I have heard that steel jackets can damage guns. Like Wolf ammo. I heard it dirties them. I heard Barnaul ammo can ruin a gun? Anybody know anything about this?

I have heard that steel jackets can damage guns. Like Wolf ammo. I heard it dirties them. I heard Barnaul ammo can ruin a gun? Anybody know anything about this?

Wouldn't be my first choice for use in an accurate rifle...have burned up 1000's of rounds in various AK's and SKS's but those rifles were kind of made for that kind of rough use.

Does foul the gun...so you clean it. Is supose to be non-corrosive, but will treat it as if it were corrosive ammo and clean as if it were. "Probably" not isn't good enough, treat it like it is.

I've no doubt the harder steel jacket creates more barrel wear. Can't say how much more or how much shorter the barrel life span would be from its use. Considering the weapons it was designed for, it would take a long time to notice the degradation on accuracy (harder to notice a 1MOA change when you have a 4MOA rifle).

OFten has harder primers that may give commercial guns occcasional miss-fires...may not...but those hard primers are one reason I do use it in those milkitary type rifles.

Are some that claim the steel case is a problem. Does come covered in some type of coating, and that coating can leave a chamber residue that builds up a bit...but think most shooters do not like the idea of jamming a case into a chamber that is so much harder than brass.

It has to be harder on the bore than softer metals.

I have seen various opinions on this but never any real research. According to some steel can be made softer than gilding metal. most of the SKS and ak rifles have hard crome bores which probably helps the wear factor. Any of you guys out there know for sure? I have used both Barnul and Wolf ammo and never had any rust problems. Bought some German ammo one time that rusted my SKS in about 2-3 hours.

For years some European sporting ammo was made with mild steel jackets...Norma kept making some loads uning steel jacketed at least into the early 1980's. Were pretty soft steel...don't know how it would compare to normal jacket material, but was about as easily bent (from playing around with expanded bullets)...the mil. surp. jacket material seems to be harder....definately thicker.

Had a bunch of Chi.Com. steel jeacket, mild steel core 7.62X39....was the most common type of Chi.Com. ammo at the time. Fed a couple of cases through one ragged condition sks-type without noticing anything amiss....shot about 4moa before and after, so it would take a pretty big change to get noticed.

Have run about 1200 rounds of the steel jacketed cased 9mm ammo through a couple of handguns...proably 400 rounds in each the most used gun's case...nothing to note there either, the barrel shows no signs of erosion, but suspect it would take about 7X-10X that ammount for it to seriously show up. BUT if you start with a barrel capable of tiny groups, would notice any degrading of accuracy alot sooner.

think I'd pass on them for any good quality gun that you'd not like to see worn out or have to hunt up a replacement barrel in the next few years.

There is no way that case composition can increase or decrease barrel wear- chamber wear, maybe, but not barrel. The only caveat that I have heard is for the use of steel cases in auto-loading firearms. The constant, violent scraping of case mouth against feed-ramp, could accelerate wear.

Darrel

There is no way that case composition can increase or decrease barrel wear- chamber wear, maybe, but not barrel. The only caveat that I have heard is for the use of steel cases in auto-loading firearms. The constant, violent scraping of case mouth against feed-ramp, could accelerate wear.

Darrel

Darrel,

I thought he was talking about a steel jacketed bullet, not cases.

I thought wolf ammo had the normal copper jacket on the bullet. I'm sure that only the case is steel with a paint-like coating to help prevent steel to steel contact. Shooting a steel jacketed bullet would be a bad idea I think. Doesn't a steel armor piercing round still have a copper jacket to protect the bore? I have wolf ammo here and it sure looks like it has the copper full metal jacket.

I thought wolf ammo had the normal copper jacket on the bullet. I'm sure that only the case is steel with a paint-like coating to help prevent steel to steel contact. Shooting a steel jacketed bullet would be a bad idea I think. Doesn't a steel armor piercing round still have a copper jacket to protect the bore? I have wolf ammo here and it sure looks like it has the copper full metal jacket.

Wolf has made both a normal brasss colored jacketed bullet and a STEEL jacket material plated with brass to LOOK like normal jacket material. Magnet will sort it out pretty fast.

most the Barnaul pistol ammo I have seen/shot has been steel cased as well as steel with a copper coated bullet. Even the JHP. Yep, used a magnet to check like ribbonstone suggested. It is funny/weird the first time you see the magnet lift the cartridge off the table by the bullet.

Wolf has made both a normal brasss colored jacketed bullet and a STEEL jacket material plated with brass to LOOK like normal jacket material. Magnet will sort it out pretty fast.

Ok, I had to prove it myself. So I got two rounds for the SKS. A remington soft point with brass case and a wolf round. Then grabbed a magnet off the fridge and sure enough the entire wolf cartridge made it stick. Wow, I was surprised. I wander if it sparks when it goes down the barrel? I don't think I will buy it anymore. I was going to get 40 s&w wolf ammor for my glock but I may as well stick with the blazer brass. The blazers aren't too much more anyhow and they can be reloaded.

My question is why would you want to use steel jacketed any way ? What are you going to shoot that would require such a bullet . Hard on the bore slower velocity and more expensive to get . Go with jacketed copper stuff. IMHO.