I'm one of those that's bought into the whole "don't use steel cased ammo in an AR" thing. Maybe I should try it.

Well, I was also that way until I bought my first AR. I bought single boxes of 6-8 different brands and bullet weights. The Silver Bear 62gr JHP with the Zinc plated cases shot very well, meaning accurate. No malfunctions either. I shot Wolf, Tula and Ulyanovsk.
Not a single burp or bobble. The MFS being sold has a Zinc plating on the cases like Sil Bear.
I am soon to try Tulammo Steel case in my XDm, Sig 239 and Shield 9mm.
May even try some in the XDs of 45acp.

My AR-15 purrs on MFS and Hornady steel match ammo.

i tried using steel cased tulammo,and all it did was have fte.I physically had to bang the rifle on the bench to get it out of the chamber every round

I'll probably try the same thing, a box or two with each type and see how they do. All I have now is just a plain factory DPMS 20" A2.

You may have the best results since you have a rifle gas system. Gives he shell casing longer to retract/shrink prior to extraction from the chamber.

I shoot so much that thats all I shoot now days is steel. I won't own a rifle that won't run it. Nearly every person I know that actually shoots, use a bunch of steel. I ran all Tula at my last two matches.


Edit: MAC makes some great vids he post alot on Arfcom, just reviewed the new Tavor as well.

Edit: 2

My grandpa even shot steel in WW2

I have nothing against steel case ammo but I fail to see how running steel case ammo doesnt some how cause more wear than brass case ammo. I mean common sense tells me that steel on steel is going to cause more wear than brass on steel.

Only thing that could wear faster is the 6 dollar extractor, and you save that much on the your first two boxes of steel.

That was my thinking as well. 6 bucks and 5 minutes of my time certainly seems worth the savings. I'm going to try some different steel loads and see how they fare.

Another thing to think of on wear is that these aren't near as powerful as 5.56 (like M855 and XM193) so may actually be causing less wear. I have never seen a gun hurt by steel, and see a bunch of guys using it in their 10k dollar transferrable machine guns.

Another good point.

After picking up my Aug, I am definetly a bullpup fan now.

Will definetly be snagging a Tavor! Hoping they start shipping my May-June.

Even if you completely wear the barrel out you're talking about a $140 part on a factory AR. If you shoot a lot, it doesn't take long to make up $140 in savings, and I've seen lots of different guns eat steel and never bobble.

I have gone through hundreds of steel cases in my AR's an never had any problems. I bought some steel cased monarch .380 and my P238 would not shoot them. The extractor wouldnt grab the case.

For the cost of steel cased ammo i would definately buy it to blow through my rifles. But for accuracy i will buy better ammo!

Between the three AR's I have left they have around 20k rounds of steel cased ammo through them. My main rifle is a 12.5 sbr that has aproximately 10k rounds through it (much of it full auto) and most has been steel cased. I only use brass ammo at classes and when hunting hogs.

The only problems I've experienced is shooting brass and steel together. Chamber gets dirtier with steel, brass will sometimes stick if you don't brush it out good.

I still don't suggest using steel ammo in AR's. That stuff is ok, but it comes with risks, mostly associated with inconsistant powder loads. I actually had a customer bring in a S&W M&P15 in last month where the case had to be heavily hammered out with a dowel rod because of over pressure, it actually bent his bolt carrier group. That cheap ammo cost him $250.00 in parts, labor and cleaning just to get it to work again. He would have saved money, time, and the headache getting brass ammo instead. And honestly, I told him that I felt it will never operate at 100% again. There were parts out of spec after using that ammo. Just because you see a video of a guy on Youtube saying a certain ammo is good to use doesn't mean it really is. Now using the steel ammo in handguns, I haven't seen any cases where issues arised.

It works great in a 556 chamber.....not so well in a 223 chamber. As far as wear is concerned, I can't say FOR SURE one way or the other.