What's your opinion on steel jacketed ammo?

[Todd v.]

I just got what I thought was a great deal on 1k rounds of Sellier & Bellot .223 from Cabellas, came to $344 shipped. But upon arrival I realized they are steel jacketed bullets and don't even have a copper coating. I'm Leary of shooting this stuff through my guns but not sure if I should be or not. Neither of my 2 AR's are econo guns, a CMMG and a Noveske. Am I stupid for even considering it cause I haven't found a whole lot of "real" data on how much faster it actually wears the barrel. None talked about the non copper coated bullets or a chrome lined barrel either, so I'm lost....

Should I sell it or shoot it?

 

[FrankOceanXray]

Certainly sell it to me.. though that isn't a very cheap price.

I am in touch with Wolf Ammo and CMMG reference steel cased ammo being touted as damaging. CMMG voids their warranty if Wolf ammo is used.

 

[Cochise]

steel is only Ok for east/com - bloc guns in my opinion. I would never run it through a good AR or other US/euro designed gun though. The guns were designed for a brass case and the steel is too hard and will mess up extractors, chambers and I cant imagine what a steel bullet if it really is steel would do to the bore

 

[Todd v.]

It's brass cased but steel jacketed bullets, non copper coated even.

 

[E.Shell]

Todd, are you sure it's not zinc or tin plated?

It would be very unusual to see steel jacketed bullets with no coating at all, due to the potential for galling the bore.

If it is plated, it's probably fine to shoot in anything but a good quality stainless steel match barrel. Many military surplus loads use copper, bronze or some other guilding metal washed steel jacketed bullets, not just the commies. Turkish 8x57 is one example, and I think theirs is coated with tin. I had a whole pile of Malaysian .308 that was copper washed steel jacketed and Springfield Armory told me it was fine to shoot it in my SA M1A.

 

[alucard0822]

Steel jacketed stuff is fine in most ARs, like Ed said, it has a guilding metal wash to prevent galling, but even still, the "steel" is very soft, and won't damage chrome moly bores, especially crome plated ones, the chrome or barrel steel is much harder than the steel used for the jacket, or case for that matter. Like ED, I wouldn't use it in a match gun. Steel cases do beat up the exractor more than brass, but a $5 part that is easy to replace often times is a small price to pay for cheap plinking ammo. And like Ed said, you do not want to use it in stainless or match barrels, but if you spent the loot on a match barrel, you would probably be conerned about accuracy, that in steel jacketed stuff is usually lacking. A mere 1,000 rounds of cheap steel ammo won't hurt it at all, but sometimes won't run reliably, and is usually a little dirty, just keep an eye out for brass stuff for the next go around, even if you do not reload, often times with brass cased boxer primed ammo, you can sell the once fired cases to a reloader and make up the difference in price between steel cased stuff, and decent brass cased ammo, going rate is about $50-$70 per 1,000 unworked cases

 

[Todd v.]

Guess I will have to call the manufacturer and find out what the deal is... I looked for more info on their website but found nothing. The cases are brass but the actual projectile is just plain silver. Either that or I will have to cut one of the projectiles apart and see if it's just a coating. Everything I've read about they're stuff said they were coated and looked like copper but these are definitely not. Sucks because from what I've read it's pretty decent shooting ammo for the money, groups well and loaded real close to a 5.56 charge.

I'll report back what I find out.

 

[E.Shell]

Guess I will have to call the manufacturer and find out what the deal is... I looked for more info on their website but found nothing.

I couldn't find anything at their site either.

The cases are brass but the actual projectile is just plain silver. Either that or I will have to cut one of the projectiles apart and see if it's just a coating.

You can make one pass across the ogive with a file and see. If you cannot tell (the coatings are very thin), you can always hit it with a degreaser or solvent and then wipe it with a little saltwater and see if it rusts in a day or two.

Everything I've read about they're stuff said they were coated and looked like copper but these are definitely not.

