Steel Brass

[Antigonus]

Afternoon all!

So I found a pretty decent deal on steel .308 brass. I just ordered a PTR91 and by all accounts, they are tough on brass so I'm wondering if anyone can share their expertise on whether steel brass will resist the rough treatment better than the blazer brass I normally reload? Thanks!

 

[Fyrtwuck]

This is a question that is going to vary from gun to gun and shooter to shooter. Personally I've never had any issues using steel cased ammo in any of my rifles or pistols. Others will never use any. Some that have used it have complained of excessive wear and cases stuck in the chambers.

The best answer I can give you is to try it and see if you like it.

 

[NikatKimber]

Uh.... do you mean steel "cases?"

Reloading steel can be done, but from what I hear it's much more difficult to work with.

 

[Rod Snell]

Are you planning on reloading steel cases, or just shooting them and discarding the cases?

Reloading dies are made for loading brass cases, and special dies are needed for aluminum or steel case loading.

In addition, aluminum and steel cases are much more prone to cracking, and the sources I have read caution against loading of used steel and aluminum cases by home reloaders with hobby loaders.

 

[HMFIC]

Yes they are hard on brass... they voilently and destructively eject and most always leave big dents in the case bodies.

If you're going to reload, use brass and try one of these: http://www.robertrtg.com/pofport_carry.html People claim they help. I can't tell you if they do or not. I had a CETME years ago and don't know if it was around then or not.

If you're not planning to reload, buy the cheapest stuff you can find regardless. If it's steel case, go for it, but I wouldn't plan to reload steel case ammo, it's just more of a hassle, will probably be dented also and usually the steel cased stuff is cheaper anyway to offset you just firing and forgetting.

If you find cheaper brass cased stuff, then either save it all up and turn it in for scrap or plan for some serious case sizing which will cause your brass to have a much shorter life if you can reuse it at all from the massive dents.

 

[Fyrtwuck]

I didn't catch the part where you were talking about reloading steel cases. It can be done, but not recommended. Check the cases before you even try. Some are berdan primed and some are boxer primed. The berdan cases can be primed, but are much more difficult.

 

[Antigonus]

either save it all up and turn it in for scrap or plan for some serious case sizing which will cause your brass to have a much shorter life if you can reuse it at all from the massive dents.

Where can I get good info about how long case itself needs to be for the PTR?

 

[NikatKimber]

From some of the questions you are asking, you need to get yourself a reloading manual, and read it.

The chamber on the PTR should be a spec chamber, so case length should be the same as for any other firearm in that caliber. IE, to SAAMI spec.

 

[Antigonus]

I have a Lyman 49 edition, but I was just wondering if anyone knew off hand or had any suggestions beyond the listed maximum length.

 

[HMFIC]

As NikatKimber said, there shouldn't be anything that causes a length issue but also keep in mind that due to the delayed blowback type action that you'll likely be stretching cases a bit and so trimming might become a more crucial step.

I'm just not familiar enough with the PTR version to know if there are any inherant things about it vs. other 91 variants that could help it cycle better, but I don't think 91s in general have anything about them that makes ammo hard to deal with other than the normal semi-auto issues and possibly lacquered cases not fitting well etc... that make it hard to feed. Maybe if your chamber is a bit tight, then you need to worry about it. Might want to look into small base dies?

That said, I'd probably be just buying the cheapest surplus I could find and shooting it up instead of attempting to reload for it. It becomes much less of a money saving venture when you can't use your brass more than a couple of times due to the extreme workout it gets at the hand of the 91. Just my opinion though...