Will steel cases speed up wear of chamber?

[Luke E.]

I bought a bulk box of 9mm Luger and they are steel cased with the grey anti corrosion coating. This weekend i was shooting with a friend and he mentioned shooting to many of these rounds would cause premature wear of the chamber. Anyone have any thoughts on this? I've got a Sig 2022 and a S&W SD9 if this makes any difference. Until recently i have only shot for fun a few times a year with handguns and and long guns so i've never been to concerned with wearing out a fire arm or buying cheap steel cased rounds so this is pretty new to me. Any help would be appreciated.

[Smith]

Long time internet rumor. I've yet to see any actual evidence outside of conjecture and speculation by the arf.com guys. The Russians have been running steel cased ammo through their pistols and rifles for as long as they have had them. Mosins are in abundance with good chambers and the AK47 builds have been around since 1947 with most of the current offerings being from the 70's. That being said I've never heard of AK's having wear issues in their chambers from steel cased ammo.

[Jonnin]

the only thing in a gun that I have seen damaged by steel is your extractor, and that is an uncommon issue seen mostly on low end firearms shooting steel. What happens is, a cheap extractor (possibly brittle?) is matched up against a stuck case (it happens) and because the steel is tougher than brass, rather than cut thru the rim of the stuck case (like it would for brass) it breaks.

The only thing I have had damaged badly by steel was a mag. A round that failed to feed was dragged by the slide thru the mag and wrecked the feed lips. I polished and bent on it until it mostly works, every once in a while that mag causes a fail now.

Edited August 22, 2012 by Jonnin

[Luke E.]

Long time internet rumor. I've yet to see any actual evidence outside of conjecture and speculation by the arf.com guys. The Russians have been running steel cased ammo through their pistols and rifles for as long as they have had them. Mosins are in abundance with good chambers and the AK47 builds have been around since 1947 with most of the current offerings being from the 70's. That being said I've never heard of AK's having wear issues in their chambers from steel cased ammo.

Thanks, i kind of figured with steel being used over the years that if there was a problem with it there wouldn't be so much of it running around today. My buddys rational was that it wasn't actually the steel case itself that would harm the chamber but rather the anti corrosion coating. He seemed to think that since it was the same case size as the brass and then you had the thickness of the coating, that you are now cramming a round in the chamber that is to large a diameter for it. I'm not sure how thick the coating is (i'm guessing very minimal) or how tight the chamber/case tolerence is but it seems to me that if the coating caused it to be to large it would be scraping it off. I haven't noticed any more or less abrasion on the steel cases than i have the brass cases.

[Luke E.]

the only thing in a gun that I have seen damaged by steel is your extractor, and that is an uncommon issue seen mostly on low end firearms shooting steel. What happens is, a cheap extractor (possibly brittle?) is matched up against a stuck case (it happens) and because the steel is tougher than brass, rather than cut thru the rim of the stuck case (like it would for brass) it breaks.

The only thing I have had damaged badly by steel was a mag. A round that failed to feed was dragged by the slide thru the mag and wrecked the feed lips. I polished and bent on it until it mostly works, every once in a while that mag causes a fail now.

Good to know. I didn't think about the extractor at all but that makes perfect sense. I'd rather shoot brass but for the price of the steel i couldn't come close to it. I've been shooting a couple hundred rounds per weekend for the last while so every lil bit counts, if its probably not going to cause an issue i'll run them until i find a better option.

Thanks again.

[Smith]

Thanks, i kind of figured with steel being used over the years that if there was a problem with it there wouldn't be so much of it running around today. My buddys rational was that it wasn't actually the steel case itself that would harm the chamber but rather the anti corrosion coating. He seemed to think that since it was the same case size as the brass and then you had the thickness of the coating, that you are now cramming a round in the chamber that is to large a diameter for it. I'm not sure how thick the coating is (I'm guessing very minimal) or how tight the chamber/case tolerance is but it seems to me that if the coating caused it to be to large it would be scraping it off. I haven't noticed any more or less abrasion on the steel cases than i have the brass cases.

This is an assumption, but I think this is why the bullet in soviet ammo is actually a tad undersized to mitigate the case thickness.

The only problem with steel cased ammo is that steel isn't as soft as brass and sometimes if you chamber (mainly rifles) has any variances then the case doesn't always expand evenly and sealed the chamber from leakage. The leakage will eventually build up and "weld" the case to the chamber and that is why extractors can break trying to pull them out. That being said this is mainly in rifles where more powder and higher pressures are more likely and more rounds being fired. In a handgun that at the range it shouldn't be a problem. I wouldn't use steel cased stuff in a class or anything where lots of ammo and little cleaning is taking place, but for the casual range trip I've never had an issue and I've run it in numerous AR's pistols, and AK's and have never broken an extractor or had a case stick.

