your bug out stuff right? Anyway it is an effective coating as well for long range storage or patrols. I use it on all my Lake city stuff once it gets showing tarnish. That is also why you never open those sealed tins of ammo, lets the brass cases oxidize.

It all costs extra and is not needed, if you keep a mirror finish on the chambers of your Guns.