Brass Or Steel Case Cartridges

[JohnnyRobotic]

Is one better to use then another? I would think brass would be better as it's softer and would promote less wear and tear on internal parts whereas steel cases would wear and tear faster, If that is the case i could spend the extra 5 cents a cartridge and save my guns by using brass cased ammo, just wanted to know what you guys think.

[Xracer]

Yep.....I agree.

In addition, if you reload, you want brass, not steel.

[JohnnyRobotic]

Well i'm picking up my first gun today (sw1911) so reloading is off in the distant furture, but thanks for the quick response, so like i thought makes sense to spend the 5 cents a shot and save your gun

[Smokin Guns]

I think if yer a reloader it would, but since I'm not...i'll shoot them steel case fella's all day long...

[gpostal]

I won’t shoot steel case out of my guns if you give them to me {I’ll sell them to sg}

Think about it ,why are cleaning brushes made of brass ,and not steel?

[JohnnyRobotic]

Is it the cleaning supply companies conspiring with the brass industry to take down the steel industry?

[Crpdeth]

Johnny, postal is reffering to the possible damage to a firearm caused by steel on steel, I have to agree, although I allow myself a few boxes of the steel stuff now and then just because of the cheaper prices.

[Xracer]

Well, I'll agree that a few boxes of steel stuff, here & there, won't hurt......but as a steady diet, I'll stick to brass.

Johnny......if you think that reloading may be in your future, by all means save your brass. When you start shooting your .45, you'll probably make some friends who do reload.....and even if you don't want to save it for the future, I'm sure they'll be glad to take it.

[merc]

BRASS
I only shoot the steel in the old 7.62x29 SKS
and that is very infrequently.

The steel cases will wear your gun out faster than*&$% thru a goose.

[Pistolsmith]

Back during WW-II and Korea, the Army fired a steady diet of steel cased ammo from 1911 pistols. There were some definite problems:
First, steel cases expand reliably to create obturation (gas seal), but they do not contract as reliably as brass cases. The result is, that they drag on the chamber harder than brass. During the Korean war, when I served in the Army Ordnance Corps, I used to carry a couple of extra extractors in a jacket pocket; steel cased ammo frequently caused the tip to break off the extractor hook. Even those steel cases treated with lacquer to facilitate extraction did not perform identically to brass cases.
Colt, realizing the difference in cases and realizing that millions of rounds of "surplus" .45 acp steel cased ammo was falling into the hands of shooters, designed the Gold Cup pistol, in 1957, to accommodate steel case ejection, by fairing (scolloping) the ejection port to reliably eject at 3 o'clock, rather than the more usual 2 o'clock for brass cases.
Despite the misguided mainstream warnings about not lubricating a pistol chamber (because it produces more back-thrust) I would always coat my chamber with moly disulphide lube to facilitate easier extraction in a pistol in which steel cased ammo is used occasionally or entirely. To date, I have never had frame problems in a pistol fitted with a buffer system. I would be leery about lubing a chamber in an unbuffered pistol. Happily, extra barrels are cheap enough to afford a special lubed chamber one for steel cases.

[Smokin Guns]

{I’ll sell them to sg}

It's a deal...Hopefully 50% less than retail...

designed the Gold Cup pistol, in 1957, to accommodate steel case ejection, by fairing (scolloping) the ejection port to reliably eject at 3 o'clock, rather than the more usual 2 o'clock for brass cases.

With my Gold Cup I shot a box of Wolf (steel case) yesterday and got zapped in the forehead with one extraction (just above the shooting glasses), shot another box of 50 today without incident...Reckon it just has to get used to the stuff?...

[gpostal]

dang it ,nobody listens anymore !!!!!!!!

[Pistolsmith]

The Gold Cup I mentioned was number 896, from the first thousand production. My current GC is a much modified series 80. Both of these function perfectly with heavy ball loads. However, some Series 70 GC's had a lightened (weakened) slide face, and cracks and other destruction results from use with any heavy loadings. Turning the slides upside down reveals the difference in inside machining when the two styles are side by side.
With a pistol as costly as a GC, I perfer to wear it out gradually, rather than all at once.
If you become a dealer for Wolf ammo, you can get some very low per round prices.
Personally, I sincerely regret that steel and aluminum cased ammo exists at all; our range is littered with spent steel and aluminum cases that shooters do not pick up and others do not salvage. It makes picking up your expensive new once fired cases very difficult, and many of them just disappear among the garbage.

[ACC]

The wolf steel cases are shelacked on the outside, the shelac burns off and coats your chamber. I've seen plenty of guns using a steady diet of that crap get the shell case stuck in the chamber.
I wouldn't go near that stuff no matter how cheap it was.

[JohnnyRobotic]

ahhh very good to know C&R. so after a lot of rounds, enough material gets tranferred to the breach end and casing will just get lodged in there or do they bond to it?

[ACC]

I've seen people have to stick brass dowels down the bore and hit them with hammers to get them dislodged.It's pretty nasty!!!

[JohnnyRobotic]

Yikes, like i said before i think i'll pay the 5 cents per cart more for brass and when i wanna reload i'll already have cases