American Steel Ammo?

[pangloss]

Necro'ing this thread...

Been seeing aluminum cased 9mm consistently 1-2 dollars cheaper than brass recently. Never shot it and don't know how it is better or worse. Some guys locally are saying it's the next big thing and most ammo manufacturers will switch over.

Opinions? Suggestions? Experiences?

I've shot a little of the Federal and a decent amount of CCI Blazer. If I remember correclty, with some of the CCI Blazer, I was playing around shooting at steel targets at 200 yards with a G19 and RMR. Most of the shots were very close to the target, but every now and then I'd get a shot that felt good when it broke but would impact far far away from the target, as in yards away. I'm not much of a distance shooter, but I don't think those wild shots were my fault. (Granted shooting at 200 yards with a G19 is far enough outside the norm to be of much relevance.) I've shot a lot more Brown Bear than aluminum-cased ammo though, and I've always been very happy with Brown Bear, except for the recent hard primers. I think I might start a thread about that...

[zuplex]

I fired 150 rounds of the 9mm Winchester Forged 115 gr through a Sig SP2022 this past weekend without any failures. I paid $30 at Wal-Mart for the box, about 20 cents per round. I'm not a good enough shot to give a helpful evaluation of its accuracy, but I didn't shoot any worse with it than I did the 115 grain brass-cased Winchester white box stuff.

[voodoo_man]

I think i'll pick up a few boxes and see how they work.

[45dotACP]

I fired 150 rounds of the 9mm Winchester Forged 115 gr through a Sig SP2022 this past weekend without any failures. I paid $30 at Wal-Mart for the box, about 20 cents per round. I'm not a good enough shot to give a helpful evaluation of its accuracy, but I didn't shoot any worse with it than I did the 115 grain brass-cased Winchester white box stuff.

Used the same stuff a lil bit ago.

Was not impressed with the accuracy, but if you need to practice hosing it'd be adequate.

[ranger]

I tried to run American Steel in a 2 day pistol shooting class - I was disappointed in the accuracy and I started to have constant Failures to Extract. I had to pull off the line and switch to Blazer Aluminum 9mm 115FMJ. No more issues. Pistol was a Springfield Armory Range Officer 1911 that has been 100% with my reloads - which begs the question of why did I not just shoot my reloads like I normally do!

I had another 1000 of the Freedom Munitions American Steel 115 FMJ plus the remnants of the first 1000 - I am burning those up in my SIG MPX SBR with no issues.

[abu fitna]

Necro'ing this thread...

Been seeing aluminum cased 9mm consistently 1-2 dollars cheaper than brass recently. Never shot it and don't know how it is better or worse. Some guys locally are saying it's the next big thing and most ammo manufacturers will switch over.

Opinions? Suggestions? Experiences?

Have a few ten thousands of aluminum fodder downrange, from speer to the herters to champion. Bought on price when cheaper than brass, which is surprisingly not as often as one might think.

Not very accurate, often somewhat slow for bullet weight. But runs generally reliably though dirty.

Heating characteristics at longer string, higher round count sessions differ from brass. Guns get hotter but fewer brass burns when in a booth or hallway.

It does offer good weight savings when hauling loaded ammunition to the line in volume. Generally that doesnt mean a damn thing to anyone, but since we were on the topic.

[1986s4]

I tried to run American Steel in a 2 day pistol shooting class - I was disappointed in the accuracy and I started to have constant Failures to Extract. I had to pull off the line and switch to Blazer Aluminum 9mm 115FMJ. No more issues. Pistol was a Springfield Armory Range Officer 1911 that has been 100% with my reloads - which begs the question of why did I not just shoot my reloads like I normally do!

I had another 1000 of the Freedom Munitions American Steel 115 FMJ plus the remnants of the first 1000 - I am burning those up in my SIG MPX SBR with no issues.

My experience too. Their slogan should be: An FTE in every magazine! Mine was a SIG P226 so the pistol was no slouch. Also, in an indoor range, it had a large flash and sparks where the bullet hit hard surfaces.
I called to tell them and they said they would buy back the un-used portion of my order which I gladly sent back for a refund.