Stop wasting you steel cases

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Carbon_15

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Steel can be reloaded. I have been doing it for years.
There are a few caveats however.
- .223 is the only steel case I have found that uses standard boxer primers
- you can't use lacquered cases
- you can only reuse them once
- the steel is a little harder to size and may accelerate wear on your dies

Use a little extra case lube, ream the case necks and load away.
In these present scarce times, it's nice to find useable components that most consider trash.
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I have reloaded a few steel cases. 223 brass isn't easy to find here.

I am a master typist, my Kindle fire goes out of its way to make me look bad.
 
Carbon 15 - I don't reload steel, but I was wondering why you said it can be reloaded only once. Does it get work-hardened faster?
 
I have reloaded more than 5000 Wolf/Tula 223 cases without issue. Some will get neck splits on the first reload and others will go 10 reloads without problem. Steel does not seem to stretch like brass. Wipe the grit off the cases and there will be no wear on your dies, at least none that I have been able to detect.
Wolf 45 acp cases are also boxer primed and work as well.
I am a cheap bastard.
 
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Being a user of ultrasonic cleaners for case cleaning steel is something I tested but did not feel safe using after seeing rust develop on the case during drying. So I will leave the reloading of steel cases to someone else.
 
Steel cases can be reloaded just as Berdan primed cases can be reloaded. I have done it as an experiment successfully in the past. BUT for now the Boxer primed brass is readily available for most everything that I reload so I will not bother with those just yet.:scrutiny:

Well my exception is that Berdan brass cases in 7.62X39 are abandoned everywhere around here and I have 20K Berdan primers that fit them purchased ahead so I do reload with these.:D
 
Nobody has any scientific data on how long it takes to "wear out" a resizing die using brass, so it is impossible to yardstick if reloading steel cases accelerates wear. My personal anecdotal evidence says it doesn't, but I'm also using 35-year-old dies that have all ready seen lord knows how many thousands of rounds resized through them before, and I am NOT running a side-by-side, round-for-round control set of dies to compare wear rates. Until someone actually does this, anyone claiming such is just guessing.

I have also had good luck reloading steel .223 and .45 ACP. As was posted, sometimes the cases last through many loadings, and sometimes not. Never have I had any problems with reloading steel (or shooting reloaded steel) that I have not also had with like brass.

At my range the cases are free and plentiful (while brass is not -- there are virtually no brass pick-ups available at my range).

I tumble in stainless media, and that removes the coating (either the polymer/paint or lacquer). I dry with compressed air, and after resizing I don't re-tumble (leaving just a hint of the sizing lube to protect against oxidation/corrosion.

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jcwit said:
There are many many things in life that are possible to do. That doesn't make then the thing to do however.
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I know you have tried this before, and I know you share this very same words in every thread which discusses reloading steel.

Never have you presented any evidence for feeling this way. What is it that you saw which leads you to this conclusion?

Until I see some evidence that there is some negative effect, negative impact, to reloading steel cases, then I'll continue to do it as my personal experiences and observations reloading steel have been very positive (and quite frankly I have yet to see a single negative).

I am always, however, open to new evidence and open to re-evaluating my opinion upon evaluation of that evidence.
 
I'm with Jcwit. Not worth it, might do it if I had no other choice but that is not the case.

Knew a guy that "showed" everyone how he could in fact reload aluminum cases and get one more firing out of them before they split. He did this for a year maybe two before he had to replace the Kart barrel because of chamber erosion.
 
I know you have tried this before, and I know you share this very same words in every thread which discusses reloading steel.

Never have you presented any evidence for feeling this way. What is it that you saw which leads you to this conclusion?
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If you remember my posts from years ago when I did this it was done as an experiment to see if it could in fact be don with any success. This was back in the day when boxer primed steel and aluminum cases came on the scene. Also if you remember I only used a pistol caliber in my experiment and tried it with 5 reloadings and very mild charges.

I also did not reccomend it, just stated my findings as to the experiment.

No rifle calibers were tried, nor do I reccomend it.
 
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Furthermore its my understanding neck tension is lost when reloading steel cases. I cannot prove nor disprove this as I have no way to measure neck tension.
 
Why do I feel this way? Just my opinion. I feel the same way about using the collets versus a shell holder when using a hammer type bullet puller. Also my opinion. I also do not shoot steel cased ammo, new or otherwise, have no use for it. Why should I support foreign surplus sales when I do not need to?

Further I see no need to as I have brass in quantity, thats large quaint, as in very large quaint.

