What's the skinny on using steel cased ammo in your AR.Good,bad or indifferent.

Ken,

Although this'll probably get moved to the ammunition forum let me try to give you my experience.

The biggest issue with steel case is the possibility of increased extractor wear. Having said that, I've shot probably 3K rounds of steel cased ammo from various manufacturers through my post ban Colt with no noticeable extractor wear.

One other issue of some importance that has been mentioned previously is that there is the [i]possibility[/i] that the lacquer sealant used on most steel cased ammo could cause a round to jam in the chamber. This [i]could[/i] occur if a round were left in a hot chamber (i.e. after emptying an entire mag or more rapid fire) and the lacquer were to melt. I feel that this is might occur in a match barrel with really tight tolerances but is probably a greatly over-cautious issue.

Finally, the biggest issue, IMHO is that steel case ammo is not reloadable. However, I think that .223 is cheap enough not to have to worry about reloading.

The pros are it's cheap!!! I've used Sellier & Bellot steel cased, Wolf, and some Russian surplus without any problems.

HTH,

Mike

Pros=CHEAP

Cons=possible laquer buildup(cleanable)
    not reloadable

Wensday drove 1 hour to get to range.Find that someone has shot target uprights into two pieces.Fix uprights so I can staple cardboard backing to afix pasters to.Unload rifle,ammo,ect.Pick up rifle,load,aim,shoot.Rifle jams look at cause and see fired sheel still in chamber.Upon closer examination see that extractor is broke.Pack up rifle,ammo,ect.Take down targets,load car drive home.Well actually patterned buckshot out of my 1897.
This rifle had 1040 rounds through it without a malfunction.Was this because of ammo?I don't know,maybe.I latter find out this is a match chamber,and I won't shoot any more out of this rifle.I am getting something with a mil-spec chamber and will try agian.This stuff (Wolf) sells for $75 a thousand at the local gunshows.Too good a deal to pass on