Brass deflector and steel case ammo

[swagge1]

I read somewhere that using steel cased ammo in your AR tended to wear down the bluing faster on the brass deflector. Anyone heard/experienced anything like this? Is there any product or easy fix so as to reduce the wear from the steel casings on the deflector? I would just like to keep my rifle looking great for as long as possible.

 

[Request Dust Off]

No I haven't heard that. I'm sure you have seen the debates that steel is just bad news in general.

I have shot some steel & never saw the marks on the deflector. I would rather shoot brass than steel. I shot the steel to make sure it would function. The new Wolf was nice looking & smooth.

If you put a piece of tape or something there to cover the bump it would probably not get touched

 

[swagge1]

I'm not thrilled about shooting steel either, but after a fair amount of research I think it will be fine for plinking and trash shooting. Brass is just so expensive and getting harder to find. I just cant justify spending the extra $$ on higher quality bullets that I will just shoot at bottles and cans with from less than 200M.

 

[Nomad.2nd]

Ar's can't handle Steel cased ammo unless you are just plinking.
(Not shooting fast/much)

 

[gunz4me]

I never encountered any issues shooting steel cased ammunition from any of my AR-15s other than the POI versus POA. Worst case is that you may wear your $3.00 extractor out sooner rather than later, but I have yet to see that happen either. As for as the deflector is concerned, I never experienced any issues with excessive denting or scarring regarding steel case over brass.

The only problem I have seen first hand with steel cased ammunition is that it is DIRTY and I have had one lacquer coated case lodge in the chamber after shooting 400 to 500 rounds of el-cheapo Monarch in an afternoon. That was no big problem either because I carry a spare USGI cleaning kit in my range bag. I tapped it out, cleaned the chamber, and continued shooting

 

[my-rifle]

With the Mosin Nagant I've had extensive experience with steel-cased v brass-cased ammo. The big problem with steel is that whereas brass cases expand when fired, then contract immediately afterwards steel does not contract as much. This makes it more likely to bind in the chamber on rifles with low tolerances or high charges. The AR has low tolerances, while the Mosin Nagant has huge charges and sometimes rough chambers.

 

[Nomad.2nd]

I never encountered any issues shooting steel cased ammunition from any of my AR-15s other than the POI versus POA. Worst case is that you may wear your $3.00 extractor out sooner rather than later, but I have yet to see that happen either. As for as the deflector is concerned, I never experienced any issues with excessive denting or scarring regarding steel case over brass.

The only problem I have seen first hand with steel cased ammunition is that it is DIRTY and I have had one lacquer coated case lodge in the chamber after shooting 400 to 500 rounds of el-cheapo Monarch in an afternoon. That was no big problem either because I carry a spare USGI cleaning kit in my range bag. I tapped it out, cleaned the chamber, and continued shooting

I was referencing shooting it fast and alot.

I've seen it at various shooting classes.

 

[swagge1]

Thanks for the replies guys. Good info in here!!!

 

[Request Dust Off]

I don't think every round hits the deflector anyway.

Personally I think a lot of the steel cased issues are overblown. Not that they don't exist. Just there is a lot of speculation, conjecture, heresay, exageration . . . But I have not been everywhere & done everything. I posted on another forum about the issue. Essentially I said I'd like to see some controlled scientific experiments with real measurments & real data. No one had anything other than anecdotal evidence. In which case guys having shot thousands of rounds of Wolf with no problems is just as good as 1 guy who had a gunsmith tell him he saw 3 AR's with problems related to steel.

Like Gunz4me said it is dirty. Some of the cheap ammo is too much to shoot indoors for me cause of the smell.

I decided to start reloading - so I'd tell you to only shoot brass - cause then I can get once fired brass. Once fired steel doesn't help me.

My AR has run with everything I have tried in it including steel.

 

[gunz4me]

I was referencing shooting it fast and alot.

I've seen it at various shooting classes.

I have shot fast, but not necessarily a lot. It doesn't get any faster than shooting Wolf through your 14.5" LMT upper that is on top of your friends registered M16 lower, but 5 or 6 mags in full auto makes the upper a little hot.

If I had to run a course with my ARs, I would use WWB Q3131 just to ensure I had every advantage offered to me. I find Q3131 hotter than Wolf and it is a little more predictable as to where it will hit when compared to Russian steel cased ammo. Also, I have had Monarch blue box steel cased ammo keyhole out of my 1/7 twist uppers at 25 yards whereas that same ammo works great out of my 1/9 twist uppers.

I guess the point I am making here is steel cased ammo is fine for plinking or blasting in full auto, but if you are doing anything serious you really should use something better. The only steel cased ammo that I would trust my life with is usually fired out of an AK variant. When it comes to AR defense loads, they are all brass cased and usually high dollar!