Long first post, sorry in advance.

So I'm bored as hell at work and decided to do a little testing. Grabbed an old Colt BCG from the table, barrel, and a handfull of steel ammo. When I first built my rifle my buddy had said to buy a box or two from several different brands and tune mine to shoot anything. Changed the buffer weight once and since it has shot everything I try. So now I am in the spot of, do I spend the money on Brass or Steel? So I start testing a few things. The Hardness of this bolt face and extractor were from 77-79, My stainless barrel was 92, and the ammo ranged from 68-71. So in theory of metallurgy, the wear the steel ammo will put on the parts is negligible if any. So I look at the polymer coating they use and it appears the melting point on the poly is much higher than our rifles could get without being full auto, even then I don't see that being possible. Well that leaves me to think the only issue would be carbon build up from expansion/seal issues. I shoot about 100-250 rounds when I go to the range, I should be good there. So using average cost of both ammo, and expected life of a barrel( for us Navy/Marines it's 10,500 rounds) that's a savings of 840 dollars over the life of the barrel. I could build another rifle for that let alone the cost of just a barrel and extractor. So the final concern would be the very thin layer of copper on the projectile. Is it thin enough to withstand the rifling or not? For me the only way to find out is to shoot a shit ton of steel ammo while keeping the rifle clean and comparing to the amount of issues/longevity I have with my sons AR.

This is a good read. They've shot the tons of ammo for you.

http://www.luckygunner.com/labs/brass-vs-steel-cased-ammo/

I don't worry about it. ...
Fwiw

I've seen a bunch of videos but I like to try stuff on my own before I make a call.

your bolt, barrel etc are all harder than the brass and steel ammo

you will do nothing to damage your rifle shooting either or rather, nothing that is not considered normal

buy loads of steel or brass, just shoot

Steel cases don't obdurate (thank you for the chance to use that word!) like brass, so yes you will see more chamber fouling. It should only be an issue if you switch from steel to brass.

Just clean the chamber well before going from steel to brass.

Buy and shoot whatever you want, it's not going to hurt your rifle.

Steel case is inaccurate, wears your gun twice as fast, is not reloadable, and is dirty. It's poor people ammo for people who can't shoot well enough to notice. Even with the wear, it's still cheaper to shoot it and buy another crap barrel when you burn the first one up. I also had a void in a steel case round and it wobbled, struck my baffle, and blew up my silencer. Like I said... shitty ammo. Won't buy any ever again. But it is cheaper if that is the ONLY thing you care about.

I wouldn't say poor peoples ammo. I intend on retiring differently than most and won't be working again after my 38th birthday. So yea, I'll be frugal with my hobby. Being only 17% harder than brass it will not wear out a barrel twice as fast but you can believe what you want and talk down at people. Some people had good parents and some didn't. Troll on sir

And boxed prime steel ammo can be reloaded....

This has been BEATEN to death numerous times now............  Steel vs Brass cased ammunition.  
Read the Lucky Gunner article.............. it explains the down and up sides of shooting Steel Ammo.  
Shoot it if you want............ don't if you don't.  
Poor... rich..... don't matter.  

Just read the article...............  if you want to conduct your own test, rock on.............  

BTW.... GHP will be along shortly to tell you it's not the bullet, but instead the powder.......... either way.  Shoot it if you want, if you don't, don't.

PS........... can you name any Russian 223 that is boxer primed?

ghp would be right according to hornady.  I just watched something from them on this and with powders burning at different temps and pressures resulting in excessive wear.  the topic of combloc ammo came up and they said absolutely, jackets are too soft, its the heat and pressure from the powder.....$hit you not

Ok.............. post a link or it didn't happen................ :)

You're dismissing their tests?

Stands out to me I can buy almost 10 new rifles for the money wasted on 15k rounds to see when a $200 barrel is shot out.

I've seen more barrels ruined from cleaning than being shot out....

Only you can prevent forrest fires.
Floss at least once a day.
Say no to drugs.
These are the only things I can think of to add to this topic that hasn't been said at least 10 times before. How many times will this topic be beaten up and down?
Don't drink and drive.
Speed kills
Call your mother.
Don't kill what you don't eat.
It is better to give than to receive.
Please feel free to add what I'm forgetting but please don't tell me again about steel or brass, I got it Dad. You can stop repeating yourself. I'm not listening anyway, I'm shooting both.

