Steel Case

[44 AMP]

During a fairly brief period of a couple of years, billions of rounds or .45 steel cased ammunition were turned out.

I don't know if I can accept the amount, "Billions" of steel cased .45s...

Every steel cased US GI .45 I've ever seen or heard of all has the same headstamp, EC 43.

Perhaps some ammo expert can shed more detailed light on the matter, but it seems that the US produced steel cased .45 during ONE year (1943) at ONE plant.
and it may not have been an entire year's volume production.

Millions of rounds, very possible. A billion? perhaps, I'd want verified production numbers to accept that. Billions? as in 2 or more billion? I rather doubt that.

1943 was a tough year, wartime production had ramped up and was in full flood. Rationing of "strategic" materials nationwide. 1943 was the year we made steel pennies. The only year we did that, too.

Steel cases may be the "bees knees" for some things, but go shoot some out of a revolver, and tell us how well that worked!!

 

[Bill DeShivs]

TMK- there are NO guns specifically "designed" to shoot steel cased ammunition.
Steel cased ammunition was designed to shoot in guns designed to shoot brass cased ammunition.

 

[Onward Allusion]

I will only use steel cased ammo in a pinch. The only caliber I've used is 9mm. I've used Brown Bear (absolute smelly garbage), Silver Bear (ok), and Tula (went bang but gets stuck in chamber and extractor rips the rim).

Silver Bear requires that I place a couple of drops of oil in my hands and roll the rounds to get them oiled before loading into the mag. After that, it functions nicely. However, it's just kind of a pain to save a few dollars.

 

[Nodak1858]

The US made steel cased 30 carbine am as well as 45acp .Picked up a numberr of boxes at an estate sale a couple years ago.

 

[mr bolo]

I read an article in GUNS & AMMO and they mentioned limited production .45 acp steel cased ammo during WW2 was breaking extractors, and it was only produced for a short time, I think it does put more wear & tear on a firearm, especially if the bullet has a bi metal jacket.

 

[Hawg]

Between 42-44 Chrysler made 3,264,281,914 rounds of .45 ACP and half a billion rounds of .30 carbine. Most of them steel cased. https://www.defensemedianetwork.com...ld-war-ii-production-from-cars-to-cartridges/

 

[Prof Young]

Steel stuck in Rem 7

I had a Remington Model 7 rifle chambered in 223. I was pretty new to hunting and shooting back in those days and bought some wolf ammo to practice with. One time I had to use a plastic hammer on the bolt to get it to open. That was my end of shooting steel cased ammo.

Life is good
Prof Young

 

[wild cat mccane]

Can I ask a question from an affirmed idea earlier?

Why would steel cased handgun ammo give LESS accuracy? I'm assuming Winchester is loading the same FMJ round into the steel case...so how does the case change accuracy?

 

[JohnKSa]

I don't think it's actually the case that affects the accuracy. I think it's the fact that steel cased ammo is usually designed to be very inexpensive and that means that corners are cut everywhere--not just in using a less-than-ideal case material.

 

[GarandTd]

I've used Tula and Winchester USA forged in my Sar. I had one dud round from the Tula, but no other problems at all. It's not my #1 choice, though. 2 of my reasons are, #1, it's not that much cheaper than brass and #2, there is little value in the spent cases. I save my brass (and other's if they're too lazy to pick it up) for scrap or reloading. Either way, it contributes to purchase or creation of more ammo.

 

[wild cat mccane]

So to repeat, if the manufacturer of the steel cased ammo is using the same FMJ bullet but the case just happens to be steel, there should be no reason to think steel loads are less accurate?

 

[jfruser]

I don't think it's actually the case that affects the accuracy. I think it's the fact that steel cased ammo is usually designed to be very inexpensive and that means that corners are cut everywhere--not just in using a less-than-ideal case material.

This plus eleventy.

