Ammo: Brass vs. Steel and Mixing

The ranges in my area - have strict rules on no steel or aluminum cases in ammo.../ and I reload, so I stick with brass ( and I respect the rules of the ranges I frequent).

I don't know that steel cases cause any issues in any gun ...in the few cases where I've looked at guns that have fired a few boxes of steel it was significantly dirtier - but that can be for all kinds of reasons.

I wouldn't mix them with brass either...
 
...My entire life I have only shot brass casings, and my intuition tells me mixing back and forth with steel in the same gun isn't ideal for quality care.

That said, is there any truth to my assumption? Additionally, why is it that steel gets a bad rep and is often cheaper? I imagine it may do more damage to the bore or something along those lines, but I would like to hear from the more inclined.
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I have a Gen4 Glock 21 that I shoot nothing but steel and aluminum case ammo with, it shoots the TulAmmo steel case and Fed Champion aluminum case ammo beautifully, and there have been no adverse effects on the bore, extractor, or the ejector. I have heard that the steel cases can cause damage to an extractor but I have not seen this, and it doesn't concern me.
 
The only steel case ammo I've ever fired was for and in Com-Bloc surplus arms. Worked fine in those.

I don't know that I've ever even seen steel case ammo for anything else, but then I seldom buy factory ammo.
 
I have fired Steel Case ammo in several calibers and have never had a problem. It is cheaper and often times the only thing you can find with the ammo shortage. As posted several times above, I reload most of my practice ammo so I try to buy brass case ammo when I do buy store ammo but I have shot plenty of steel case ammo and it works just fine. I like Trula a lot. It's steel case, cheep and can be found in just about any Walmart.
 
I've never had any issues mixing brass and steel ammo at the same time when shooting if done in the correct sequence. Since steel casing does not expand as much as brass does you get more powder residue around the cartridge and chamber so when you use brass cartridges after shooting steel the powder residue from the chamber makes it harder to extract the brass cartridge because it will expand to the walls of the chamber.

If shooting steel and brass at the same time always shoot brass first than the steel. In all my years of shooting I never had a problem.
 
I prefer steel ammo from a cost perspective, but most ranges around me require brass (so they can then sell the brass for additional profit).

Both are fine.
 
...there is a little portion of my brain that wonders if steel, being a harder metal, increases the wear on my pistols just a bit over brass. As the very knowledgeable Mr. Wright points out, I don't have any hard data to confirm my worry, but I would kind of rather my pistols not become part of the data set if it develops.
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I have shot probably 2K rounds of .45 ACP TulAmmo steel-cased ammo through my Gen4 Glock 21 with no problems, this ammo is reliable and accurate. I get this gun armored on a regular basis and I have no wear or damage to the chamber, breachface, ejector, or extractor since the last inspection. I don't like 9mm TulaAmmo steel-cased ammo. BrassMaxx and Perfecta 9mm both work fine for me. I also like Federal Champion Aluminum Case ammo in 9mm and .45 ACP.
 
It appears we now have brass plated steel cased ammo to contend with. I have just recently seen this and as a reloader, I am horrified.

https://www.freedommunitions.com/American-Steel-s/58712.htm

I don't mind steel cased ammo and really have nothing against it, but to disguise it as brass cased so as not to be able readily identify it is just terrible.

I wonder also how Freedom Munitions and other companies that buy brass will deal with these as they are sent in for credit or sold as brass. Big magnets?

It raises other questions too.

1) If steel has no adverse effect on a gun, why brass coat it and add expense that is not necessary. The savings over pure brass is not really significant.

2) does this make them more reloadable since they would not be a hard on dies?

3) would something like this be the "wave of the future" and we start seeing more and more companies going this route. That would drive up reloading cost in the long run.
 
Yeah, I'm not a big fan of that either, but I suspect that the brass wash (probably not plating, really) is there for corrosion prevention only.

One of the biggest complaints people have had in the past about steel ammo is that the coatings used on a lot of surplus and foreign steel cased ammo could flake off and build up in the chamber, causing chambering issues.

I know it could also be an absolute bear to remove some of the Russian military lacquers without resorting to some really harsh chemicals.
 
The Germans used steel case ammunition almost exclusively from about 1941 on because their supply of copper (the basic component of brass) was severely limited.

The U.S. made large quantities of steel cases for .45 ACP and .30 Carbine, but never fully worked out the problems involved in producing .30-'06 steel cases.

The coating (laquer, copper wash, etc) on steel cases is primarily to prevent rust and corrosion in storage, not to aid feeding or extraction. Some early WWII German ammo did cause problems when the lacquer used flaked off in hot MG chambers and caused chambering problems.

Steel cases are much softer than the steel used in barrels (and reloading dies) and do not cause significant wear in either. But they are stiffer than brass cases and reloading them requires a heavier tool (and more elbow grease) when resizing than brass.

Jim
 
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