Trouble at range with steel jacketed ammo.

[Lucky]

I've got Hungarian lead-core ammo, and I've never considered it anything but good non-corrosive 7.62x39 SKS food. I assumed the case was steel, but the bullet looked like any ordinary copper FMJ.

But today at the indoor range people said it was making sparks, and I watched a few of my shots and they did make sparks when hitting the backstop.


I didn't think anything of it, but before closing the managers tapped me on the shoulder and told me to pack it in

I have to assume that the ammo is steel-jacketed, as I've heard of soft steel used for that. For some reason they could pick up the cartridges, by the bullet, with a magnet, so they weren't allowed.


I was embarassed and it was near closing, so not able to really dig and find out if it was metal core they were worried about or if steel jackets present a danger in themselves? I think someone mentioned they're a fire risk, but like I said it wasn't clear.


Obviously I was embarassed and not going to bring any ammo resembling that back again, but I'd like to know more about the situation.

 

[Soybomb]

I think this is pretty common with cheap steel cased ammo. If they are drawn to a magnet I would think the bullet is probablly your average wolf style bimetal bullet with a mild steel core and copper jacket. Alot of indoor ranges don't like them because they say they're too hard on their backstops. I asked at my range when I saw sparks one day from myself and they said its fine.... so I have no idea if or how much harder they actually are on a backstop, but your experience is not uncommon.

 

[Bartholomew Roberts]

There have also been reports of fires occuring at indoor ranges from unburnt powder accumulating in the crevices and cracks of the floor. I suppose if you had a lot of unburnt powder accumulated on the floor, you might be cautious about rounds that had a higher tendency to spark. Though it seems a shop vac or broom would be the better approach.

 

[Lucky]

Yea that's why I was confused, the only damage I'd considered was steel cores damaging the backstop (one of those snail drums that catches bullets).

But the boxes clearly showed the cores were lead.

But come to think of it, I've read a couple stories on here about people using pyro rounds from shotguns at indoor ranges, and they light the place up, so a big deflagration would be a bad thing.

 

[Waywatcher]

My understanding of this type of ammo is that:

A.) It really is a lead core.
B.) It is steel jacketed, but...
C.) The steel jacket is copper plated.

 

[Hokkmike]

They are prohibited at our local range ONLY because they chew up targets. But, we are outdoors so I don't know about the fire thing.

 

[scrat]

same thing here in ca they are prohibited.

 

[Swampy]

Lucky,

Can't say for sure why some ranges don't like your ammo and others don't mind.... BUT...

Lead cored, steel jacketed, and copper washed projectiles are VERY common in milsurp ammo of all nationalities. It's much cheaper to make a copper washed steel jacket than a full gilding copper jacket.

AAMOF, with the exceptions of a couple of lot-years in the late 60's most all of the US made Lake City 30 caliber ammo (both 30-06 M2 and 7.62 Nato M80) since the middle of WWII has been made of copper washed steel over a lead core. It's NOT just a phenoma of "cheap" ammo.

Best regards,
Swampy

Garands forever