Steel Cased Ammo Friendly AR Uppers (Wolf, Tula, Bear)

[Dorky_D]

Hey, I have done a little searching and have not come up with much. My subject is fairly narrow.

What AR Uppers are steel cased ammo friendly? Which ones are less likely to jam and have feed issues.

Please, I do not want this to turn into a steel=bad brass=good. I am familiar with the aguments and the possibility that steel can be more damaging and dirty. I am not worried about it.

I am new to the AR world and trying to check it all out. I am planning on building a few. I may build up a 16" and a 20", I have not decided. I will shoot steel cased and brass, but I shoot steel because it is cheap.

 

[Audie Murphy]

My Doublestar complete upper eats Silver Bear,Tula,Wolf all day long without a hitch

 

[ATM]

If an upper will not run steel cased ammo, I'd consider that a defect.

 

[lucky4034]

Hey, I have done a little searching and have not come up with much. My subject is fairly narrow.

What AR Uppers are steel cased ammo friendly? Which ones are less likely to jam and have feed issues.

Please, I do not want this to turn into a steel=bad brass=good. I am familiar with the aguments and the possibility that steel can be more damaging and dirty. I am not worried about it.

I am new to the AR world and trying to check it all out. I am planning on building a few. I may build up a 16" and a 20", I have not decided. I will shoot steel cased and brass, but I shoot steel because it is cheap.

Just a thought... but if you are going to "build a few" AR's then why not simply purchase a .22 upper ($350) for one of them and plink a way for $.04 a bullet.... or purchase a .22 conversion kit (about $200) and use it to shoot and practice your AR for a fraction of the cost?

Might not have the same kick or sound, but the weight and trigger pull should be close enough to make it valuable for practice. and considering the price differential between a .22 round and a 5.56 round, the conversion kit or dedicated upper will pay for itself in a few trips to the range.

A dedicated .22 upper is completely interchangeable with any other large caliber upper.... also a conversion kit is an easy and reverseable alteration to a large caliber upper ...

again, just a thought

 

[dom1104]

If an upper will not run steel cased ammo, I'd consider that a defect.

This.

 

[Dorky_D]

ATM & dom1104, I agree, but I do not want to find out the hard way what works and have to deal with the hassle. Also, I believe shooting steel cased ammon on DPMS stuff voids the warranty (not 100% sure).
lucky4034 - Not a bad idea! I also want to build 2 of whatever I end up with to pass down to my sons when they are ready. I already have a .22lr rifle (non-AR). I would probably end up with either a conversion, or dedicated upper at some point anyway, but looking for .223/5.56 mainly right now. Also, Marlin's can be had for about $100 if you watch for rebates. $100 vs $200-$350 makes a little less sense. I know a Marlin 795 is not a cool and not the same platform etc.

 

[jd4320t]

I tried Tula in my Stag when I first got it and it wouldn't run. Since then I've ran about 3000 rounds throught it and I need to try it again.

 

[turnerdye1]

I have a Delton rifle and its eats up Wolf, Brown and Silver Bear, and Tula.

 

[Martin Draco]

I bought some Tula at Walmart and tried it in the very first PSA build I did. First round through the gun ever, stuck in the chamber and the gun was down for the rest of the day. I thought it was the gun and had a bad impression of PSA. After getting home and clearing the spent case out of the chamber I went back the next day and brought a couple other AR's, various other ammo, and tools to clear the chamber. It's a good thing I brought the tools because I had the same problem in the other rifles as well. It wasn't on every round but out of the 80 rounds, I had about a dozen jams. All the other ammo I brought functioned flawlessly (Silver Bear, Brown Bear, Golden Tiger, various brass ammo, and even some older Wolf ammo I had).

My point of the story is find some steel ammo that works well and stick with it or find out what doesn't work well and stay away from it. Perhaps the ammo I had was just a bad batch but I wont be buying it anymore. The Golden Tiger has performed the best in all my rifles so far.

As far as your question about uppers that it works well in, I have used steel reliably in Colt, LMT, S&W M&P-15, CMMG, PSA, and even Model 1. I did have to replace the extractor spring to a heavier one in a couple of the achieve reliability. I usually put the heavier extractor spring in my bolts anyway if they don't already have them. (All my PSA's came with the heavier springs.)

 

[AllenM]

If an upper will not run steel cased ammo, I'd consider that a defect.

Not quite, Stainless match barrels with tight chambers can have issues. Most M forgeries will not

 

[Hop]

Quote:
Originally Posted by ATM
If an upper will not run steel cased ammo, I'd consider that a defect.


This.

I'll 3rd this statement.

 

[jd4320t]

In a training class last summer I saw 5 out of 10 AR's jam with steel cased ammo.

 

[figley]

If an upper will not run steel cased ammo, I'd consider that a defect.

You'll hear about, "wear", issues. The only part that could really wear, is the extractor claw. It's not difficult to replace, and you should have one or two on hand, once you have the rifle, anyway.

In probably, 2000+ rounds of steel, I have had one ammo-related stoppage. I got my rifle really hot, and a case stuck in the chamber. The extractor actually ripped a chunk out of the rim of the case. Let the rifle cool a bit, and it poked out easily. (so make your SHTF stash all brass)

 

[nate77]

I picked up a couple hundred rounds of Tula Ammo for $3.49 per box, and so far, I've shot 100 rounds thru my PSA build. All 100 rounds have fired, and ejected perfectly.

 

[Dorky_D]

nate77, where did you score that deal? The cheapest I have seen it is around $4.50 a box. I shoot it through my Saiga with no problems.

 

[nate77]

nate77, where did you score that deal? The cheapest I have seen it is around $4.50 a box. I shoot it through my Saiga with no problems.

Midwest Gun Exchange winter sale, wish I would have gotten more, but I didn't know if it would run in my gun.

To bad the sale is over now.

If you're anywhere near Mishawaka, you might sign up for their newsletter, then they'll email you their sales.

 

[mertbl]

My upper is from jse surplus and it runs like a champ on steel.

 

[the1kidd03]

you have extraction problems with steel cased ammo mostly when using it in a standard chrome moly barrel....the steel on steel contact creates a lot of friction then throw in the addition of pressure, heat, and casing expansion....makes extraction more challenging....that's not to say some steel chambered guns won't run steel casings well....it is a "hit or miss" sort of thing for a new gun....once it's broken in a little it should have decreasing number of problems with steel cased ammor..........the reason the brass feeds better is because it is a much smoother and softer metal than steel which reduces friction..as does chrome lined barrels...and so when you build, your best bet would probably to pick a chrome lined barrel to help with the extraction issue.....extracting and jamming is why the military decided to go with chrome lined barrels in the first place all those decades ago

 

[ctbreitwieser]

My DPMS tends to run better with steel case. Ive never had any problem running steel, but alot of the brass I have shot gets stuck in the chamber. I have no idea why it does it.

 

[Dorky_D]

I am glad I am hearing some good stuff about PSA. I am thinking of getting my lower there if they go on sale again. I have taken a peek at some of their uppers too. I am also interested in a 6.8, but that will have to come later.