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I have a Springfield 1911 loaded, well I just bought 300 rounds of 230 grain ball tulammo, steel casing for $50 bucks, will it hurt my 1911 to take it to the range and fire all those steel casing ammo through my stainless 1911?

While I cannot say with absolute certainty, you should be fine. The issue with steel casings used to be the lacquer coating when exposed to a hot barrel. The lacquer melted, the case would stick and not allow extraction. Assuming they use lacquer, just don't do rapid fire and heat won't be an issue.

If they don't, the only issue might be because the steel doesn't expand in the chamber when fired like brass and fail to seal hot gasses. .45 is pretty low pressure, so just pay attention to the gun and you should be okay.

Be aware that your range may not allow that ammo. Mine doesn't allow steel cases on the line.

The only down side that I've ever heard is, you can't reload steel cases

I also find that steel ammo is much dirtier than brass.
So after your range time, do a decent cleaning

No worries. The army used a lot of steel cased 45ACP in World War II. Your 1911 will be fine.

Thank you for all the responses, I'll be headed to the arms room to go practice.

The steel cased ammo thing seems to be more of a problem for AR's for the above mentioned reason than handguns. IMHO

I've fired a bunch of steel, brass, and I guess aluminum or nickel cased stuff through my Glocks without any issues. Granted, they're Glocks, but still. I don't think it'll be a problem either.

it's always been my understanding that the major issue with steel cased ammo, particularly in "close tolerance" chambers, is the fact that steel doesn't "rebound" like brass, and tends to stay expanded to the chamber wall more. Commie guns with sloppy tolerance chambers were designed for steel cased ammo, particularly the old Yugo SKS. I've never owned a modern firearm that functioned near as reliably with steel case as with brass , or even aluminum. The copper washed steel cased Brown Bear is still steel cased too.

Actually, I guess I just tend to discriminate against supporting commie business ventures too ;)


jd

mr surveyor wrote:it's always been my understanding that the major issue with steel cased ammo, particularly in "close tolerance" chambers, is the fact that steel doesn't "rebound" like brass, and tends to stay expanded to the chamber wall more. Commie guns with sloppy tolerance chambers were designed for steel cased ammo, particularly the old Yugo SKS. I've never owned a modern firearm that functioned near as reliably with steel case as with brass , or even aluminum. The copper washed steel cased Brown Bear is still steel cased too.

Actually, I guess I just tend to discriminate against supporting commie business ventures too ;)


jd

I buy lots of Czech steel case ammo bc as soon as the Iron Curtain fell the Czechs went capitalist. I want to support them.

My brother has a S&W 9mm (forget which) and using steel casing ammo one range day, it froze with a spent round in the barrel most likely due to the lacquer. He wasn't rapid firing. We had to disassemble and hammer it out with a cleaning rod.

If you have a successful history, that's one thing. I will probably avoid it.

ScottDLS wrote:

mr surveyor wrote:it's always been my understanding that the major issue with steel cased ammo, particularly in "close tolerance" chambers, is the fact that steel doesn't "rebound" like brass, and tends to stay expanded to the chamber wall more. Commie guns with sloppy tolerance chambers were designed for steel cased ammo, particularly the old Yugo SKS. I've never owned a modern firearm that functioned near as reliably with steel case as with brass , or even aluminum. The copper washed steel cased Brown Bear is still steel cased too.

Actually, I guess I just tend to discriminate against supporting commie business ventures too ;)


jd

I buy lots of Czech steel case ammo bc as soon as the Iron Curtain fell the Czechs went capitalist. I want to support them.

I'd doubt that capitalism has anything to do with the physical characteristics of steel vs. brass .....

To each his own


jd

Personally I stay away from steel cased ammo, too many stories of chipped extractors due to the hardness of the steel case versus brass. When buying a fairly expensive handgun I see no sense in utilizing cheap foreign made ammo just to save a few dollars.

This is not exactly the answer to the OP's question about pistol ammo but worth mentioning.....

http://www.luckygunner.com/labs/brass-v ... ased-ammo/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

In pistol or AR-15, I have shot steel occasionally when I accidentally purchased it by mistake or was given some by buddies at the range or fired some else's weapon.

I haven't had any issues with steel, in my limited use in pistols/AR, I found it to be reliable and relatively accurate and would not hesitate to use its if its all I had but I always prefer/buy brass.

In my beater AK-47, I have only shot steel. It goes bang/cycles every time but doesn't always hit where I aim, probably more of a function of AK design/shooter error than ammo quality.