Interesting ammo test steel vs brass

[Combat Controller]

Best test I have seen to date. Lots of it surprised me. Linky

[FelixEstrella]

Nice! Thanks for posting.

[TheArmsman]

Good to have some hard data. Thanks.

[SoupOrMan]

That is very interesting. Kind of confirms what I've thought for a while: feed ARs brass-cased ammo for best results, steel as a last resort.

[Rumpshot]

What I got out of it, is steel cased is not great, but not all that bad. The worst part is the bimetal bullets really will wear a barrel out in a hurry.

[randy]

I noticed in their discussion if economic factors they did not work in reloading as a factor for brass cases (of course they are an ammo company).

Steel cases are much easier to collect up from a range (magnet vs stoop and search).

What's the best sweet spot out there on quality vs price point on replacement barrels these days?

[FelixEstrella]

What I got out of it, is steel cased is not great, but not all that bad. The worst part is the bimetal bullets really will wear a barrel out in a hurry.

^^^ This.

[Langenator]

I would have liked to see them include a brand of steel case ammo with copper jacketed bullets in the test. I know of at least one - Hornady Steel Match - that already exists.

But 1000 rounds of HSM costs roughly twice as much as the same amount of Wolf or Tula, and about 50% more than Federal bulk pack stuff I don't know if there's a more budget-oriented, copper FMJ steel case round exists.

If it doesn't perhaps there's a market niche to be exploited.

[Combat Controller]

I would have liked to see them include a brand of steel case ammo with copper jacketed bullets in the test. I know of at least one - Hornady Steel Match - that already exists.

But 1000 rounds of HSM costs roughly twice as much as the same amount of Wolf or Tula, and about 50% more than Federal bulk pack stuff I don't know if there's a more budget-oriented, copper FMJ steel case round exists.

If it doesn't perhaps there's a market niche to be exploited.

Why on earth would they make steel cased ammo that cost more than brass?

[Langenator]

Well, it's more expensive than Federal bulk pack...but it's still cheaper than HORNADY brass case standard ammo.

And the Match part is serious - I've used some of the 75 gr variety, and my 20" CMMG upper/barrel combo absolutely loved it. It disappeared from the shelves right after Newtown, and I hadn't really gone looking since, at least in part because I built a new 3-gun rifle, and I didn't want to mess with steel casings in a low mass system.

But appears to be available now, and the price beats most of the other match ammo I've looked at by at least $0.10 per round.

Back to my other point - since it seems that the bi-metal jackets were the cause of the barrel wear, while the steel cases imposed wear mostly on the extractor, there might be a market niche for copper jacketed FMJ, steel case rounds, provided they can keep the cost down. My searches so far haven't found anyone making such a round, although it may be out there. (I'm assuming anything from Wolf, Tulammo, and Brown/Silver Bear are all bi-metal.)

I would be interested to see if they could keep the cost low enough that the long term cost of not having to replace barrels as frequently is lower than that with the bi-metal.