[Beeg Boy]

Can someone explain to me the difference between Steel cased ammo and Brass cased ammo?
I dont understand what the difference is.
Please explain all the different types of cases for me.

[Corelogik]

What it refers to is the material the casing is made out of. The brass case is more elastic and can be reloaded, steel case is less elastic and generally can't be reloaded without cracking. Aluminum is the softest of the metals ammo is generally made out of and is too soft to reload.

Generally speaking, steel cased ammo is a bit cheaper because the price of steel is generally lower than the price of brass. Steel cased ammo is generally surplus like wolf etc,..

All weapons will feed and fire brass ammo just fine. Some weapons have difficulty with steel cased because steel is harder than brass. It tends to be rough on the extractors of some guns and may stick in the chambers of some guns. Typically this happens with target or match grade chambers/barrels.

I haven't put any steel cased ammo through my HP's never had occasion to do so. Some have and have no issues with it, some it caused nothing but problems.

The best solution is to get 1 or 2 boxes of wolf and try it your guns to see if it works ok for you. As far as I know using wolf or steel case ammo in HP's is fine as long as it will feed them properly.

[Beeg Boy]

What it refers to is the material the casing is made out of. The brass case is more elastic and can be reloaded, steel case is less elastic and generally can't be reloaded without cracking. Aluminum is the softest of the metals ammo is generally made out of and is too soft to reload.

Generally speaking, steel cased ammo is a bit cheaper because the price of steel is generally lower than the price of brass. Steel cased ammo is generally surplus like wolf etc,..

All weapons will feed and fire brass ammo just fine. Some weapons have difficulty with steel cased because steel is harder than brass. It tends to be rough on the extractors of some guns and may stick in the chambers of some guns. Typically this happens with target or match grade chambers/barrels.

I haven't put any steel cased ammo through my HP's never had occasion to do so. Some have and have no issues with it, some it caused nothing but problems.

The best solution is to get 1 or 2 boxes of wolf and try it your guns to see if it works ok for you. As far as I know using wolf or steel case ammo in HP's is fine as long as it will feed them properly.

Cool.
Thanks Bro.

[Corelogik]

Anytime.

[pheenix11]

Feeds the same for me but a lot of ranges won't let you fire steel cased and you can't reload it either.

[Blaster308]

Another issue with alot of the steel cased ammo is the rust proofing laquer the cases are coated with. When it gets hot enough, a round sitting a few seconds in a hot chamber is enough, it will melt, coating the chamber, making it harder, with each round chambered/fired, for the actions to open, and cases to be extracted, causing yet more stress on not only the extractor, but the action itself, it also makes it harder to get the chamber clean, lots of brushing, and bore cleaner is needed, and will jam up an AR quick. Wolf makes the polycoated cases, but some of the earlier coating tended to scratch off into a fine powder, had this happen with an AR, causing the rifle to jam.

Some combloc countries copper or brass wash their cases, basically a thin electrocoat of copper, or brass, this is eliminates the mess, but steel cases are still steel cases, and some companies will void warranties if steel cased ammo is used.

Another thing to look at, some of this stuff is repacked milsurp, Wolf military Classic is such, and may have corrosive primers.

I do shoot steel cased ammo, but only in AK and SKS rifles.

[Rhodes]

The worst thing about steel case is the inaccuracy. Steel doesn't expand like brass to form that tight seal in the chamber when fired causing some oscillation in the bullet that will open up your groups. I havent seen any corrosive primers in steel case for a long time. It can be reloaded but it is a royal pain and is best done with just neck sizing so it can only be used in the same gun that fired it. Of course you also have to deal with Berdan primers which require some sort of hydraulics to deprime.

[Slimshady]

Some of the "lacquer melted in the chamber" malfunctions are actually due to carbon buildup in the chamber. As Rhodes mentioned, the steel case doesn't seal as well and the carbon from the burning powder leaks back between the case and chamber. Fire brass loads without cleaning out this residue and the case sticks in the chamber.

[Rhodes]

I found a guy on gunbroker that makes jigs to deprime berdan and he is telling me it works with steel cases also. He also makes a drill jig to revove the anvil from the case so boxer can be used although since the bedan is .004" larger than large rifle boxer it has to be sealed with superglue or something like that. Not as bad as it sounds a lot of ammo has sealed primers. Since the primer expands when fired I dont see an issue but I wont swear to it. I would a use it at the range only for plinking ammo but not any critical situation of course having an option never hurts. At 40.00 a pop the jigs arent too expensive for 308 or 30/06 and maybe x39.

[Silicon Wolverine]

I found a guy on gunbroker that makes jigs to deprime berdan and he is telling me it works with steel cases also. He also makes a drill jig to revove the anvil from the case so boxer can be used although since the bedan is .004" larger than large rifle boxer it has to be sealed with superglue or something like that. Not as bad as it sounds a lot of ammo has sealed primers. Since the primer expands when fired I dont see an issue but I wont swear to it. I would a use it at the range only for plinking ammo but not any critical situation of course having an option never hurts. At 40.00 a pop the jigs arent too expensive for 308 or 30/06 and maybe x39.

dig back in the reloading forum a few months and i posted pics and details how to make a hydraulic berdan deprimer for under 10$

SW