I have Tula, Wolf, and Golden Tiger boxer primed steel case 223 that I routinely reload.  Note:  There is certainly Tula, Wolf, and Golden Tiger 223 that is not boxer primed.  I carry a flashlight to the range, and when I see "fresh" steel case 223 empties I check to see how it's primed and act accordingly.

The Barnaul shit is just as accurate as M193, PMC Bronze etc in my guns....and I use a magnet to collect the casings at the end of the day...5 min cleanup, as accurate and cheaper.  I shoot steel.

Why bother recycling steel cases? plenty of brass laying around and better all around for reloading and scap.

For me it's therapy, nothing on TV, wife doing her thang, listen to the radio and reload........just passing time and relaxing.....

Steel "brass" doesn't stretch as much as brass brass (I toss when it finally needs trimming, as it's hard to trim compared to brass).  It's free.  I took it on as a challenge and kept on with reloading it.  Haven't found any that needed primer pocket crimp removal.  I have one upper that while factory steel has failures to extract, my steel reloads function perfectly in it.  I use the same powder charge as brass cases.  Shooters shooting factory boxer primed steel cases, upon being asked if you can have their empties for reloading, will often help pick them up for you (same goes for aluminum boxer primed pistol cases).

Steel is super inaccurate...

https://www.gtdist.com/hornady-223rem-50-bx-bthp-training-75gr.html

Shoot the steel until it jams-up your gun.

Be happy until then.

Any problems with stuck cases in the dies? Or steel coatings like lacquer or polymer gumming up the dies? Loose primer pockets?

IDK seem like brass would work a lot better. I agree reloading is relaxing.

It's not about steel vs brass but rather steel vs copper. The case doesn't matter. The steel in your bolt and chamber is much harder than a steel casing.

The bullet in steel case ammo is also steel, generally copper washed. It does indeed wear out bores faster. I read the posts above per Hornady but I'd like to see something more comprehensive. Unless the copper washed steel is exactly the same hardness as the copper jacket then it stands to reason wear will increase.

That said I shoot steel gladly, I just threw together a beater rifle to hunt/hike/camp/train and naturally, shoot steel cased ammo. It has a nitride barrel and NiB BCG.

The only one I won't shoot steel in is my BCM and that's just because I want to have that rifle as it is forever. It's a 14.5 mid and Tula feels like a damn BB gun in it.

You know full well that Hornady steel case is the sole example of steel cased being accurate. Most steel is not and when someone says steel they mean Wolf/Barnaul/Tula 62/55gr ball.

Steel is perfect for 50y and in though.

it was on tv on one of the sportsman channels.  Was a great show, I'll see if I can find it but even a rudimentary understanding of metallurgy would indicate that what ghp has said is more inclined to be accurate.

No problems with stuck cases in dies...remember you are putting case lube on them when resizing, so the steel case does not touch the die much.  No problems with coatings on the cases...reload them a few times plus running them through the tumbler and the coating is rubbed off making some of the case silver shiny.  I never use any that have any signs of rust, as that could harm the dies in my opinion.

You must inside chamfer the case mouth or the steel edge of the mouth will scrape some of the copper bullet jacket.  Too hard to trim, so I toss when too long.  Split necks after 4-5 reloads, about like brass cases.  Never had a loose primer pocket.  

I agree brass is better, but steel is doable, just as I reload aluminum cases.  Bonus...I get a little joy out of doing something that many folks say cannot be done.

Hat................... this question has BEEN BEATEN TO DEATH AND BEYOND............ I have no interest in rehashing all this with you..............  Just post a link, that's all I'm asking from you.  

If " a rudimentary understanding of metallurgy " was common ........... like common sense........ we wouldn't have all these posts about this type of ammunition.  

S$it you not ......         Just post a link................

Interesting read and good to know just in case I ever have to scrounge deep.

X2
Though I stopped shooting it because it's no longer that much cheaper.  It's NOT $150/1K any longer.  If I have to spend the $ now I rather get brass.

The lucky gunner test conclusions aren't going to be the same for normal shooters.

Normal people won't shoot the way they did in that test. There was accelerated wear due to the way they were shooting and not cleaning.

It is something to consider but not the end all be all. Shooting steel is ok fir plinking and general training.

Though I won't shoot it through my suppressors anymore.