Reloading Cast in Wolf Steel .223 Cases

[Tracy]

I picked up a couple rounds of Wolf .223 that some previous shooter had dropped on the ground at the range, awhile back. My original plan was to pull them down and reuse the bullets, but they didn't look tampered with, so this morning I shot them in my Stevens 200.

Looking into the cases, I noticed that they are Boxer primed. So just for the heck of it I ran them through my collet die, reprimed with CCI 400s, dropped in 6.4 grains of NM-04 (Chinese PB clone) and a 225415 with gascheck. Shot fine, just like the same load in a brass case.

[Janoosh]

I reload Wolf Steel cases with j-word bullets. I've found that the inside of the necks are rough. If I may ask, how hard was the boolit? Obviously gas checked. I have both Lyman 225415 and 225462 and want to use them with the steel cases. Thanks.

[legend]

for several years now i have been reloading wolf 45 acp. i have had no problems, and use them about 3 times. all loads are shot in a custom longslide useing cast boolits.

[badbob454]

BOXER IN STEEL CASES? i quit looking in them thought they were all berdan .. . ill have to start checking them out

[Freightman]

I am not sure but I think that the 40, 45, and 223 are boxer, not sure about any other.

[Tracy]

I reload Wolf Steel cases with j-word bullets. I've found that the inside of the necks are rough. If I may ask, how hard was the boolit? Obviously gas checked. I have both Lyman 225415 and 225462 and want to use them with the steel cases. Thanks.

Yes, gas checked. Alloy was air cooled wheel weights. Since I only had two of the cases, I can't really tell you much about the performance other than I hit the rocks I was aiming at. I'm thinking about reloading them several times to see how well they hold up. I don't want to full-length size them though, so I'll toss them when the collet die is no longer enough.

I'm definitely gonna be watching for these cases at the range. I didn't even have to swage the primer pocket. Also, it was almost certainly fired in a 5.56 chamber; yet it fit my Savage without resizing.

[zxcvbob]

I've found that 99% of the dark gray steel cases (Wolf and Tula, mostly) are boxer primed and reloadable. The lacquer coated ones are berdan garbage. The steel cases are a little harder to clean up the first time (gotta clean the rust out) but then you never have to trim them. I full-length size them and chamfer the case mouths. Don't know how many reloads they are good for before the necks split; probably not many.

I have to fight for every scrap of brass, but nobody but me picks up the steel cases.

I wonder how stainless steel tumbling media and a weak phosphoric acid cleaner would work for cleaning and polishing steel cases and getting all the rust out?

[RKJ]

I used to overlook the steel cases lying around but after reading different threads here and the last couple of times at the range finding a couple of hundred .45 that were dry and clean I picked them up. There were a few that had a little surface rust but a little time in the tumbler cleaned it off. I've been thinking of joining the local IPSC league and figured these would be good for that as I hate losing brass.

[EMC45]

Been loading steel case in 9MM and .45 ACP for a few years now. I was told it was impossible and stupid to do it, so I did it. Work just fine. Just picked up some steel cases Easter weekend my brother was shooting. They all load just fine.

[jim147]

I've found that 99% of the dark gray steel cases (Wolf and Tula, mostly) are boxer primed and reloadable. The lacquer coated ones are berdan garbage. The steel cases are a little harder to clean up the first time (gotta clean the rust out) but then you never have to trim them. I full-length size them and chamfer the case mouths. Don't know how many reloads they are good for before the necks split; probably not many.

I have to fight for every scrap of brass, but nobody but me picks up the steel cases.

I wonder how stainless steel tumbling media and a weak phosphoric acid cleaner would work for cleaning and polishing steel cases and getting all the rust out?

A diluted muriatic acid from the hardware store with an alkaline rinse might make short work of the rusty cases. I figure the steel cases are cheap that if it doesn't clean up in the tumbler I just toss it.

jim

[flydoc]

You guys ever hear of "evapo-rust" ? It is not an acid, so wont weaken the steel cases. Find it in auto parts stores. Got a gallon of it at O Reilly's for $20 or so and it is nontoxic, has no fumes, wont remove your skin, and is nonflammable.

[DeanWinchester]

If this is an endeavor just to see if it can be done then I understand TOTALLY.

