I know the Sig 320 will tolerate steel case ammo pretty well. The other day at a match and friend was using steel case ammo in his Sig SA only 226 9mm pistol ( I guess maybe it was a Legion). It made me wonder how the metal Sigs ( 226, 220 etc) will tolerate steel case. Anyone know; or has anyone shot a lot of steel case in these pistols?

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It made me wonder how the metal Sigs ( 226, 220 etc) will tolerate steel case. Anyone know; or has anyone shot a lot of steel case in these pistols?

There are better experts than I , but I've always heard the ejector and extractor will be more prone to break or wear with steel case ammo, which is why I avoid steel case ammo in my nice guns. Junk guns ok, but not the nice safe queens.

I would agree with radioman. I've never found steel cased to be much cheaper than Brass ammo if you look around, so I don't use it. I used steel once and it was the dirtiest crap I ever shot, so why bother. I see it as kind of like using regular unleaded in your corvette, when the manufacturer recommends premium.

I have heard that steel is fine in most guns and does not cause premature wear or parts breakage.
And others have told me the exact opposite is true.
So... I dont use it. Like jimmy 123, I just look for low cost brass cased ammo.
The only gun I would use steel case in would be a true Warsaw Pact AK.

Through my Glocks I shoot everything and steel has been absolutely fine.

For my nicer pistols, I usually shoot a magazine or 2 to ensure they work with steel, then stick with Brass ammo.

I highly doubt many here have shot an extractor to breakage, brass or steel so I think this is a VERY overblown issue.

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Through my Glocks I shoot everything and steel has been absolutely fine.

For my nicer pistols, I usually shoot a magazine or 2 to ensure they work with steel, then stick with Brass ammo.

I highly doubt many here have shot an extractor to breakage, brass or steel so I think this is a VERY overblown issue.

+1 to this exactly

I put about 300 rounds of Tula steel cased 230gr ball through my G21 and had several failures to feed (started up the ramp but jammed before seating fully in the chamber). It's never done that with brass cased ammo. Don't know about the extractor wear/breakage issue, I've heard both arguments but haven't put anywhere near enough rounds through the gun to find out, nor have I heard of any actual cases of extractor problems where steel cased ammo was used.

The G21 is the only gun I've used any steel in. My friend uses a crap ton of it in both his faux-Glocks (Polymer80), his (real) G21 and his AR-15s, and has had no issues with it.

The two problems I have seen with steel is the lacquer that is on some of it, particularly rifle rounds, gumming up the works and the fact that unlike brass when it expands after firing it isn’t soft enough to compress back a little and can stick in chambers. I’ve had this happen in revolvers where it is a bear to extract.

Hence my personal firearm rule.

Commie gun.....Commie ammo.
Western gun.....Western (brass) ammo.

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Originally posted by RHINOWSO:
Through my Glocks I shoot everything and steel has been absolutely fine.

For my nicer pistols, I usually shoot a magazine or 2 to ensure they work with steel, then stick with Brass ammo.

I highly doubt many here have shot an extractor to breakage, brass or steel so I think this is a VERY overblown issue.

Recall that we are discussing the extremely high-quality and superior engineered pistols which are today’s Sig products.

It is beyond me why anyone would use garbage ammunition in such a fine firearm.

I mean, would you put regular gas in a Ferrari? Of course not.

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I mean, would you put regular gas in a Ferrari? Of course not.

I would if I had to get to the hospital and that’s all I had.

There is something to be said for knowing your gun can run crap in an emergency or at least knowing what kind of failure mode may occur.

I do agree with your statement on the whole though.


True story though. I just ran a tank of 87 octane through a Porsche 911 by mistake. I had a “DOH” moment and filled her with low grade. . So now that I think about it.....yes....yes I would probably run regular in a Ferrari at least once by mistake.

Winchester is now making steel cased 9mm ammunition. Is that also "crap" ammunition? Would you shoot this in your "nicer guns" or just your "commie guns"? Just asking folks; not taking sides.

From Winchester's website:

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Winchester USA Forged is a high-quality American-made 9mm ammunition that uses premium Winchester components to provide great performance at a value price. This ammunition utilizes precision-manufactured steel shellcases featuring a proprietary surface treatment optimized for high-volume range sessions with the performance and functionality you expect from Winchester.

Couple points here. A lot of internet nonsense is being spouted. Saying steel cased ammo isn’t much cheaper than brass is flat out bullshit. I don’t reload anymore so I just buy in bulk. A lot. I price ammo all the time. You can get a full 1000 round case of Tula for $123. Tell me where you get brass cased factory ammo for that. I’ll wait. And don’t start spouting reman stuff. If you truly are worried about your gun don’t shoot remanufactured ammo. Would you shoot some guy at the range’s reloads? I know it’s not the same exactly but reloads are reloads and I only trust my reloads.

As for wear on ejector and extractor. Come on. Where is the data to drive this stupidity? Even if it did break an extractor (which I would argue had more to do with a hidden metallurgical flaw than steel ammo) the difference in case price would but you a spare on the first case bought.

The Porsche/Ferrari argument is nonsensical. You are comparing two machines with wildly different parameters. One is known to be complex and mechanically involved and the other is known to thrive with minimal maintenance. Quit saying this stuff. You aren’t taking the Space Shuttle to the range. You don’t have to worry about frozen O rings. Hell, try driving your Porsche without a drop of oil in it. Good luck with that. Try it with your Glock. You might not even notice until you get home.

