With this crazy ammo shortage, I’ve used some steel case ammo in both my S&W 9mm Shield, and my PSA kit AR-15. So far, I haven’t experienced any failures with the 9mm, but out of less than 200 rounds of Wolf brand steel cased 5.56, I had to stuck cartridges. It took knocking them out with a cleaning rod to free both of them. On the back of shell you could see where the ejector tried to grip it, but could budge the cartridge.
I did some browsing, and came across the following comparison video( Brass vs Steel Cased Ammo - YouTube). Saving a few pennies or dollars isn’t worth the risk to my barrels or other components.
~OEB
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There is a polymer coating on some steel rounds. When things get hot, some of that coating stays in the chamber and eventually it can lead to a case sticking in the chamber. It is good to brush your chamber every hundred rounds or so to remove it if shooting a lot of steel with the polymer coating . Some steel has the polymer coating and some does not. Wolf polygormance has the coating.
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What I found in regard to issues with steel case is that the chamber depth is different across manufacturers and models’ barrels, and the case length of the ammo is different also. The easiest way to determine if a case is going to get stuck is to drop a cartridge into the barrel. If it lands with a plunk and falls out when you turn it upside down, you can use it without any worries. If it sticks or doesn’t bottom out, it will give you problems and you should send it to me for proper disposal.
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I use steel cased in all my guns with zero issues. IMO, if your weapon can’t handle any reasonable quality ammo, steel or brass, you own the wrong weapon. As the current shortage has proven, Gucci (or even standard quality brass) ammo may not always be available.
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I’ve used plenty of Tula with no issues. It’s a bit dirty but no failures so far. In this climate, I guess we gotta shoot what we can. Finding brass .223 that you don’t have to mortgage a house for is like finding Big Foot
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I’m pretty new to the AR15 world but I’ll share what happened to me (even though it makes me look like an idiot) in case it happens to help someone else. I built my first one a few weeks ago using a complete upper kit from PSA. No problems at all in the build and the first few shots went off great. But in the fist 30 round clip I had somewhere around 7 FTF’s. A few rounds into the next clip and I had a (thankfully spent) round stuck in the chamber with the bolt stuck forward. I was sure it was due to steel case ammo but it ended up being because I didn’t think to take the BCG out and oil it before first use and it was bone dry… So it was entirely my fault and not the ammo, but your description (I also had to use a cleaning rod to knock the round free after freeing up the bolt) reminded me of it.
Likely not the most relevant information to this thread, but maybe someone else will feel less dumb after they read what I did.
Also, if you flip that .223 Wolf ammo over and look around the primer, it says “Tula” on it 
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I’ve never used steel cased. To be clear I’m not running with torches and pitch forks saying it’s terrible, I just figured I would be better safe than sorry. While I can still keep acquiring brass I’ll continue to use it. I’ve read that a chrome lined barrel is best suited for running steel cased ammo. I wouldn’t mind building a dedicated steel cased gun but I figured that’s what a PSA AK47 is for 
You are on the right track with the PSAK! However, on the better safe than sorry approach, it wouldn’t hurt to try some steel case before it’s the only thing available. That’s not the time to find out your weapon chokes on it.
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I’m just glad I live within 30 minutes of probably six or seven different Academy Sports+Outdoors. They regularly have brass case stuff with minimal post-panic markup.
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I have 2 AR47’s that have never shot a brass round, all cheap Russian and Chinese steel. I reload 308, 223 and 6 arc so I obviously like top quality match ammunition, But I have and will shoot lots of steel through all of my rifles and pistols (except 22,30-30 and 6arc) It’s fine, obviously I don’t shoot over a couple of hundred yards with it, but I don’t shoot over a couple of hundred with M80 (762x51) or with M855 (556) either. There’s nothing wrong with it, it’s great as a back up… You’ll get better, quicker shooting a lot of cheap ammo than rationing the good stuff.
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The most valuable gun I’ve ever shot, or even touched was an original Tommy gun, one of the first batch, a pre military one that accepts drums and has the vertical front grip. I got to shoot a couple of bursts on full auto. What was I shooting? Tula, if it’s good enough for a guy with a 40K gun, it’s good enough for me!!
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Well hopefully steel won’t destroy my rifle because I just got a thousand rounds of wolf 223
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I shoot steel casings all day…5.56 & 7.62! Corrosive milsurp ammo don’t scare me either!
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I’ve gone through hundreds of rounds of steel on multiple platforms in .223 without an issue.
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Just food for thought… Steel cased ammo in a 223 /5.56 chamber, doesn’t release from the chamber walls as quickly / easily as brass cased ammo. The steel case isn’t as elastic as brass, so it stays “expanded” just long enough to create issues in some chambers.
The same applies to steel 308 and 30/06 ammo.
The Combloc rounds ( 7.62x39 etc ) have a taper on the body to help with easy release from those chambers.
I would suggest making sure your chamber is properly smooth and clean. And everything else is lubed well.
Run steel for practice, brass for oh s*** mags. After doing the math (many have done so and explain it well on youtube) you save significantly more money running steel case and replacing barrels twice as often than practicing with brass. That said, right now, just shoot what you can find and save enough brass for the bedside mags. I am unsure what you or any particular person can afford, but I keep an extra setup specifically for drills and plinking. The defense gun never sees steel, for the concerns you mentioned.
Also, look at steel induced malfunctions as a good opportunity to practice fixing them. I find myself getting complacent with the reliability of running brass in a properly setup gun, and then I am dumbstruck and slow to respond when a malfunction does occur.
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You just convinced me to try steel cased ammo. I am a “better safe than sorry” person - and finding out now, IS being better safe!
Thank you for pointing that out.
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If you have a 556 nato spec ak do not fire steel rounds until it is worn in I was at a comp and had to forfeit because I had 2 suck casings half way through the course that would not come out without a cleaning rod and some force the extractor deformed the ridge of the steel casing for extracting
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