Are steel casings OK to shoot with

[Just1more]

With the price of ammo lately and lack of it - i have seen a lot of TulAmmo ammo in various calibers. ie 223, 380, 45 and 9mm

Bought some and 2 rounds didn't eject from my husbands 9mm shield. It ran ok in our new nasty little Ruger LCP.(i had 2 stovepipes but I do believe that was my error due to having trouble holding onto it well) We can handle the odd issue with it if thats all that is happening but wondered if this cheap ammo can do any damage to the firearms.

Obviously the only advantage is price but is there any disadvantages for just shooting at the range for practice?
Thanks,

[USMC3531]

The only real "range" disadvantage is it is dirtier than domestic ammo and the primers tend to be harder. I prefer wolf to tula but tula is more common. And no the steel cases wont dammage your gun

[daschnoz]

I think Wolf is made at the Tula plant - same ammo, different box and head stamp. I may be wrong.

In general, it is under powered (loaded at the lower end of the range). Since the pressure is down, it does run dirtier. For Sunday afternoon blasting ammo, it's fine. If you're looking for SHTF stash ammo, it gets the job done. It's not great, but it beats throwing a rock.

I've run their 223. Weak and dirty, but it did run and cycle an AR15 with no major issue.

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FYI - If you run a Sig 220, DON'T get Tula ammo. The rim groove is not cut to the same specs as the groove on brass cases. You can see the difference very well in this picture (not mine):


The crimp at the top of the mag that aligns the round in the magazine for a proper feed mixed with the dimensions of this rim groove makes the magazine a real pain in the @$$ to load. The first 5 rounds load fine. Round #6 is a pain. Rounds 7 and 8 are almost impossible to get into the magazine.

If other TULA ammo exhibits the same rim groove, and your magazine has an alignment crimp, you may run into the same issue. The good thing is that the ammo is relatively inexpensive should you want to buy a box and test it.

[LifeInPa]

I shoot steel cased ammo in all my firearms and I never had any issue after several thousand rounds, I never saw the point in spending a lot more money on brass ammo just for plinking.

[shooker8]

If they are within $1-2 for the same box brass is worth it, but you just have to pick it up.

[howiepa]

http://www.luckygunner.com/labs/bras...el-cased-ammo/

Results were a little surprising.

[sonnyroofy]

Some ranges won't allow it, i saw someone at French Creek get called out on it by the rangemaster.

[Just1more]

Thanks for all the replies and the study which i found interesting but a little overwhelming for me. I see there is more to it than a simple answer!

I have stocked up on various calibers of tulammo so i hope that the 223s will work in our colts as I cannot remember if we shot that thru it yet.

[QuackXP]

Some ranges won't allow it, i saw someone at French Creek get called out on it by the rangemaster.

Steel casing? Or Steel core bullets? I have heard of ranges not allowing steel core bullets along with armor piercing, tracer, incendiary, etc for issues with backstops/targets getting more torn up. But I have never heard of a range banning steel casing ammo?

My only guess would be since it's not brass nobody wants to pick it up and it creates a mess?

[Remington788]

Some ranges won't allow it, i saw someone at French Creek get called out on it by the rangemaster.

I wonder why they would care?

I understand not wanting steel core rounds but cases just get swept up.