This is internet nonsenses. I have no scientific study to prove it. I do have 10’s of thousands of rounds through glocks, Legions, 320’s, CZ’s, etc. No untoward wear. Nothing.

The only issue I have ever found is this. Tula hates my plastic Magpul Glock mags. The steel and lacquer combo bind up and stick on occasion so I don’t use them anymore. Any mag with steel innards works fine.

Edited: Just checked one site. Ammoman. Tula 154 shipped. Cheapest brass, Blazer Brass 197 shipped. I just bought 3 cases of Tula cheaper so I suspect you could get BB cheaper as well. The basic cost difference will still exist. Price difference 45 dollars. Cost of extractor and housing with ejector from Midway, G19, 18 bucks + 8 bucks. 26 dollars for both IF THEY EVER BROKE, you are still up 19 dollars on your first case. Pure profit after that. Internet lore. That’s all this is. Lol

Also anecdotal personal experience. I have had more issues with Winchester White Box than Tula. Having a brass case isn’t some magic elixir.

You’ve had good luck with Tula steel???

I have Tula steel cause problems with Glocks, HKs, SIGs, one Ruger and a Beretta. Now that may just be because it’s shitty ammo not necessarily steel vs brass but I swear I could drop a round down a length of 4 inch PVC pipe and it would jam up before coming out the other side.

And no I won’t use Winchester or Hornady Steel cased either for the record.

Not saying you or anybody else shouldn’t but for me personally I generally stick to brass unless it as the words Avtomat, Simonov or Makarov in its name.

I must literally be the only guy on the internet who has literally never had a problem with WWB. I did have an early HS2000 that had few issues with it but it was found to be an out of spec extractor and ran like a champ when fixed. I’ve shot like eleventy billion rounds of all calibers of WWB and never an issue that I can recall. (All semi autos have an issue from time to time so full disclosure I am sure I may have had an odd malf. But nothing memorable or systemic)

Personal choice but I won't use steel cased ammo in any of my firearms and gladly pay the little bit extra for quality brass cased ammo. When in doubt one can check with their manufacturer and check for their recommendations and what is needed to keep warranty on their firearm if that is important to one.

Luckygunner did a test on steel versus brass case and the results are below for anyone interested. Interesting was barrel life was substantially longer on the AR-15s used with brass cased versus steel cased.

https://www.luckygunner.com/la...vs-steel-cased-ammo/

At this point I shoot probably 9k rounds of Tula a year. Glock 19 and 34. Sig 320’s. CZ P10C. Dan Wesson Valors in 9mm. Etc.

I’m not a gun cleaner. I’m a luber. I clean guns when I think they are too dirty. I haven’t had a malfunction other than those mag related that I discussed earlier in years.

I used to believe in the gummed up chamber lacquer stuff too. Maybe my poor gun cleaning routine is enough but I have never experienced a stick case in 9mm Tula.

If you have that many issues I think it’s your guns.

I've run a box or two through various guns to ensure that it will run, but the only thing I'd run steel cased ammo through as a matter of course is commie guns.

First off steel cased AR ammo and steel cased pistolammo are two distinct discussions. Second they ran those guns hot. They blasted through a shit ton of ammo in a short while. Not exactly apples to apples with your standard AR user. They were shooting faster than even taking a course would have you shoot. If I recall correctly though even they admitted that the cost savings alone would have bought a couple replacement barrels.

Aside from cs linger above who seems to have abnormally bad luck with Tula, who here actually has a bad experience? Not “only for commie guns” bullshit. Actual broken parts or it won’t run in my gun (not AR). Steel cased ammo threads are the gun world version of Coronavirus. We have all heard the horror stories but can’t really back it up.

To be specific I have had bad luck with Tula specifically not all brands of Steel ammo. I just don’t prefer it.

With the exception of Tula Steel my guns are exceptionally reliable. To be fair all of those failures were during a fairly short period of time and maybe it was a bad batch of ammo(s) or just bad QC. Point is I generally don’t like or run steel ammo even the stuff that does run.

I have never personally seen a broken part due to steel just issues with certain chambers/magazines etc.

I have personally known folks with their fair share of issues with steel in general as well. Aluminum too. Nothing catastrophic but enough personal and first hand experience for me to be ok with paying the premium for brass cases ammo.

Like I said I am not saying NEVER RUN THE EBIL’ STEEL IN YOUR GUN AND YOU ARE A DAMN FOOL IF YOU DO. I am just saying that in my experience and experiences of others I shoot or have shot with decent brass cases stuff is simply more reliable and worth extra few bucks to me.

I have not read the lucky gunner article but how would a steel CASE effect barrel life? That doesn’t make sense to me. I can see it being a little harder on chambers mags, or extractors over time but a barrel??? I will read the article but I am not understanding.

As an aside although I have shot brass, steel, Nickel and aluminum cased ammo over the years I have never shot a polymer cased round now that I think about it. Wouldn’t mind trying it.

Well I’ve shot 12 gauge of course but that’s not what I mean.

I had an issue with Wolf 9mm where it wouldn't extract it about every 3rd round when I tried it. This is in a CZ 75B SA I own, it does the same with blazer ALUMINUM, however it has been 100% for 7000 rounds with any type of brass cased ammo.