...but if it's not I have to ask; How hard up for cases does a fella gotta be to reuse .223 steel cases? It's not like .223 bras is hard to find or expensive.

[zxcvbob]

Been loading steel case in 9MM and .45 ACP for a few years now. I was told it was impossible and stupid to do it, so I did it. Work just fine. Just picked up some steel cases Easter weekend my brother was shooting. They all load just fine.

That's a big part of why I'm doing it with the .223's. And it's another source of reloadable cases if the supply of brass ever dries up.

I picked up a couple of hundred steel cases last week, and I made sure to get some that were rusty and nasty. About 5% were berdan-primed and I threw those out.

I deprimed them and tumbled 'em in a weak solution of some phosphoric acid cleaner that I bought at a farm supply store a while back, using stainless steel tumbling media. I wanted to see if the SS media and phosphoric acid would clean the rust up enough to make them usable. When they came out, I couldn't tell the rusty ones from the clean ones; they all looked good. And oddly enough they all came out a nice dark gray (I think that might be a phosphate thing)

Most people use citric acid with the SS media to clean brass, and citric should work on steel too, I just wanted to try what I had first. I would not use hydrochloric though, mostly because of the chloride rather than the acid.

[John Boy]

Any of the posters shoot Bullseye or rifle target matches with these steel center fire cases? And then compared the groups to rounds loaded with brass cases?

I've shot the Tula 22 LR steel rounds and they don't seal in the rifle chamber tightly. Accuracy doesn't compare to brass case rounds and group sizes drop off after 25yds

[Moonie]

I've just polished up a batch of steel cases to experiment with. I used the SS pins with a bit of phosphoric acid added. They also came out a beautiful grey, all rust removed. Going to try 18gr H4895 with my NOE 60gr which is my standard in normal brass.

[frkelly74]

I too had to try steel cases in my 45 . They work well if they don't rust. I saved 223 cases but they tend to be more prone to rust than the 45 cases so I may send them to the scrapper inside an old stove or something.

[zxcvbob]

It Couldn't Be Done
by Edgar Albert Guest

Somebody said that it couldn’t be done,
But, he with a chuckle replied
That "maybe it couldn’t," but he would be one
Who wouldn’t say so till he’d tried.
So he buckled right in with the trace of a grin
On his face. If he worried he hid it.
He started to sing as he tackled the thing
That couldn’t be done, and he did it.

Somebody scoffed: "Oh, you’ll never do that;
At least no one has done it";
But he took off his coat and he took off his hat,
And the first thing we knew he’d begun it.
With a lift of his chin and a bit of a grin,
Without any doubting or quiddit,
He started to sing as he tackled the thing
That couldn’t be done, and he did it.

There are thousands to tell you it cannot be done,
There are thousands to prophesy failure;
There are thousands to point out to you one by one,
The dangers that wait to assail you.
But just buckle it in with a bit of a grin,
Just take off your coat and go to it;
Just start to sing as you tackle the thing
That "couldn’t be done," and you’ll do it.

[Tracy]

I had reloaded some of the WWII era steel .45 ACP cases before, but I just tried these as an experiment. Now that I have, maybe I will buy some of the Wolf .223 HP ammo for varmint hunting. It is substantially cheaper than brass-cased stuff, and now that I see that I can reload it, that removes one of my reasons for not buying it.
I'm not worried about the barrel on the Savage because it is 1:9 with a 5.56 chamber (though marked .223) and I want to replace it with a 1:14 .222 barrel. Might as well shoot cheap ammo in this one.

BTW, it is actually easier to reload these Wolf cases than 5.56 military brass because the primers weren't crimped. I have a crimp swager, but non-crimped .223 ammo works better.

[Shiloh]

[QUOTE=zxcvbob;1672919
I wonder how stainless steel tumbling media and a weak phosphoric acid cleaner would work for cleaning and polishing steel cases and getting all the rust out?[/QUOTE]

The phosphoric acid treatment would probably be all that is necessary. I wouldn't leave it very long, and would rinse very well.

I would suppose they would need to be dried very thoroughly or they would re-rust in short order. You live in Minnesota. The humidity would act quickly upon acid etched steel cases unless stored with a deesicant.

Shiloh

[Mud Eagle]

Does the polymer coating come off of the cases when they're stainless-steel wet tumbled? Does anyone have a strategy for preventing rust on the cases after they're tumbled?