Steel cased 9㎜ ...

[CountryGent]

Wife is unpacking supply run from yesterday and I noticed the bulk 9㎜ Parabellum she picked up is steel cased. My experience with ammunition with such a casing has been overwhelmingly negative, but I'll try to find a way to burn it up. Is there any mechanical reason I should not run this stuff in a Walter P99 pistol or Mac-10 machine-pistol? Thanks.

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[DizzyJ]

Who's the manufacturer?
Frontier?
Tula?
Wolf?

Personally I don't like the stuff and have never run it through my personal defense pistols.

I have run a ton of it through a couple of my ARs (at least in the beginning). It's generally dirty and underpowered unless it's Hornady match, which, doesn't sound like the case here since you said "bulk".

 

[User 1234]

In a SMG sure. Maybe not HK due to financial value, but Mac should eat anything.

 

[CountryGent]

Who's the manufacturer?
Frontier?
Tula?
Wolf?

Personally I don't like the stuff and have never run it through my personal defense pistols.

I have run a ton of it through a couple of my ARs (at least in the beginning). It's generally dirty and underpowered unless it's Hornady match, which, doesn't sound like the case here since you said "bulk".

This stuff:



(And, with few exception, I wouldn't take the Wolf garbage for free.)

In a SMG sure. Maybe not HK due to financial value, but Mac should eat anything.

Rodger-dodger.

 

[DizzyJ]

This stuff:

View attachment 633990

(And, with few exception, I wouldn't take the Wolf garbage for free.)



Rodger-dodger.

You'll have to let us know. Many people are ok with using it, just be aware it's going to be user preference and will get dirty quicker as well as be harder to clean.

Many people are ok with that trade off.

 

[CountryGent]

I'm fine with giving it a go as long as there is no chance of mechanical damage, even if I strongly suspect that it won't cycle for crap. With very few exception, I've never had good results will steel cased stuff.

 

[TTSX]

If it goes bang, I'm happy. I'm not about to be an ammo snob

 

[CountryGent]

Going bang is great. "Bang, jam, clear, bang, jam, clear, bang, jam, multiple expletives, clear ..." Not so fun.

 

[Certaindeaf]

Should work fine in anything.
Is the slug sintered iron?. ah just read the box..

 

[Camelfilter]

Been a long while since I've used steel cased 9mm. Stopped simply due to being dirtier is all, not due to malfunctions.

The savings wasn't worthwhile comparative to brass cased range ammo.

Suppose the savings is there these days, however am just sticking to current habits.

Plus I save most of our brass for when the prices go back to make reloading plinkers more worthwhile again. Rainy days will be coming.

As example, we've shot 3,000(ish) brass cased 9mm over the past 4 weeks or so. Haven't done a full takedown on those pistols yet. Just a wipe down, guick lube, and ran a barrel snake thru them with CLP. Likely due for a thorough cleaning on the heaviest used pistols now, tho still seem fine.

If we were running steel cased, I likely would have done a full take down and thoroughly cleaned them after each session.

 

[Josh89]

My buddy bought a couple boxes of it one time. We had nothing but problems with it.

 

[Knebel]

I pretty much only shoot steelcase 45s through my 1911.Have no problems, winchester brass has FTFs, stovepipes and so on, tulammo steel runs and runs and runs. My AKs only get steel too....

 

[CountryGent]

I pretty much only shoot steelcase 45s through my 1911.Have no problems, winchester brass has FTFs, stovepipes and so on, tulammo steel runs and runs and runs. My AKs only get steel too....

That has been my experience too; steel worked fine in my 1911 and the AK I dumped a very long time ago. Everything else; utter dumpster-fire.

 

[Alexx1401]

This stuff:

View attachment 633990

(And, with few exception, I wouldn't take the Wolf garbage for free.)



Rodger-dodger.

When that first hit, or I first found out anyway I was buying a lot of it. Since I don't roll 9mm any more it was great at about a buck a box less. Then I got a bad batch. One day at range had a hang fire. Sounded almost like a flintlock, how slow it was. Then another. Then a couple that did not go off at all. Couple of them sounded very off. At this point I got worried and stopped. Problem was I used to dump the boxes into a container to take to the range. Had a couple more boxes of it at home. So no way to know lot #'s. I just tossed all I had left in the trash. When I was buying it I figured since it was USA made I could trust it. This was during the great ammo shortage when CO's were going 24/7 to try to catch up but still. If it had not been for that one time I am sure I would still be shooting the stuff.

 

[DRZ400S]

That stuff is good to go have shot 2000 plus rounds of that in a glock and AR9. Your P99 should be no problem.

 

[Legion489]

I love the "I hate steel cased ammo because the steel cased WWII mil surplus stuff I bought was dirty, so ALL steel cased ammo, no matter when/where/who made is bad!" I really doubt Winchester had a separate line for "dirty powder" and "clean powder"!

 

[DizzyJ]

I love the "I hate steel cased ammo because the steel cased WWII mil surplus stuff I bought was dirty, so ALL steel cased ammo, no matter when/where/who made is bad!" I really doubt Winchester had a separate line for "dirty powder" and "clean powder"!

All the steel cased Ammo I've used has been current production. Dirty I'm sure because the steel case doesn't seal the chamber as well as brass, thereby allowing a lot more blow by, and I'm sure in some instances, the powder was lesser grade.

 

[Zathras]

I don't often use steel, but have done so on occasion...

My experience has been that Wolf runs fine in the pistols I've tried (several each of Glocks and CZs). Noticeable differences from brass-cased for me is the muzzle flash seems to be a lot more than in other factory brass 9mm ammo and it seems a bit light (though that's anecdotal - never chrono'd it). The performance (and muzzle flash) seems to be consistent in various barrel lengths in sub-compact to compact pistols (3" to 4.25"). I've not tried the Winchester you have but can't imagine it being worse than Russian-made stuff, so it'll likely be just fine in virtually any modern pistol. The cleaning advice and observations already mentioned I think are on-par.

Even though many have forsook reloading popular calibers that can be found cheap (at least currently) in bulk (ie. 9mm, 5.56mm and others), all that might change. If there are more restrictions, fees and taxes on purchasing of ammo or shortages and other factors cause prices to rise, you'll see people doing it. I keep all my brass that is practical to collect.

However, one upside of using steel, provided it cycles in your gun reliably after testing it, is when you are in a competition or training setting and can't (easily) retrieve your brass. You are typically running through 2-300 (or more) rounds in a session. The cost savings for a lot of people might make a difference there since you can't get it back anyway. I came to that realization after losing near 1000 brass cases on mostly 3-7 yard rapid-fire shooting over a span of 4 classes (ie. no one cares if it's match-grade or is a bit lighter). The amount I'd have saved on 1000 of Wolf vs. 1000 of other was probably $40-$50 which would have essentially paid for probably one of the classes. Just something to consider.