There must be a reason the manufactures state thats its not recommended, ya think? But then what do they know.
 
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I cannot prove nor disprove this as I have no way to measure neck tension.
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If you can't tell bad neck tension by feel or by the "bench test," then you shouldn't be reloading brass cases, either! Brass or steel, doesn't matter. When the tension is lost, toss the case.
 
I'm with Jcwit. Not worth it, might do it if I had no other choice but that is not the case.
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Same here.

Maybe we should save steel boxer primed .223 cases for that theoretical time when we have no choice or brass cases are rare and pricey. I suppose it could happen.
 
I support this thread on an experimental basis.

I have a new set of .223 I can use that are only about 500 rounds in.

This looks like an excercise in reloading we all should get in on from a practical standpoint: Using what you have to make what ya don't.

Obviously the OP and a few others have an enormous supply of steel, but no brass.

I say use it- heck. If it works, great.

I don't find a lot of .223 steel- but I'm gonna keep a better eye out for it now. My eyes are tuned to the color of honeygold, not scrap steel...so it will take some adjusting.

I have a substantial supply of .223 and 45 in brass.

As handloaders- we're all cheap bastards- waste not, want not. I refuse to throw anything away that has useful life left in this arena. No, I don't have stacks of newspapers and tin cans around my house- just in my reloading room.

But, if its being done, and safely, I say why not.

Not long ago anyone who used an ultrasonic cleaner was a wonk, who was gonna put his eye out. Then it was pin tumbling. They both work.

I'm going to try 20 and see.


As for neck tension- we have a universal guide for that- I don't see much being required outside of the test we use for brass.

Carbon, Hacker- please send me any pertinent notes. You got my attention.


HAcker : Tumble with nufinish on your finished loads, and you will have a great oxidization preventative coating.
 
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Just remember, steel lacks the elasticity that makes brass so suitable for repeated reloading. We know how to test for brass .223 cases to see when they are shot, but I am not so sure about steel, other than just pitching it after "X" number of reloads. The case is all that seals the chamber from hot, high pressure, gases escaping from the chamber, with possible injury (potentially serious) as a result.
 
On the flipside of that coin- elasticity and chamber forming/reforming are what wear brass cases out.

If the steel isn't forming to the chamber..... Its not flowing, is it ?

I'd like to know how the FL sizing works repeatedly on steel. If steel doesn't flow- and thats why the necks are breaking, I wonder how much they move from firing to firing.....

If it isn't stretching, its not getting thinner.
 
If you can't tell bad neck tension by feel or by the "bench test," then you shouldn't be reloading brass cases, either! Brass or steel, doesn't matter. When the tension is lost, toss the case.
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Key word in my post was measure. Of course I can feel if the bullet itself is loose or not, can I measure the lbs it takes to pull the bullet? Nope! Can I measure the torque it takes to turn the bullet? Nope

Actually I probably could do both of the above, but am I going to build up the jigs etc., and take the time, to accomplish it? Nope again.

Then again there is a very good use for steel cases, they make dam good hole punches.
 
Just out of curiostiy, do you measure the neck tension in your brass cases, or just use the standard tricks we all do ?

This to me seems like a go/no go issue just like I do with brass. If I'm missing something- please clue me in !


I personally could think of nothng better than being able to acceptably load another shell type, to stash for the rainy day fund... while using my brass for regular day to day..... If the results were comparable.
 
blarby, if reloading steel cases floats your boat, go for it, your gun, your reloading equipment, your state of the art in accuracy.

Being as I have literally kitty litter buckets of .223 brass, all of it tumbled and available for reloading I see no reason to subject my equipment or rifles to steel cases. Nor do I wish to lower my accuracy standards by using steel cases.

Frankly as with washing out media I could care less.

Its very doubtful I'll ever able to use up all of my reloading components in the lifetime that I have left. Same holds true for my stockpile of .22 rim fire, and no I have not purchased any in the current crazy climate.

As said earlier, steel cases make darn good hole punches. Everything has its uses.

Again for your reading pleasure

http://forums.outdoorsdirectory.com/showthread.php/95454-Steel-Cases-Reloadable

http://forum.pafoa.org/general-2/78409-reloading-steel-cases.html

http://www.ar15.com/archive/topic.html?b=6&f=42&t=251547

http://www.calguns.net/calgunforum/archive/index.php/t-153652.html

http://www.shootingtimes.com/2011/01/04/ammunition_st_steelcasedrelaods_200805/

Now with the above, make up your own minds, I couldn't care one way or the other.
 
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