Steel cased ammo for range?

[Jamie]

So I'm curious if anyone has had a bad experience from running tons of steel cased ammo through a Glock as practice ammo. I don't expect to get the same performance as quality ammo, but I'm trying to save some coin and buy in bulk and just want to make sure I didn't obliterate anything that would render my gun a paperweight.


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[nate89]

@AKMer gets a good deal on 100 pack Tula through is work (almost to the point where it's not financially worth it to reload). I have not seen the issues with steel ammo in pistols that I do in rifles (mostly stuck cases). Others who see higher round counts can comment, but handgun wise, if you don't want to reload, and if your gun will work reliably and shoot at an accuracy level acceptable to you, steel ammo works for practice.

 

[DevilDogSoldier]

One other consideration is that some ranges won't allow you to run it at their facilities. I don' t know if that is a concern you have, but at least one range local to me doesn't allow it (they collect/resell brass).

 

[avtech850]

I have only shot 1k worth of steel case 9mm across three glocks, but I didn't have any problems with it.

 

[Longeye]

It tends to be dirty, and the cases will rust if you leave them loaded in ready mags. But outside of that, it seems to be GTG in Glocks. I have used a few thousand rounds over the years. It ran fine in pistols.

M4s hated it.

 

[IkeInTexas]

Most of the shooting I do now is at longer distances and focused on accuracy. For that I use 124gr or 147gr high(er) quality brass ammo since it's more consistent and accurate.
If I'm practicing up close where the focus is more on speed as opposed to precision, I use 115gr brass and some steel from time to time.


Tula and Monarch both suck major ass. Lots of light primer strikes in my Glocks. Accuracy isn't very good either compared to most brass cased rounds and nowhere near what I'm getting with my usual 124gr or 147gr practice ammo.
Wolf is usually pretty decent as far as reliability goes and for accuracy it doesn't suck quite as much as Tula and Monarch. It's about on par with most 115gr brass that I've tested. At least in my guns. If I'm shooting steel (1-2k rounds per year) I try to buy Wolf since it sucks the least out of what I've used.


My Glocks eat pretty much any ammo with the exception of the above mentioned light primer strikes but as far as feeding/ extraction goes, I haven't had any issues. No squibs either.
I'm not an armorer or expert by any means but from my understanding the main concern with parts being worn out would be your extractor which costs less than $20. Hopefully someone with more knowledge can chime in regarding accelerated wear on the gun.


I used to not really care what I shot. Just whatever would go bang and was cheapest at the time. Then I took a class from Fisher and started to realize how much I suck at distance. Everyone is a bad ass at 7 yards. Get back to 25 and most tend to fall apart. I shoot a lot of B8s and other accuracy driven drills now. For those, I want the most accurate ammo possible and steel case (and most 115gr bras case for that matter) simply doesn't give me what I need.


I'll be getting back into reloading eventually but for now I've found 4 ideal loads that work the best in my guns and I look for deals on those and buy when the right price comes along. Just something to consider.




Ike

 

[Jamie]

Most of the shooting I do now is at longer distances and focused on accuracy. For that I use 124gr or 147gr high(er) quality brass ammo since it's more consistent and accurate.
If I'm practicing up close where the focus is more on speed as opposed to precision, I use 115gr brass and some steel from time to time.


Tula and Monarch both suck major ass. Lots of light primer strikes in my Glocks. Accuracy isn't very good either compared to most brass cased rounds and nowhere near what I'm getting with my usual 124gr or 147gr practice ammo.
Wolf is usually pretty decent as far as reliability goes and for accuracy it doesn't suck quite as much as Tula and Monarch. It's about on par with most 115gr brass that I've tested. At least in my guns. If I'm shooting steel (1-2k rounds per year) I try to buy Wolf since it sucks the least out of what I've used.


My Glocks eat pretty much any ammo with the exception of the above mentioned light primer strikes but as far as feeding/ extraction goes, I haven't had any issues. No squibs either.
I'm not an armorer or expert by any means but from my understanding the main concern with parts being worn out would be your extractor which costs less than $20. Hopefully someone with more knowledge can chime in regarding accelerated wear on the gun.


I used to not really care what I shot. Just whatever would go bang and was cheapest at the time. Then I took a class from Fisher and started to realize how much I suck at distance. Everyone is a bad ass at 7 yards. Get back to 25 and most tend to fall apart. I shoot a lot of B8s and other accuracy driven drills now. For those, I want the most accurate ammo possible and steel case (and most 115gr bras case for that matter) simply doesn't give me what I need.


I'll be getting back into reloading eventually but for now I've found 4 ideal loads that work the best in my guns and I look for deals on those and buy when the right price comes along. Just something to consider.




Ike

If you don't mind, what loads are those?


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[IkeInTexas]

If you don't mind, what loads are those?


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I did some very unscientific testing and tried out a lot of different 115gr, 124gr and 147gr factory loads in my barrels (S3F and KKM).

I just copied/pasted my response from this thread:
https://primaryandsecondary.com/forum/index.php?threads/9mm-range-ammo.1947/#post-13755



" I can definitely tell a difference between ammo. Lately I've been doing some testing of different brands and weights to see what my gun likes best and what is the most similar to my carry ammo.


Out of 115gr, Remington UMC was the most consistent.
Nearly every round I shot in 124gr was better than 115gr. The top performers in this weight was Aguila, PPU and Speer Lawman.
Most of the 147gr was really similar or slightly better than the 124gr. American Eagle and Speer Lawman were the top performers in my testing.


To summarize, my barrel (S3F) prefers 124gr or 147gr. I have a list of 5 different brands/weights that were the most consistent and the POI is very similar across all of them. Almost identical. I buy whichever of those 5 is the cheapest and available. Lately that's been Aguila 124gr so I've been buying and shooting that.


124gr:
Speer Lawman
Aguila
PPU

147gr:
Speer Lawman
American Eagle



I'll be reloading again in the not too distant future so I'll be working up loads once I get setup again but for factory ammo, those have been the best performers. This may vary based on your barrel though. My tests have been at 15 and 25 yards from a bench but not in a ransom rest or anything like that."

 

[Joshua Rollins]

I have shot a large quantity of Tula, Moarch, and Wolf ammo through my stock Glocks over the years. I did have one batch of Tula that gave me light primer strikes. If I remember correctly it was 30+ in 500rds (one range trip). However, that is the only time that I had issues with it. To me Tula is loaded lighter than other ammo but as long as it works the action I am fine, which it does. The lacquered steel cases ammo from Monarch is crap in my opinion. It is very inconsistent and always gives me issues with light primer strikes.


Note: the light primer strikes were in guns that are known to be reliable, properly maintained etc.


Lately, I have been trying the Winchester USA Forged ammo and I have had no issues. I think I have only 900rds of that down the pipes of two glocks.


I have not shot any steel cased ammo in my Roland(ish) Special. I am sticking to 124gr Nato in it for the most part.