The Down Range Forum
Member Section => Down Range Cafe => Topic started by: billt on June 08, 2010, 07:16:41 AM
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Time to whine a little. I'm seeing more and more of this steel cased stuff as ammo prices go higher and higher. I don't know if this is such a good thing? Even Hornady is going to steel cases in some of it's offerings. Remember, none of this stuff is reloadable. For me buying factory ammo is only practical if I can reload it. I'm afraid if this kind of thing keeps up, brass and lead will become a thing of the past, and with it reloading.
I'm not seeing that as anything to cheer about. Yes, cheap now, but 10 years down the road we'll be paying as much or more for steel, and it will have zero reloading value. We saw this happen with Walnut rifle stocks. Today everything is plastic. If you see a nice Walnut stock on a rifle, it costs a fortune. 20 years ago it was the standard of the industry.
All of this reminds me of cable TV. Years back you paid for cable so you wouldn't have to put up with commercial interruptions. Now, you not only pay and have the commercials, but you have far more of them than you did when television was free. If you doubt that watch the "Weather Channel". It's running at least 60% commercials. Turn on cable after 2:00 AM and it's nothing but constant commercial programming, ("Infomercials"). You can't even BUY a movie on DVD today without sitting through 10 minutes of "coming attractions". We have Tom Cruise to thank for that with his "pour Pepsi upside down trick in "Top Gun".
Another silly trap we're all being led into are all of these "lead free" bullets. California is already jumping on the band wagon banning lead bullets for hunting in several counties. There is no advantage to them, and they cost over double. Not to mention they shoot like crap in many rifles because of their added length and much lower sectional density. How much wildlife has died from eating spent lead bullets off the ground? Perhaps they're damaging their claws and hoofs trying to dig them out of the ground for an afternoon snack??
Winchester even offered steel trap loads in the "AA" brand a few years back. I haven't seen them recently. Dedicated trap shooters are not going to run 2,000 rounds of steel a month through a $15,000.00 Perazzi or Krieghoff. But it shows that the silliness of this "green ammo" knows no bounds. I can't help thinking about the line Walter Matthau said to Sophia Loren in "Grumpier Old Men" when he said he didn't like change because nothing changes for the better. No truer words were ever spoken. All one has to do is look at society over the last decade. Bill T.
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Remember, none of this stuff is reloadable. For me buying factory ammo is only practical if I can reload it. I'm afraid if this kind of thing keeps up, brass and lead will become a thing of the past, and with it reloading.
I'm wondering what the shelf life of steel cased ammo is compared with brass? Oxidation of both the inside and outside could be of significant concern after many years. And I wonder about powder-steel interaction.
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I'm wondering what the shelf life of steel cased ammo is compared with brass? Oxidation of both the inside and outside could be of significant concern after many years. And I wonder about powder-steel interaction.
Good point. A lot of suppliers like J&G Sales up in Prescott, Arizona offer corrosive, Brass Cased 7.62 X 39 MM Yugo ammo. It comes packaged in a sealed Zinc lined wooden case. This stuff has sealed bullets and primers, and has an incredibly long shelf life. Part of the reason are corrosive primers. Mercuric primers, while corrosive, last almost indefinitely. Using corrosive primers in steel cased ammo can't be good for long term storage even though it's being offered today. I would be very leery of buying anything loaded with corrosive components of it was steel cased. Especially if it was loaded back in the days when I was nothing more than a wet dream. Bill T.
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I hate to do this to you BillT, but I can't resist. I hope Melanie will watch my six and giggle. ;D
FQ13
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I'm currently in the market for lead free ammo. Specifically, solid copper 45acp. I know Corban makes some. Anyone else make them regularly? (I have some Federal 9mm that was part of an overrun, but it was special contract)
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Check Barnes bullets
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I'm currently in the market for lead free ammo. Specifically, solid copper 45acp. I know Corban makes some. Anyone else make them regularly? (I have some Federal 9mm that was part of an overrun, but it was special contract)
Taurus hex bullets. http://www.taurususa.com/products-ammunition.cfm