ammo
Anyone know where to find 9.3x57 ammo?
Not having any luck
Not having any luck
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Where is the cheapest place to buy brass-cased, non-corrosive ammo for my ar-15 chambered in .223. I dont want any steal cased ammo. I also dont plan on reloading this round. I would like to buy half a case or a full case. FMJ or SP. Thanks for your time and help. 0 -
Steel case ammo is safe to use in your gun.
Without getting into all the details of how and why (you can do a search on steel case or Wolf ammo on the site here), the problems with steel case ammo are that:
a. Steel case ammo may get your chamber dirtier than brass case ammo.
b. Related to a, steel cases may tend to "stick" a bit in the gun chamber. Sticky cases mean more work by your guns extractor to pull out the cases, and the increased wear and tear on the gun's extractor can lead to premature breakage of the extractor.
A 1911 extractor costs about $25 (more or less depending on which one you want to put in there). So even given that you may have to swap out extractors more often, it still may be cost effective to use steel case ammo. You just may not want to use it in a gun that you trust your life to, since a broken extractor and a stuck cartridge during a gunfight is a potentially BIG problem!
Edit:
Note that totally aside from potential extraction issues, my experience with the steel case ammo is that its generally fairly dirty burning and not all that accurate. It may also be underpowered, though since I rarely use it in pistols, and have never chronographed any, I couldn't say for sure. None of these things disqualify the ammo for practice or informal use, though.
As to sticky cases, note that this issue is NOT purely a function of the steel case coating (lacquer vs polymer, or whatever). While lacquer coatings may be a contributing factor, the issue is also at least in part due to differences in intrinsic elasticity between brass and steel.
After firing, the steel cases don't snap back to size as easily as brass ones do, and this is also probably a contributing factor to harsh extraction. Poor case sealing and increased chamber fouling is probably another contributing factor. Use of brass case ammo AFTER steel case can be particularly problematic because of this increased fouling.
How much of an issue this is going to be will depend on the type of cartridge you're using (rifle vs pistol, straight wall vs. tapered, etc), how many rounds you fire between cleanings and in absolute terms, and the tolerances/design of your particular gun's chamber.
Some guns (eg the Soviet-bloc military ones) were designed to run on steel case ammo, and will run unlimited amounts just fine.
But some guns are more prone to problems. I think the older spring-steel extractor design of 1911s in particular makes these extractors more subject to metal fatigue than certain other designs.
Now to be clear, during metal shortages in WWII, the US Gov't, for example, issued steel case .45ACP ammo for use in pistols and submachine guns. We wouldn't have done that if steel case ammo instantly made every gun malfunction!
But we switched back to brass cases when copper became available again. Steel is cheaper than brass and if steel cases were really equivalent, nobody would be using brass cases.
Its not that the gun won't reliably cycle steel case ammo, its that a small amount of extra stress on the spring steel extractor necessary to extract each case, multiplied by hundreds or thousands of rounds, is potentially going to take its toll.
I've heard anecdotally enough stories about chipped/failed extractors on conventional automatic pistols running steel case ammo, that I believe its a real problem.
Bottom line is just be aware that its a potential issue. You can decide yourself whether the lower cost of the steel case ammo offsets other potential drawbacks, including potentially increased extractor wear.0 -
The new Russian made steel case ammo has a plastic coating. It functions much better then the old uncoated stuff. Shot up a bunch of it recently, some sold under the old Wolf name and the recent imports sold as Tulaammo. Whereas the old uncoated stuff was guaranteed to turn your pistol into a jamamatic,the new stuff functions well. It appears to be somewhat anemic as far as plinking ammo is concerned. CCI Blazer firing the same 180 grain bullet was hotter loaded and ejected the empty brass further. 0 -
I believe the OLD Wolf ammo was LAQUER coated and the NEWER stuff is POLYMER coated, at least thats what it says on the box.
A friend from my dept owns a firearms training school and has gone thru about 30,000 rnds of steel case Wolf ammo and says it has worked well with no damage to the guns.0 -
The old Russian stuff was coated with Phenolic varnish (no...I have no clue what that really is) and indeed the newer stuff is coated with plastic/polymer to ease extraction and seems to be pretty decent; still dirty though. Good thing the Japanese and Italians didn't have access to stuff like that as the Fiat Revelli and several other Japanese machineguns might have actually WORKED in combat! 0
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