where to find cheapest steel cased ammo .223??? (Read 16476 times)

Mr. Farknocker

Re: where to find cheapest steel cased ammo .223???
« Reply #20 on: March 15, 2012, 11:50:30 PM »
The lacquer is not a problem. Just make sure you sand between coats.  :shaka:

Izanagi

Re: where to find cheapest steel cased ammo .223???
« Reply #21 on: March 16, 2012, 10:42:53 AM »
The lacquer is not a problem. Just make sure you sand between coats.  :shaka:

What do you mean sand between coats? ???

Ichigeki Hissatsu

Re: where to find cheapest steel cased ammo .223???
« Reply #22 on: March 16, 2012, 11:00:06 AM »
Well it is up to you all.
This is the problem I have with steel cases.

1.  The case is covered in laquer to prevent it from rusting.  The laquer melts when the round is fired and coats the chamber of the gun. This mixes with powder fouling gumming up the chamber and bolt.

Just because you shoot slow doesn't mean the gunk is not building up. And how can you be sure you cleaned all that crap out at the end of the day?


2.  The steel case does not expand when the round is fired. Therefore the camber is not completely sealed. Powder and jacket fouling is free to further contaminate the chamber and action.

3.  Steel cases are much harder than brass. Steel on steel contact during the violent cycling of the action will enevitably excelerate wear on the bolt, chamber, extractor and ejector. 

4.  The expantion of brass cases 'grabs' the sides of the chamber when a round is fired. This diminishes the force applied to the bolt of the rifle and bolt lugs.  Since the steel cases do not expand much the case can not resist the force of the round firing. The bolt lugs contain the entire force of the explosion. This cannot be good for the firearm.

90% of all the times I have seen someone having to beat open the bolt of their AR, or pound out a case with a cleaning rod, the culprit was a cheap POS steel cased round. Beating on a firearm is not the best thing for longevity IMHO.

So, you can use those if you think YouTube is on it. Im just saying none of my guns will ever see a steel cased round. 
I don't believe in saving on cheap ammo, and then, perhaps, spending a whole lot more fixing an expensive firearm.

Good luck.  :shaka:

1. The steel cased rounds aren't coated with lacquer anymore.  It's coated with polymer which doesn't end up melting and coating your chamber etc with gunk.

2.  I shoot piston ar's so the blowback from unsealed chamber is pretty much the ONLY fouling i'll get in my receiver.  I can live with that.  I am also already aware that if i were to bring both brass and steel cased, to shoot the brass cased stuff first to prevent brass from getting stuck in the chamber due to the extra fouling.

3.  You got me there...but has anyone ever done tests on this to see exactly how many rounds it takes before you start to see this "excessive" wear?  From reading a lot of forums and listening to people on youtube, a lot of them just say stuff that "makes sense" but they have no facts to back them up.  If i can get 15-20k+ rounds before the excessive wear starts to affect my rifles performance, then i would say it's a good trade off seeing that after 20k rounds, my barrel is nearing or already at the end of its life anyway.

4.  Basing prices that i would generally get from carter (OGC), i could spend $300 a case for brass or $270 a case for steel.  After 5 cases, i would have saved $150.  If my bolts breaks after 5k rounds, i would say that's a good trade off seeing that i can get a new milspec bolt for maybe...$70??

Mr. Farknocker

Re: where to find cheapest steel cased ammo .223???
« Reply #23 on: March 16, 2012, 11:31:30 AM »
What do you mean sand between coats? ???

Sorry, it was a bad joke. :wacko:

dmas

Re: where to find cheapest steel cased ammo .223???
« Reply #24 on: March 17, 2012, 10:04:25 PM »
Does the military use steel cased ammo?  They shoot a bunch and are going through budget cuts.  What about police departments?  They both got lots of guns and need lots of ammo.  Well not as much as we would like them to though.  They don't reload.  Polymer coated should mean it would corrode less easier than brass and perhaps have a longer shelf life.  What's not to like?  Maybe the polymer coating isn't bpa free and hazardous to those who get shot by bullets fired from polymer coated steel cases. 

Izanagi

Re: where to find cheapest steel cased ammo .223???
« Reply #25 on: April 03, 2012, 04:24:48 PM »
1. The steel cased rounds aren't coated with lacquer anymore.  It's coated with polymer which doesn't end up melting and coating your chamber etc with gunk.

2.  I shoot piston ar's so the blowback from unsealed chamber is pretty much the ONLY fouling i'll get in my receiver.  I can live with that.  I am also already aware that if i were to bring both brass and steel cased, to shoot the brass cased stuff first to prevent brass from getting stuck in the chamber due to the extra fouling.

3.  You got me there...but has anyone ever done tests on this to see exactly how many rounds it takes before you start to see this "excessive" wear?  From reading a lot of forums and listening to people on youtube, a lot of them just say stuff that "makes sense" but they have no facts to back them up.  If i can get 15-20k+ rounds before the excessive wear starts to affect my rifles performance, then i would say it's a good trade off seeing that after 20k rounds, my barrel is nearing or already at the end of its life anyway.

4.  Basing prices that i would generally get from carter (OGC), i could spend $300 a case for brass or $270 a case for steel.  After 5 cases, i would have saved $150.  If my bolts breaks after 5k rounds, i would say that's a good trade off seeing that i can get a new milspec bolt for maybe...$70??

Just saw this video and thought of this thread.  Go to 10:38