Reloading wolf steel

[PDshooter]

Well I guess I'm just plain "Cheap" Been fooling around with reloading wolf steel, and Lee 155gr boolit .
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v292/PDshooter/steelreloads001.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v292/PDshooter/steelreloads003.jpg
24Grs of IMR4895
Got the cost down to 12 cents per round.

[Freightman]

I haven't reloaded any rifle ammo, but 45ACP most of the time you can only load it a couple of times before it rust 's or splits but no harm to anything. I didn't find it as hard to size as some brass, and didn't see any problem with accuracy.

[EMC45]

Nice and cheap plinking ammo. I too have loaded some Steel 9MM and .45 ACP Wolf/Tula cases. They did just fine.

[Poygan]

I have reloaded wolf .45 acp steel and Blazer .45 aluminum cases. IIRC, they started to split around the fifth firing in a revolver. Also worked fine in a 1911. Beats picking up cases if it isn't convenient. The Blazer were small primer BTW. Have also reloaded Blazer in 25acp and .380.

[zxcvbob]

I reload Wolf and Tula steel 5.56 cases using j-word bullets. Haven't done it enough yet to know if I should get a small-base sizing die.

I tumble the cases with steel pins and a weak solution of a phosphoric acid-based cleaner and they come out slick and shiny and turn dark gunmetal blue color when they dry.

[Multigunner]

After pulling the bullets from some steel cased 7.62X54R for experimenting with the Soviet 147 gr bullet in .303 handloads I made some hunting loads for a friend using the still primed steel cases and Hornady 150 gr .312 bullets over a mild charge of Winchester 760.
This were very accurate.
I neck sized the cases, just a hair since these were unfired. No problems were encountered.
I still have a hundred or so primed cases, one day I'll pick up a Mosin Nagant if for no other reason than to use up these cases.

I was just given some Wolf 7.62X39 ammo with steel cases.

[madsenshooter]

The piles of 7.62x54 steel cases left at the public ranges are tempting. I've a Mosin that I haven't fired yet, got the 316365, hmmmm. Maybe just a few so I have something to shoot out of it.

[Buckshot]

...........If the steel 7.62x54R had been fired with corrosive primers, the case WILL rust. The only steel cases I've reloaded were some EC43 (Evansville Chrysler) WWII 45 ACP. I found out the first batch I fired must have had corrosive primers as that first bunch were rusty inside the very next day. I de-capped the balance (several hundred) and re-primed with non-corrosive primers.

These steel cases were dedicated to shooting in a Spanish Destroyer carbine I'd had rebarreled and chambered to 45 ACP. Some rather striving intrepid loads were causing regular brass cases to crack internally around the base (egads!) The steel cases handled them with aplomb. Just so ya know, I gave up on the 44 Mag equivilent 45 ACP loads, steel cases or not :drinks: Without going out to look at the load book for that carbine I'd suspect that those steel cases havebeen reloaded at least 5 times. Haven't lost one yet. Dont' know about any negatives (which their might be) in their use in a semi-auto.

.............Buckshot

[Moonie]

I have a couple hundred 5.56 steel cases I'm going to experiment with. They were tumbled in my Thumbler with SS pins, dish soap and some phosphoric acid, beautiful color to them. I've primed the first 10 but not done anything else with them.

[Rocky Raab]

You know, just because something might be possible does not mean it's a good idea. Steel and aluminum cases aren't meant to be reloaded, and steel ones aren't very good for sizing dies. The old adage about "penny wise and pound foolish" doesn't just apply to the British.

I'll stick to brass, thanks.

[StratsMan]

I reloaded some steel 223 cases a few years ago... some of the necks split after the second firing... maybe if I soften the necks between sizings...

And if a man were to worry about wearing out dies, then switching to inexpensive dies would minimize that cost... or to very expensive carbide dies to maximize the lifespan of the dies...

I know I can reload steel cases but I'll focus my energy elsewhere...