[chances R]

Luke, I had the same question several years ago. My research and now my opinion is that you don't need to worry about it. The most common problem, and that is rare, is a broken extractor and that is most likely from a sticky case. With that said, I think most of that comes from a dirty chamber which is more likely with the steel cased/cheaper ammo. Just clean your gun routinely and fire away.

[tartanphantom]

I've shot the cheapo Wal-Mart TulAmmo (9mm and 45ACP) many times with almost no issues at all except for the fact that the charge in these cartridges is way dirtier than most USA-made ammo. Also a bit more noticeable muzzle flash. Doesn't really bother me, since I clean my guns after every trip to the range, regardless. Even so, I've gotten in the habit of paying just a little more to buy better quality USA-made brass ammo.

I have heard that some lower-end weapons tend to balk at the steel-case stuff, but I shoot a Bersa Thunder45 UCP and a Kel-Tec PF9 very regularly, and the only issues I've ever had was an occasional stovepipe with the PF9-- probably had more to do with occasional "limp-wristing" on my part than the actual ammo.

Edited August 22, 2012 by tartanphantom

[gregintenn]

I can't see the difference in chamber wear due to using seel cased ammo than the steel to steel rubbing of slide to frame, etc. If you shoot a gun enough, you'll eventually wear it out I suppose, but I wouldn't be surprised of you shoot the barrel out before cases cause enough wear to the chamber to be of concern.

[Luke E.]

Luke, I had the same question several years ago. My research and now my opinion is that you don't need to worry about it. The most common problem, and that is rare, is a broken extractor and that is most likely from a sticky case. With that said, I think most of that comes from a dirty chamber which is more likely with the steel cased/cheaper ammo. Just clean your gun routinely and fire away.

Thanks guys, my guns get cleaned and oiled (liberally) every time i shoot them so hopefully that will be enough. A good childhood friend of mine lives with and works for Travis Pastrana and on my 1st trip up to his place in Maryland years ago i noticed a sign on the shop door that said "If you don't have time to wash and repair it, you don't have time to ride it!" (i guess people were coming over and riding his bikes and not leaving them as they found the) and this kinda stuck with me and i try to apply it to my bikes as well as my guns.

[1gewehr]

All steel is not equal. Steel used for cartridge cases is very soft compared to steel used for barrels, slides, extractors and other gun parts. I have yet to see a firearm part broken or worn out from use of steel-case ammo.

All steel-cased ammo is not equal either. My experience with TulAmmo has been less than great. The 9mm is very dirty and inconsistent. I've shot a lot of Wolf 9mm without any problems. While dirty, it's not as bad as TulAmmo, and consistency is good. The polymer coating used on Wolf ammo seems to feed much better than lacquer coatings.

[Luke E.]

All steel is not equal. Steel used for cartridge cases is very soft compared to steel used for barrels, slides, extractors and other gun parts. I have yet to see a firearm part broken or worn out from use of steel-case ammo.

All steel-cased ammo is not equal either. My experience with TulAmmo has been less than great. The 9mm is very dirty and inconsistent. I've shot a lot of Wolf 9mm without any problems. While dirty, it's not as bad as TulAmmo, and consistency is good. The polymer coating used on Wolf ammo seems to feed much better than lacquer coatings.

Wolf is what i have been target shooting with and like you i have had no problems at all with it other than it being dirty, since its being cleaned every time its shot thats not really a big issue for me. I definitely wouldn't want to get behind on my cleaning and let it build up though.

[Oh Shoot]

the only thing in a gun that I have seen damaged by steel is your extractor, and that is an uncommon issue seen mostly on low end firearms shooting steel. What happens is, a cheap extractor (possibly brittle?) is matched up against a stuck case (it happens) and because the steel is tougher than brass, rather than cut thru the rim of the stuck case (like it would for brass) it breaks.

Also conjecture, nothing exists but anecdotes. You can, of course, find anecdotal "evidence" to support damn near anything. And just for some more, the only case rim I've torn through myself was a steel .223 round, with a Mini14.

The only thing I have had damaged badly by steel was a mag. A round that failed to feed was dragged by the slide thru the mag and wrecked the feed lips....

Which likely would happen with brass case also vs. aluminum.

- OS