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

[brandonq2]

Tally one up for Olympic Arms being steel friendly. Well over 1k rounds of Wolf through mine over the years without any issues (factory stainless barrel.) The only reason I quit buying steel case ammo is I began reloading a few years ago.

 

[mettle]

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.

A Wylde chambered AR and a 5.56 chambered should function fine. If theydo not then send them back....or clean it

 

[tonhe]

I'm going to agree with most everything that was said here. IMHO, if your upper isn't running 100% with steel cased ammo, there is a problem with your upper.

That said, I haven't seen one from Rock River that wont eat up any ammo you throw at it...

 

[awilson82]

Ive ran a ton of every kind of steel cased ammo in my RRA AR and it eats it all day long.

 

[Dorky_D]

It looks like I need to check RRA stuff out too.

 

[mammynun]

Another for RRA. I shot nothing but brass out of it till 2010; since then I've shot nothing but steel and haven't had an issue.

 

[the1kidd03]

I had a RRA...and shot nothing but steel through it....I did have a couple of FTF's but they were due to faulty mags, not the ammo.....

 

[obijohn]

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

Well said, ATM

 

[Yukon227]

My m&p 15 only has issue with lacquer coated steel cases....lacquer gets hot and sticks in the chamber

 

[mkbar80]

I'll be the dozenth or so to say that a properly constructed carbine should not have issues with wolf, etc. Most rifles that do have out of spec chambers. Last class I was at a DPMS with a "5.56" chamber kept puking. It was gauged and was not in spec. After it was reamed out it ran fine. Don't always believe whats stamped on the receiver.

 

[Mr Evilwrench]

The problem used to come in when you went from steel back to brass. The steel doesn't expand into the chamber like the brass does, and allows carbon fouling of the chamber, which you'll see when you go back to brass. The brass will expand into the fouling and just latch on. New steel is polymer coated, supposedly alleviating this problem. I can show you a couple of brass cases I had to knock out with a rod and hammer, and the texture embossed on the case wall. It was definitely not an extractor problem; the extractor took a chunk of the rim with it. Clean the chamber rigorously after firing steel. You should be fine.

 

[tommyj223]

my bushmaster eats any ammo,just clean ur gun often

 

[MrYesterday]

My first del-ton (that was actually made by DPMS) had an issue with steel ammo when I'd shot about 100-200 rounds in a sitting. Found out that the chamber wasn't cut large enough before it was chromed. Took it in and had the chamber reamed, and never had an issue again.

 

[mettle]

I have had.steel.cased silver bear swell up in a hot m14 while doing maneuvers at Atterbury.
I had to pogo-stick the thing.
we.all had a laugh.
I was told "no more crap from off base" by the officer on charge.

Plus I was noticing POI shift too.

It's good for a class and.plinking

 

[shootersix]

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

my jse upper runs steel perfect, but one time i did have a bear(lacquer) case jam while "bump" firing a few taps with a cleaning rod and it came right out

i hear the tula is a ploymer coated(not lacquer) and will not cause the case to stick, i have been buying it at walmat for 4.97 a box, but havent shot it yet, i'm going to shoot up my silver bear,and wolf first

ps i love my jse upper!

 

[Indiana Heathen]

I agree with Shootersix, it was the lacquer coating on the steel cases that gave steel cased ammo a bad name. The lacquer would melt & build up in a tight chamber then cause a case to stick or pull free from the extractor and jam. AKs have been using steel cased ammo for years because most have a loose chamber and even with a little build up they keep on running.

 

[Dorky_D]

I thought I read somewhere that shooting steel cased out of a DPMS voids the warranty.
DPMS: AR-15 Rifles, Parts and Accessories.

 

[SnoopLoggyDog]

It will also void the warranty on Del-Ton barrels. That said, I have fired hundreds of rounds through both of mine, without any issues. (just put 120 rounds through one today)

I have also fired steel case in Colts with only the occasional stuck lacquer coated case.

 

[elwoodward]

PSA works fine just put 50 rounds through it yesterday. Was getting dark or it would have been more.

 

[Dorky_D]

AWESOME!