In the discussion about lacquer build-up, somebody mentioned that it was put on the casing to prevent corrosion.  I also got the impression that it was mostly cheap foreign stuff.

Up till now, I thought the lacquer was only put around the primer hole, to keep moisture out, especially on military ammo.

Now it's sounding like there is more non-brass ammo casings out there than I realized.  In what metals?

Just how common is it?  Do any of the major brands use non-brass cases? Which ones?
[red][size=4] P.R.K.

The only steel cased commercial ammo that I know of is Russian made, Tula (Wolf) or Barnaul brand.  They're painted steel cases with lacquer to prevent rust.  I've seen 7.62x39 and some 8mm is steel, some lacquered, some copper washed.  Steel is ok, just cheaper than brass and impractical to reload.

Steel cases can also be hard on your chamber.

I was going to post this question a few weeks ago....anyways, The steel cased stuff is cheap and as far as that goes I only use it in my $300.00 Mak-90 7.62x39. I don't see that it would be a good idea to use it in my $1,000.00 Bushmaster v-match. I look at it this way steel banging into steel is going to create wear on both pieces of steel because they are of equal strength for the most part. Brass being softer than steel cannot possibly do nearly the amount of damage or wear to a rifle that steel does. I suppose it would be ok in a revolver. I bought a case of .223 at the gun show today and paid an extra $60.00 for the brass versus steel. The Wolf ammo was $89 case of 1,000 and the PMC brass case was $149.99 a case of 1,000 rds. On the other hand if I bought the wolf ammo and saved $60 each time over the course of a few years the money I saved would pay for a new barrel....I never thought of that till now. I guess it's really a matter personal preference and what type of shooting you do and your budget for new parts....

steel Barnaul has worked fine in my AR so far.  I've only got maybe 800 rounds of Barnaul and maybe another 500 of brass cased ammo through it.  No apparent wear, but I haven't looked real hard, either.  so far, so good.

Norm

Good info.  Thanks, guys
[red][size=4] P.R.K.

Alot of people find steel case ammo (WOLF) works fine in their AR. But for me, I stick with brass.  It burms cleaner, cleans up easier, and you get what you pay for.  Sure it's cheaper, but are you shooting your AR just to see how many rounds you can put thru it or to improve markmanship skills?  Personnally, I shoot to improve my aim, so I prefer QUALITY OVER QUANITY,

sgtar15