Bimetal Jacket Effect on Steel Targets

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  • Taco

    Member
    Jan 23, 2018
    56
    Montgomery County
    Anyone notice their steel targets (AR500) wearing out faster when shooting bimetal jacketed ammo (like Tula or Wolf) rather than copper jacketed ammo? I'd like to start shooting steel at AGC (mostly .223 and 7.62x39 from rifles at 100 yards), and I'm curious if the bimetal jackets will have a noticeable effect on my steel targets.
     

    Alan3413

    Ultimate Member
    Mar 4, 2013
    16,922
    What kind of effects are you seeing? 5.56 copper FMJs will nick AR500 even at 100 yrds.
     

    vgplayer

    Ultimate Member
    Jan 17, 2013
    1,069
    King George, VA
    InRange did a video discussing their observations and concluded that Wolf/Tula did less damage because the are underpowered and lower velocity. Velocity kills steel.

     

    Xshot

    Ultimate Member
    BANNED!!!
    Aug 14, 2013
    1,645
    Pasadena, MD
    I've shot my steel plate with all kinds of bi-metal and stew core ammo. Just chips the paint. No big deal.
     

    smokey

    2A TEACHER
    Jan 31, 2008
    31,412
    They do wear barrels faster, I guess it would be logical to wear targets faster if pushed to similar velocities
     

    vgplayer

    Ultimate Member
    Jan 17, 2013
    1,069
    King George, VA
    I don't believe any manufacture of ammo would be in business very long if your comment is true.

    https://www.luckygunner.com/labs/brass-vs-steel-cased-ammo/

    In their test they found that after about 4000 rounds of bi-metal jacketed ammo the groups would being to open up vs copper jacketed.

    Accuracy-Sunday-e1357508752680.png
     

    vgplayer

    Ultimate Member
    Jan 17, 2013
    1,069
    King George, VA
    If you are concerned but still want cheap steel cased, Wolf and Tula have a line of copper jacketed that is only $0.02-0.03 per round more than their bi-metal lines.

    6aa03bf4af3e25f2c0bbd37d2f68e22a.jpg
    108487.jpg
     

    photoracer

    Competition Shooter
    Oct 22, 2010
    3,318
    West Virginia
    At most competition matches that involve rifles on steel they will sometimes use magnets to see if you are using bi-metal jacket ammo which is not allowed. Some ranges don't allow it either, whether its true or not, its their range and rules.
     

    Biggfoot44

    Ultimate Member
    Aug 2, 2009
    32,881
    The experiment was valid to the extent they were comparing specific * Loaded Ammo * , not the individual components per se .
     

    owgriffin

    Member
    May 15, 2012
    51
    Wow, I had no idea. I love that cheap brown bear ammo, plus it is surprisingly accurate. I need to read more about this.
     

    woodline

    Ultimate Member
    MDS Supporter
    Jan 8, 2017
    1,947
    Is steel cased bimetal jacket ammo something I would run through a precision rifle that wasn't specifically designed for that purpose? Nope. Otherwise, sure. Ammo is cheap enough currently that I don't worry about using all brass cased ammo in my ARs, but that may not always be true.

    I think the Luckygunner test was cool, but remain unconvinced that the obscene firing schedule those rifles were subjected to makes it relevant to the typical consumer. Heat kills barrels, though barrels are a wear item anyway. I am interested in finding out what bimetal steel cased ammo does to a rifle on a more normal firing schedule than 10k rounds as fast as possible.

    Odd fact: my large frame AR in .308 runs more reliably suppressed on a lower gas setting with steel cased ammo than it does with brass cased ammo. Not sure why that is. .308 ARs, even ones worked over by the magic hands of Chad, are weird.
     

    lazarus

    Ultimate Member
    Jun 23, 2015
    13,678
    They do wear barrels faster, I guess it would be logical to wear targets faster if pushed to similar velocities

    If pushed to the same velocities, yes. But the difference would be likely minimal. The jacket is incredibly thin. It isn’t much better held together than a gilded jacket is.

    Where you might notice a difference would be milsurp M80 ball vs some commercial M80 ball loadings. The former is almost all bimetal jacket (though thicker gilding than “cheap steel” Wolf, Tula, etc) and the later is mostly just gilded jacket. But milsurp certainly isn’t loaded under powered.

    But you are still talking a bullet only going 2800fps or so at the muzzle compared to a 5.56/223 where a 55gr Wolf or Tula is ticking along at around 3000fps and M193 is pushing 3200fps (for 20” barrels all around).

    Velocity is what kills steel. Now, you can lower velocity if the projectile is harder than the target. If it is softer than the target velocity is the primary determinant of penetration/damage potential. Not overall projectile energy. In other words a .224 diameter bullet moving at 3200fps will penetrate more steel and/or do more damage that weighs 55gr, than a 77gr bullet moving at 2900fps. Even though that 77gr bullet has more energy.

    But we are talking HARD targets. Soft targets that’s reversed (anything softer than the projectile. Like wood, tissue, water). You want the higher energy even at the expense of velocity for better penetration.
     

    lazarus

    Ultimate Member
    Jun 23, 2015
    13,678
    Is steel cased bimetal jacket ammo something I would run through a precision rifle that wasn't specifically designed for that purpose? Nope. Otherwise, sure. Ammo is cheap enough currently that I don't worry about using all brass cased ammo in my ARs, but that may not always be true.

    I think the Luckygunner test was cool, but remain unconvinced that the obscene firing schedule those rifles were subjected to makes it relevant to the typical consumer. Heat kills barrels, though barrels are a wear item anyway. I am interested in finding out what bimetal steel cased ammo does to a rifle on a more normal firing schedule than 10k rounds as fast as possible.

    Odd fact: my large frame AR in .308 runs more reliably suppressed on a lower gas setting with steel cased ammo than it does with brass cased ammo. Not sure why that is. .308 ARs, even ones worked over by the magic hands of Chad, are weird.

    The propellants used in steel cases ammo tend to be faster burning. Which is a negative for barrel life as you are getting the throat eroded more. But it means lower port pressure, especially with a cannon the end increasing back pressure more. That’s my guess why.

    Also for the kids, yeah who knows. My guess is the barrels probably would have lasted 50-100% longer if fired at somewhat more reasonable rates. On an AR platform where a barrel change is pretty darned easy I wouldn’t worry about wearing out a barrel. On something like my Sako Forester where a barrel change is probably going to run me $400-700 and require a gunsmith...well I’ll likely never shot it enough to get there, I would NOT abuse the piss out of it putting hundreds of rounds down range as fast as I can load it.

    I would have said “or a 10/22” on consumables and easy to change. But has anyone ever worn out a 22lr barrel just by shooting one?
     

    CBo

    Member
    Feb 11, 2018
    50
    Columbia
    i recently got the cert for steel at agc, and had a few array of ammo. i can tell you that .223 55gr made a slightly more noticeable dent than 55 gr 5.56, and 77gr otm makes an interesting mark where there is a little material left in the center of the crater. the .223/5.56 55 grain fmj difference was noticed more in a 16inch barrel than a 10.5 pistol barrel.
     

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