Just started shooting pistols,Les Baer,Custom Carry,.45 acp,wanted to buy in bulk for practice,was wandering if steel and aluminum cases were ok for practice.They seem to be less expensive,if not where would you suggest going to get bulk ammo.Thanks
Just started shooting pistols,Les Baer,Custom Carry,.45 acp,wanted to buy in bulk for practice,was wandering if steel and aluminum cases were ok for practice.They seem to be less expensive,if not where would you suggest going to get bulk ammo.Thanks
Steel cases are generally harder on gun parts like extractors and barrel throats(bimetal bullets). Aluminum cases are softer than steel, so easier on guns. However, I have found that aluminum cases do not crimp bullets as well and are more prone to setbacks. I guess it would depend on how harsh your particular firearm is on the cartridge as it feeds. Brass is less likely to rupture, seals the mouth better for greater accuracy, and is easy on guns. You might consider reloading.
I've got about 70,000 rounds through my currently remaining four 1911 guns. I don't remember the round counts on the five 1911 guns I no longer have, but ~40,000 rounds I'll estimate. I'll estimate 80% of these rounds were steel-cased.
I'd say steel-cased is fine for your 1911. I've found Wolf and WPA brands good, with Tula and Winchester's "Forged", OK.
Steel-cased ammo in my double-stack Glocks don't feed well at the magazine-level as they bind up within the mag.
Steel-cased ammo in my .38/.357 revolvers is no good as the cases all get stuck in the cylinder and individually need to be pounded out.
Last edited by L-2; 09-26-2018 at 10:11 PM.
They are all fine, there's a lot of hysteria associated with steel cased and it's mainly unfounded. Shoot more, spend less.
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I'd like to amplify on Galbraith's points.Originally Posted by Galbraith
Although steel-cased ammo can be somewhat less expensive than the non-ferrous metal options (namely, brass and aluminum) and with a little more ease, typically, with a little prudent shopping, economy or 'practice' ammo, constructed with brass and aluminum cases, can be found for the same price. Recently, I was doing a little shopping online for a couple of (1000-count) cases of inexpensive 9mm FMJ and found CCI Blazer brass priced just 18 cents (per box of 50) more than Tula steel-cased with CCI Blazer (aluminum-cased) coming in at 9 cents less (per box of 50) than the same Tula steel-cased ammo.
When it comes down to it, unless we are buying several tens of thousands of rounds at one time, such pricing differences are pretty negligible in the long run. I think that brass is still the best option out there with aluminum coming in a fairly close second and steel cased ammo (with some reasonable understanding that there is some slight increase in wear on components) offers no significant advantage other than a small savings per round.
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Full disclosure per the Pistol-Forum CoC: I am the author of Quantitative Ammunition Selection.
After a year long, 10K+ round experiment with aluminum I'm back to shooting brass and don't see myself buying anything else unless it's because of a supply issue or brass prices skyrocket. The current price difference is negligible to non-existent and the issues that come with aluminum aren't worth potentially saving a few bucks.
I've had few problems with steel case ammo going bang. It generally does that well. It's generally accurate enough for practice, and if you are just shooting tin cans and turning money into noise, it's the cheapest way to go. Most guns run it just fine. I've shot a fair amount of it over the years, but I generally do not buy it anymore, because I can reload for cheap, and the steel cases are not best for reloading.
A few of my experiences:
Old Wolf lacquer finished .223 -- Shot okay. Accurate enough for plinking and short range rifle practice in several AR's. It was dirty, and the case mouth and primer sealant made a mess on the bolt face and in the chamber. I don't recall a single stuck case out of ~5k rounds I shot over the years.
New Wolf poly coated .223-- Same performance as the old stuff. It did seem sluggish in my AR's in sub freezing temps. I did have a few stuck cases with this ammo, in dirty guns out of ~2k fired.
Poly coated case Hornady "Steel Match" .223 -- several stuck cases in ~200 rounds fired.... I didn't buy any more.
Wolf/Tula 9x19 poly coated and lacquer cases-- Shot okay, was dirty, but not really much worse than WWB or Fed Champion stuff, no stuck cases or other malfunctions other than a single FTE in a very dirty and hot G19 after about 600 rounds that day. I did have a single round that came out of a case of 1000 that had a mis-shaped casing that was missing about 1/4 of the rim. I tossed it in my ammo oddities box, and shot the rest of the case without issue. If I didn't reload, I wouldn't feel bad feeding all of my 9mm Glocks this ammo for practice.
Tula poly coated .38 Special-- Shot okay, felt "hot" but had sticky extraction. No stuck cases, but extraction from my 442 was bad enough I have not bought any more, even at 9mm ball prices. In a gun with a full length extractor stroke, it may not have been an issue. I bought it mostly to test ignition of "hard" primered ammo after I installed a trigger spring kit in my 442.
I think the bi-metal bullets in most of the commie ammo are probably harder on bores than true copper jacketed projectiles that are more common in US made practice ammo. The Lucky Gunner test of various .223 seems to bear this out. I know, some folks didn't like that test, and the firing schedule was something that *most* guns will never see. I'm not sure the bi-metal bullets are as hard on pistol bores in the lower pressure cartridges. The fact that Todd shot out the rifling in the SA 1911 shooting CCI/Speer copper jacketed ammo does give me concern (I know the "cleanfire" priming might have been part of that) over shooting bullets that may be harder on the bores of my guns. All that said, AR and pistol barrels are cheap... if you can afford to shoot out a barrel, you can afford to buy another ( or another gun).
Another concern with the bi-metal bullets is fire danger in dry conditions in Western states: several large wildfires, including one that started at a range I shoot at, have been started from folks shooting bi-metal jacketed bullets that tend to spark more than all copper jacketed bullets.
ETA: I've also shot some Wolf/Tula .45 ACP... I had almost forgot, since I don't have a 1911 anymore. It was similar to the 9x19 in performance. No issues that I could directly blame on the ammo. Some WWII .45 ACP had steel casings, and IIRC, bi-metal bullets. Not sure I'd feed steel case stuff to an expensive custom 1911... but I bet it'd work just fine.
Last edited by WDR; 09-29-2018 at 05:19 PM.
Our practice ammo at work is aluminum, and I have shot tens of thousands of rounds of it in 9, .40, and .45 without issue. We have experimented at times with other ammunition, but consistently return to the aluminum.
I have shot some of the newer Winchester steel case stuff and besides the fact it seems dirtier, have not noted any issues.
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I'm done with Wolf .38 130 fmj for this reason. Plus it has crazy muzzle flash for .38 Special.
Anyone chronoed this stuff? It seems warm.
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I’m currently working my way through a case of Tula. Never chronoed it but it is quite warm and flashy for .38. I now bring a rubber mallet in my range bag so I can tap the ejector rod open, I’m averaging one split case per 100 rounds.
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