 

[JohnKSa]

So to repeat, if the manufacturer of the steel cased ammo is using the same FMJ bullet but the case just happens to be steel, there should be no reason to think steel loads are less accurate?

If they're using the same bullet, the same powder and the same quality control, I would say it's like to be just as accurate.

However, a lot of the time (most of the time?) steel-cased ammo is steel-cased to make it as cheap as possible and other corners are cut too.

There has been some steel-cased ammo that was loaded with good QC for accuracy, but it's not common.

Steel-cased ammo is not horribly inaccurate, in my experience, but I can usually tell the difference. I don't use it to test the accuracy of my handguns, for example. I have always been able to find brass-cased ammo that shoots more accurately.

 

[Seven High]

As I understand it, steel case ammunition has a polymer coating that will stick in the chamber of a semiauto that is warm. Did WW2 US steel case ammunition have some type of coating?

 

[pat701]

IMHO steel cased ammo is only suitable in 7.62X39 in an AK-47. I would trust it in nothing else. JMHO

 

[TunnelRat]

As I understand it, steel case ammunition has a polymer coating that will stick in the chamber of a semiauto that is warm. Did WW2 US steel case ammunition have some type of coating?

It’s more of a lacquer than a true polymer AFAIK. From what I’ve been told the issue is more when you run non coated ammunition in a firearm that has been running coated ammunition, as the non coated tends to stick to the residue of the coating. I’ve run hundreds of rounds of lacquer coated steel cases ammunition in my AKs with no issues in terms of sticking. Cleaning the internals can be a bit messy.


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[7.62 man]

So to repeat, if the manufacturer of the steel cased ammo is using the same FMJ bullet but the case just happens to be steel, there should be no reason to think steel loads are less accurate?

Oh they are, then why can you pick up some of the steel cased ammo with a magnet by the projectile & not the brass cased ammo?

 

[dogtown tom]

Seven High As I understand it, steel case ammunition has a polymer coating that will stick in the chamber of a semiauto that is warm.

Myth that was disproved years ago.
Think about why a coating that "melts" in the chamber likely wouldn't sell very well.

TunnelRat
It’s more of a lacquer than a true polymer AFAIK. From what I’ve been told the issue is more when you run non coated ammunition in a firearm that has been running coated ammunition, as the non coated tends to stick to the residue of the coating.

Since the dawn of time NO ONE has ever been able to melt the lacquer or polymer coating on ammunition. So much for that as a reason it sticks.

That people think that a coating on ammunition causes it to "stick" means they haven't read much on the subject. Two minutes on Google will find several articles on why steel case ammo may "stick".

I’ve run hundreds of rounds of lacquer coated steel cases ammunition in my AKs with no issues in terms of sticking. Cleaning the internals can be a bit messy.

That's because of the shape of the 7.62x39 case.

 

[TunnelRat]

Myth that was disproved years ago.
Think about why a coating that "melts" in the chamber likely wouldn't sell very well.




Since the dawn of time NO ONE has ever been able to melt the lacquer or polymer coating on ammunition. So much for that as a reason it sticks.

That people think that a coating on ammunition causes it to "stick" means they haven't read much on the subject. Two minutes on Google will find several articles on why steel case ammo may "stick".




That's because of the shape of the 7.62x39 case.

Would you link us said articles from Google so that we can read them? Sounds like you have them in mind and rather than get wrong information I’d appreciate the share, thanks.

Also, you say that is because of the shape of the casing but you don’t specify what. That the cases don’t stick, that the internals can be messy, or both?

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[JohnKSa]

Tapered cases tend to be less likely to stick because as soon as the case moves just a little bit, it's no longer in contact with the chamber. A straight wall case has to be dragged all the way out until the straight portion of the case is all the way out of the chamber. The friction does decrease as the surface area in contact with the chamber decreases, but the difference is that the surface area in contact with the chamber goes to zero almost immediately with a tapered case while it decreases linearly when a straight wall case is being extracted.