i know i'll get a beating for this but...

[shagg]

Does anyone reload steel cases? I know they are not as flexible as brass but would it hurt to reload them 1 time for plinkin?

[TonyM]

Try here...

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=66712

[leftiye]

They'll wear your dies faster, but they can be reloaded more than once.

[jr545]

I reload 45acp steel in a pinch or for those time when I'll be shooting were I can't pick up my brass. I use an old garage sale set of dies I picked up and lube them well. I have yet to have any issues.

[MtGun44]

Accidentally ran a plated steel case .45ACP thru the sizer die, noticed the extra force, so I stopped.
After inspection indicated no problems, I continued around the Dillon, but sequestered the
round for special attention testing. Worked totally normally. Now if I get some, I just leave
them in, mabe 1 in 200 is steel, no issues.

Bill

[Uncle R.]

Dean Grennell wrote about this years ago - said he had reloaded USGI steel ACP cases of WWII vintage and they worked fine. He warned that corrosion was a danger because the finish would get scratched on firing and the priming was corrosive and the cases would rust. Supposedly steel can be hard on extractors too.
<

The more things change - the more we find we've been here before.
;-)

[shagg]

i'm using carbide sizing die so hopefully it wont wear badly. I'm not planning on mass quantities either. As someone else pointed out, it would be nice to not care about losing a few.

[HARRYMPOPE]

I gave a pal about 3000 "ECC" steel WWII cases and he loaded them for a Thompson full auto rifle.he says they worked fine.

HMP

[firefly1957]

Like the others I have reloaded WWII 45 cases they unlike most of the newer steel cases have boxer primers.

[MEVS]

There's a guy on youtube reloading 7.62 x 39 steel cases. Since he still has a face and all of his digits apparently it can be done.

[jrayborn]

I've reloaded several thousand .223 using steel wolf cases for rifle classes. Works just fine and sure gives the other students something to talk about.

[beagle]

Little hard on extractors if you're using a M1911A1 and the .45 ACP./beagle

[cavalrymedic]

Seems like a shame to throw away what appears to be perfectly good cases. My understanding is that they don't handle expansion and contraction very well, so the steel is more brittle and fatigues quickly. If I had one or two in my load of brass, I just grit my teeth and throw them away.

[casterofboolits]

Some of my first 45 ACP reloads were in steel cases for a Webly with the cylinder cut down to take moon clips. They came from Guide Lamp, a division of GM that made the loading dies for the military during WW2.

A friend worked in the tool shop of the company I worked for and worked on those reloading machines. He had several thousand of the steel cases used to test the equipment. We even had to drill the flash holes in the cases.

Two reloads was the best we could get as they began to split after that.

[jcwit]

They'll wear your dies faster, but they can be reloaded more than once.


Not if they're carbide handgun dies. Carbide is used to cut steel. Also a step down from diamond in hardness.

[yobohadi]

I loaded up some Wolf .223 steel cases once just to see if they would work and they worked fine. I have a 5 gallon bucket full of wolf steel cases that I may or may not need some day. Worst case I load them up and only shoot them once or sell them as steel scrap.

[XWrench3]

you can reload them, several times. like said before, they are harder on the dies than brass though. when i size them, i coat them by hand with STP for lubricant. it is messy, but it works extreemly well for this. when i am done, i take them to my garage, wash them in the parts washer (mineral spirits). let them dry, then wash them in HOT dawn dish soap, rinse, and let dry before i load them. of course, if they sat for any length of time, they may start collecting rust. i do not know how much of the laquer, or polymer coating would be left after shooting, tumbling, sizing, and the washing sequenses i put them through. also, just a word to the wise, look into the case mouths with a light before you size them. many of the steel cased rounds are NOT boxer primed. if you try diligently to remove a berdan primer, you are going to end up with a broken decapping rod.