Steel vs. Brass cases

[C-dub]

Is there something inherently less accurate about steel cased ammo compared to brass?

I don't have any more details yet, but will get them tomorrow or Sunday. However, today I made it out to the range and put some rounds through my M4 at 50 yards. I did okay and learned a little about trigger control, which improved my accuracy a bit, but I was still left the topic's question. I've been keeping my ammo in 100 round plastic ammo boxes to have a place to put all my brass after shooting and picking it up and to know if I've picked all of them up or not. The only details I can offer at this time are that the steel cased ammo was hollow point and the brass cased stuff was not and the brass cased stuff was more accurate and held tighter groups. I'll figure out the weights latter and maybe that will make a little more sense. It may also turn out to be just that my rifle likes the brass brand more than the steel brand I had today.

But, for the first question, is steel cased ammo inherently less accurate or consistent than brass?

[03Lightningrocks]

Maybe it is because steel cased ammo is typically made in countries with poor quality control. If powder charges and or mixes aren't held fairly consistent, it affects accuracy.

My experiences with steel case ammo are the wolf brand, Tiger Brand and I have some that have no brand name on them at all. None have ever been real consistent.

I suppose I am trying to say it is probably more a result of poor manufacturing than simply the steel case.

[The Annoyed Man]

One component of accuracy is consistency. A cartridge that produces a consistent 3 MOA is more accurate than one that produces 2 MOA with frequent 5 MOA flyers. There are a several ways of looking at this. One is that steel cased ammo is generally very cheaply made, and therefore is less likely to be consistently powder-charged from cartridge to cartridge than more expensive brass cased ammo; and bullet variances/weights are likely to be less consistent. My guess is that brass cases seal in the chamber better than steel cases, and a better gas seal from shot to shot is going to equate to more consistency.

So:

• Consistent powder charge
  Consistent bullet manufacture
  Better gas seal

I don't know enough about case technology, but those would be my guesses. I could be wrong. In any case, I don't use the stuff myself, and I don't shoot those bi-metal bullets because they are hard on rifling.

[C-dub]

I figured out a few things today.

1. I found out the brass cased ammo I used was American Eagle 55gr. FMJ.

2. A few months ago I took 20 rounds of each type of ammo I had to the range to try and find out which kind my rifle liked better. This one was the third best that day.

3. The steel cased stuff was either Winchester PDX1-Defender (60gr) or Razorback (64gr). Either way, while looking for these tonight I found that I do not have any more steel cased .223 or 5.56 ammo.

4. The top five brands/versions of ammo that my rifle liked the best were all brass cased.

There are many more I can try, but will have to do another comparison on another day because I think I've learned more and gotten a little better, so I couldn't compare anything I did today to numbers I did even a few months ago. However, I did learn that I think I want to stay away from the steel cased stuff. I wonder, though, both of these rounds are supposed to be pretty good. And if the bi-metal stuff is hard on the rifling, I wonder if the Razorback stuff is really that much better for hog hunting or anything else to make it worth while.