Same here, I'd bet their bullets are either plated with something or that batch is actually defective if they're not. As Alucard0822 points out, the steel is VERY soft and we're really only coating it to reduce friction.

Sucks because from what I've read it's pretty decent shooting ammo for the money, groups well and loaded real close to a 5.56 charge.

I've always had very good results with all of their ammo and would buy it over any other blasting ammo if pricing is close. Their 9mm is very peppy.

I'll report back what I find out.

 

[FrankOceanXray]

Still no further word from Wolf or CMMG.

My understanding is simple, that the hardness of the metals is much different. The gun is stronger than the casing. Steel ammo is just fine for plinking.

 

[HoChiWaWa]

It really only puts some extra wear on your extractor (which is a wear item anyway and cheap to fix) and some brands of steel ammo can muck a bit up your chamber depending on how its lubricated (the old wolf was notorious for it, the polymer coated wolf isn't bad). I think S&B are copper washed which shouldn't do that. I don't like wolf because its underloaded and dirty as hell, but S&B isn't that bad. I've used a lot of their copper washed steel 9mm, it even feeds in my friends machine guns better than wwb and umc.

 

[E.Shell]

We seem to have two conversations going on here about two different subjects . . . .

The OP is NOT talking about the cartridge case. It's not the casing in question. It's the projectile, the bullet. If you're not talking about the bullet, you're not talking about the same thing as the OP.

There are two components that are commonly made of some sort of coated steel, one is the cartridge case, like Wolf, which is polymer coated mild steel. Older Wolf was lacquer coated mild steel, and either the lacquer or the bullet sealant would deposit in the chamber and sometimes cause problems.

Both bullets and casings are made of a very mild steel that will not damage the rifle, since it is a much softer alloy than the steel alloys used in the manufacture of the rifles themselves.

The other component is the bullet itself. These are often jacketed with mild steel too, and the "washed" (electroplated) with another metal with more lubricity.

The OP states that his *bullets* seem to be unplated, and clearly states in his second post (#4) that the cartridge cases are brass. The cases are not the question, it is the bullet.

 

[Todd v.]

Wow didn't realize they are in the Czech Republic... could take a little while to get a reponse. I sent off an Email to find out if they just changed their process or if mine are defective. The other half of the order is coming in today so I will see if they are the same as the first.

They should be all pretty fresh cause when I ordered from Cabellas they were on backorder and they just came in stock so it could be they changed their construction or just use a different type of plating.

I'll post up a picture or two tonight so you all can see what I'm talking about.

 

[BlackBart]

Sellier & Bellot is good economy stuff, does it indicate AP on it anywhere?

 

[Todd v.]

No it's not steel core just steel jacketed, verified with a magnet. It does reference M193 and a 5.56 charge on the box but the headstamp is .223. From what I read it's a healty .223 charge almost @ 5.56/M193 velocities.

 

[Half-cocked]

If the bullet is steel jacketed, what about the core? Is that lead? Or are we talking steel all the way through?

 

[Todd v.]

Yup lead core, anything else is illeagal for import into the US I think, and this stuff is from the Czech Republic.

 

[Todd v.]

Okay new discovery, I looked through the shipment that came in today and they are copper coated, well most of them. 19 out of the 25 boxes looked good the rest we're plain silver. Snapped a few pictures so you all could see what the deal is. Guess I will have to ship the uncoated ones back pending the response from Sellier & Bellot. It's still possible there's nothing wrong with them I guess but I'll wait and see what they have to say.

 

[Todd v.]

Update out of the 50 boxes total 31 were "bad" Called Cabelas and they said we will refund you for the 31 boxes and I could keep them cause they don't want em back. Gunna repost in the reloading forum to see what I can do to make these things usable. I have a single stage hornaday press on the way from a friend. Looks like this will be my first reloading project, lol.

 

[Dst]

Wow, that sounds like a sweet deal, then. That's essentially 620 .223 plus the cost of a bullet puller and new bullets?