.223 STEEL Cartridges

[azcoyhunter]

Today I took the Nephews, and the Niece to the range to help me scrounge

Found quite a few "rusty" .223 cases?

It sure looks like rust?

Military Surplus?

are the cases worth keeping?

Dumb Question?

Clint

[trk]

We get about 4 cents a pound for clean steel at the plant.
If that's worth your time, pick 'em up.

Steel is used to cut the cost of brass and/or copper.

[C A Plater]

Russian made stuff most likely. Wolf or Barnual seems the most common.

[Ricochet]

Sellier & Bellot sold a bunch of steel cased "M193" .223. I bought and shot up a bunch. Had powder in it with camphor in the mix. I like the smell of it. '70s Romanian 8x57 has camphor in the powder, too.

Steel cases won't hurt your rifle in any way if they're not rusty, but rust will scratch steel.

[hydraulic]

[IMG]C:\Documents and Settings\cmmulhair\My Documents\My Pictures\Mulhair History\[/IMG]

just testing to see if this picture works

[Ricochet]

Nope. That kind of reference won't work anywhere, because it's an HTML reference to a file on your computer. You first must put that pic somewhere on the Web, then post the URL to it in that image tag. I use http://photobucket.com/ for mine.

Anyway, that sort of thing is what the "Testing" forum is for, not in the middle of a thread.

[hydraulic]

Sorry for the hijack. My 17 year old computer whiz granddaughter is trying to solve the problem of how to post pictures which I have been working on for a year. She is stymied, too, along with an IBM exec, the local college computer department head, and five nephews and nieces. We'll go to testing.

[vmt_hntr]

I realize this stuff is inexpensive and all, but for me...not having much of anything to shoot steel cased ammo in anyway...I just can't bring myself to even think about shooting this stuff in any gun!...I see the guys at our range go thru lots of it in their AR's and other military guns....pistols too....even had one guy shoot the stuff in his Kimber 45 Auto(cringe)...not worth much in the fired state either....only couple cents a pound here....and I've not seen any of it shoot fer spit....course I haven't bought ANY factory ammo for over 10 years....sorry if I offend anyone with my comments...but not all of us reload...
Bob in Indiana...

[felix]

I have no problem with the steel cases in ACP hard ball apps. As long as the cases are clean and no metal exposure, they reload and shoot fine many times. Just tumble and reuse. Primer holes are extra tight, though, and the primers must be inserted off-line (manually) to protect the auto tools with their low camming leverage. Also, the cartridges do not need much of any crimp at all. Plenty of boolit holding force without any crimp whatsoever. I use these cases whenever they are easy to pick up, and have zero guilt from leaving them in the weeds. ... felix

[Ricochet]

Yeah, there's no way they can harm your gun if they're in good shape.