Zinc Plated Steel Casings???

R

Rich_357

New member
Well, I own a few 7.62x39 fire arms and one 7.62x54. The x39’s usually fire lacquered steel casings with copper washed, steel jacketed projectiles. Yes, it is not optimal but it works. I usually only run brass casings through the x54 but the Zinc casings caught my interest.

I’ve found some pretty good deals on the MFS Zinc plated casings. They can’t be any worse than lacquered steel but how do they compare to copper casings?

Would the performance differ between a bolt action and a semi-auto? If the piggy bank ever opens it's mouth again, I'd love a x54 semi.

Curious...
 
"They can’t be any worse than lacquered steel but how do they compare to copper casings?"
First off, "casings" aren't copper, they're brass alloy.
The zinc coating is (IMHO) preferable to lacquer, polymer, or other externally applied coatings. The zinc actually bonds to the steel (somewhat like galvanizing) so doesn't rub or melt off during handling/firing. Downside may be that it makes the steel case even more brittle causing ruptures in misshapen chambers.
I shoot MFS in my 7.62x39 AR carbines and it seems to be as good as any other European made ammo. If your x39 & x54 rifles are original designs, they're made to use steel case ammo w/o problem.
 
I fired some through my M/N M44 back in the day. It worked fine enough, but then I stumbled onto a trove of surplus yugo copper-washed ammo which my rifle seemed to love and I never looked back.
 
Sorry, that should have read...

"They can’t be any worse than lacquered steel but how do they compare to copper washed casings?"

Thanks guys. I found a good deal on some eastern block surplus a few weeks ago but that has become few and far between with the Ukraine/Russia conflict. Any who, I ordered a few boxes of the Zinc plated rounds. For the money, I am really curious about them. We shall see :cool:
 
You should have bought it back when it was cheap. I have seven cases of copper washed Soviet 7.62x54mmR that I bought years ago for dirt cheap. Now that same ammo is $0.40 a shot on up. Looking to sell some soon.
 
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