Casings

[FLAWLS1]

Why are non brass casings frowned upon? Is there only brass and steel casings?

[huckberry668]

None brass casings are mostly non-reloadable. There are also aluminum casing from CCI and new polymer cased ammo coming out now.

[89 Vision]

With steel casings people tend to think of Eastern Com-Bloc ammo which leaves a bad taste in some people's mouths. Personally have shot MUCH Com-Bloc ammo and have never had a problem with it. Steel casings are usually Berdan primed so are very difficult to reload unlike it's brass counterparts. Also, steel cased ammo tends to be steel core as well making it unusable at many indoor and outdoor California ranges. There is also aluminum cased ammo, which is cheap plinking ammo. It cannot be reloaded either, so it is useless to someone that reloads. Some years ago, gun companies were coming up with "caseless" ammo, which was made out of some kind of styrafoam I believe. The case would disintegrate upon firing. Needless to say, it never took off. But that's not to say that some day it won't come back.

[50BMGBOB]

Steel cases can be harder on some extractors. Some don't like them for that. Also, the lacquer they put on them to keep them from rusting can cause extra fouling in the chamber area which adds to extraction problems and requires extra cleaning. I use steel in some guns but not in others.

[FLAWLS1]

How do you tell the difference between aluminum and steel casings? Obviously brass is the gold colored ones.

[Snoopy47]

Why are non brass casings frowned upon? Is there only brass and steel casings?

I think ranges don't like them because they can't be recycled with the brass, and they don't want to have to sort through them.

[six seven tango]

How do you tell the difference between aluminum and steel casings? Obviously brass is the gold colored ones.

Magnet.

[Ubermcoupe]

I reload Nickel just fine.

[KWalkerM]

hate to break it to you guys but around here there are a couple guys that reload alum case ammo. the one guy i talk to is a part time gun smith and he says they can only safely be reloaded once. he drills out the primer with a drill press and then re sizes the casings etc and inserts standard primers for .45 etc.

this all stems from the fact that the closest place for reloading supplies is and hour and a half away in each direction

[anothergunnut]

Obviously brass is the gold colored ones.

Not always. Some gold colored ones are actually steel cases with a brass wash.

[bohoki]

Not always. Some gold colored ones are actually steel cases with a brass wash.

i learned that the hard way once

now i use a magnet wand on my brass

i get a strange problem with steel 223 in my upper

after a few shots they wont eject and some say it is a build up of the coating but i say it is a combination of the dirty powder and case blowby if gunges up my chamber

other than that it works fine in sks ,ak, 9mm