steel ammo
I hope this is the right place to post this question. I am new here and also to the AR 15 world. I hope to get one when the dealer gets the model I want back in stock. A friend that has one told me we could go togather and buy some bulk ammo for the 223 cal. AR 15. I have found some ammo I thought was a good price but he will not shoot any ammo that has steel in the bullet. He said it could wear out the barrel faster. He also won"t shoot steel cases for this reason. Is there anything to this or is it ok to shoot these bullets? Thanks
For all intents and purposes, steel cased ammunition will not wear your rifle out any faster. When you get your rifle, clean and lube it well then run a few boxes of steel cased through it. (I recommend WPA, Brown Bear, Silver Bear). If it runs, great, shoot the piss out of it. If not, then stick with brass cased ammo and wonder in the back of your mind why your rifle won't run steel(as I believe it should).
Go forth young man.
Yup. What he said. Not every rifle will shoot steel cased perfectly, which is a mystery to all.. My rifle shoots silver bear just as good as any brass stuff that i have shot through it...
Ive gone through a little over 2K rounds of Silver bear without ANY problems whatsoever.. So, as stated above, buy a few boxes of each, and see what works best in your rifle!
Hell, you can also go with Hornady Steel match, but for the price, you can get some brass stuff cheaper..
Just an FYI. You will NOT get great accuracy out of russian ammo... i can hit a man size target every time at 100 yards, but forget about getting 1/2 moa out of it!
And dont listen to most gun shops , they dont know crap. I have to listen to the guys I work with at a shop and they spew all kinds of BS about steel cased ammo.
Me I shoot silver bear and have never had an issue in multiple guns.
Buy a few boxes of various types and try them out. If it works great for plinking and fun. If not then you are back to Brass and paying about $60 more per K.
Steel ammo might wear down your barrel faster... but chances are you will never shoot enough amo to do so.
A buddy of mine has shot more than 15,000 rounds through his AR, so maybe you might be able to shoot 10-12k before you run into issues.
I know a couple guys that will always replace their barrels after a couple thousands of rounds were fired.
But hey, if you can save 20% by going steel, you will be able to buy another AR with the cash you save after shooting thousands of rounds.
I'm a big fan of steel case ammo. My experience with Silver Bear and Wolf WPA has been very good. Stay away from Tula.
As for M855 (steel core bullet)...I like shooting it, but I'm not sure if it will prematurely wear your barrel. IMO, if your barrel is chrome lined, you'll be in good shape. Most indoor ranges won't let you shoot steel core bullets b/c it damages their back stop. M855 is a bit more $$ than Silver Bear and WPA. Like some one else said, buy a few boxes of steel case ammo and give it a try. If it works well in your rifle, you have relatively inexpensive plinking ammo.
Have fun when you get the new rifle. Welcome to the Black Rifle Disease (BRD).
Originally Posted By Sajer:
And dont listen to most gun shops , they dont know crap. I have to listen to the guys I work with at a shop and they spew all kinds of BS about steel cased ammo.
Me I shoot silver bear and have never had an issue in multiple guns.
Buy a few boxes of various types and try them out. If it works great for plinking and fun. If not then you are back to Brass and paying about $60 more per K.
This
Originally Posted By beprepared:
I'm a big fan of steel case ammo. My experience with Silver Bear and Wolf WPA has been very good. Stay away from Tula.
As for M855 (steel core bullet)...I like shooting it, but I'm not sure if it will prematurely wear your barrel. IMO, if your barrel is chrome lined, you'll be in good shape. Most indoor ranges won't let you shoot steel core bullets b/c it damages their back stop. M855 is a bit more $$ than Silver Bear and WPA. Like some one else said, buy a few boxes of steel case ammo and give it a try. If it works well in your rifle, you have relatively inexpensive plinking ammo.
Have fun when you get the new rifle. Welcome to the Black Rifle Disease (BRD).
Same here... I've only had one AR (a M&P15) that couldn't cycle steel. The rest have no problems.
Tula's .223 has been the worst in my experience. Have had a handful of duds with those. Tula's .308, however, kicks ass!
Your friend has been convinced (by a gun store guy, almost certainly) that a) all steel cased ammunition is the same, and b) it has magical powers to destroy your gun that do not follow the laws of physics or logic. He not only has been misinformed, it has been done to make him choose to pay more than he needs to for practice ammunition. In other words, he was lied to by people who will make money from him, and he then let them control his decisions. The gun store guys cheat, and they are consistently cheating your friend.
The facts are that the steel used for cases is made to be nearly the same hardness as brass cases, steel jacketed bullets are made to be almost exactly as soft as brass jackets (for a long time, GI M80 7.62 NATO rounds used steel jacketed bullets) and if there really is an incrementally larger amount of wear with steel versus brass, it will take tens of thousands of rounds to show any measurable difference. If you shoot steel cased rounds, there is a chance that your extractor could fail early. At like 12,000 rounds instead of 15,000 rounds. So you'd be out something like $12 for a new extractor after having saved (on average) about $1,200 on ammunition. I think it's a good trade off.
AR15 Ammo Forum FAQ
Entry number 5: ComBloc / Steel cased ammunition
linkthe steel in the bullet is still much softer then the steel used for ur barrel.
Ammo FAQ #5
