I have been reluctant to dive into a 308 rifle due to ammo costs and having to stockpile another caliber but I want to expand my portfolio.  My lovely bride has gifted me a semi auto 308 for birth/dad day.  I never buy steel cased ammunition UNLESS I am going to burn through it that day OR it's in 7.62x39mm or 9x18 Makarov.  I am finding Tula and Wolf super cheap but is it like their 223 stuff?  Garbage or decent range fodder?  

@Shane45, the ball is in your court.

I have shot Tula through my M1A.  It works fine.

If you have no plans on reloading, and your stockpile is properly packaged for storage, steel case is fine.  Me, personally, I'm not a fan of steel case because it seems, well, un-American.  Some swear that steel case is harder on chambers, but there is no real evidence to prove that.

Again, my personal preference, brass is less susceptible to corrosion and better suited to long term storage.  Last year I indulged in popping off some vintage WW2 ammo in my Garand.  Every round went bang and smelled like victory.  I dunno how well steel would hold up to 75 years of storage.

4 minutes ago, Scorpio64 said:

I dunno how well steel would hold up to 75 years of storage.

7.62x54R stores forever.

What's the rifle?

Some may be more "sensitive" than others.

Decent AR platform .308 should eat those steel cased rounds just fine.

Same here.  I put some through my M1A for the first time a few weeks ago.  It seemed to have a lower impact point than the mil-surp ammo I was using that day.  At 200m the Wolf Military Classic (145grain) was almost 7" low, but it was consistent and the group was actually pretty good.  I didn't have high expectations but it seemed to be fairly consistent and it cycled with no problems.  

You can get 7.62x51 brass cased for under 50c/ round 

https://www.sgammo.com/product/308-win-762x51-ammo/460-round-can-surplus-762x51-ammo-147-grain-fmj-m80-ball-made-pmc-south-

 

I've fired steel case Wolf in bolt guns. It's not as accurate but can do the job.  Steel case shoots maybe 2 minutes of angle and decent brass case NATO spec ammo shoots about half that.  

Not something I'd use for match but worthy of consideration.  You can get steel case for about 30 cents a round.  Use steel to get on paper and play, use bether brass case to refine your zero and use for serious social purposes.

13 hours ago, Ray Ray said:

@Shane45, the ball is in your court.

I do not shoot steel cased ammo in my rifles. I do not have personal experience to draw from. So my comments are from conversations and observations and thus should be weighed accordingly. I think your rifle will tell you if you can shoot steel or not. They tend to not seal the chamber as well as brass. That could account for the other posters drop in POI. Less seal, less velocity. This can also make it run dirtier. But if its not an expensive rifle and your not seeking match accuracy, I dont see any major objection if the rifle can digest it.

8 minutes ago, Shane45 said:

I do not shoot steel cased ammo in my rifles. I do not have personal experience to draw from. So my comments are from conversations and observations and thus should be weighed accordingly. I think your rifle will tell you if you can shoot steel or not. They tend to not seal the chamber as well as brass. That could account for the other posters drop in POI. Less seal, less velocity. This can also make it run dirtier. But if its not an expensive rifle and your not seeking match accuracy, I dont see any major objection if the rifle can digest it.

This.

it also very much depends on the gun you are shooting it out of And the point of it all...

50 to 100 yard plinking? Or a 1.000 yard precision built gun?

in a few guns, bimetallic cases did not seal as well but QC is generally good and.no issues with it.

berdan primed cases suck if you plan on reloading.

there have been millions of rounds of both domestic and foreign steel cased ammo shot.  If there were major issues we would have heard about them in the past decade.

Thank you all.  The rifles in question are both Springfield Armory produced.  One is a SOCOM 16 and the other is an M1A.  

16 hours ago, Scorpio64 said:

  Some swear that steel case is harder on chambers, but there is no real evidence to prove that.

 

Lower grade steel cases should be harder on both your chamber and your extractor compared to brass. Steel has a much higher modulus of elasticity than brass so it has less elastic recovery. When a case is pressurized during firing any yielding that occurs in a steel case will typical result in some interference fit between the case and chamber as the elastic recovery is the same between both. The interference fit requires more force to extract than brass. 

Ray I shot some steel Wolf 308 through a SA M1A Loaded and a DSA Fal with 18" barrel. Both ate it fine, no issues with ejection, POI was same in SA, wildly different in DSA!

Get the SA it will be fine.

In my opinion, this is the bottom line.  Steel case is questioned all the time on all the gun forums..  Will it hold up over time, will it hurt my rifle, etc etc...  Conversely, nobody ever questions brass.

Steel case may be okay as range fodder, but I would not bet my life on it in a life or death situation.

51 minutes ago, Scorpio64 said:

Steel case may be okay as range fodder, but I would not bet my life on it in a life or death situation.

I don't plan on stockpiling any of it, I stockpile quality ammunition.   I also just plan on plinking with it, get it to zero the rifle and run it for fun.

"Steel case may be okay as range fodder, but I would not bet my life on it in a life or death situation."

Couple million Russian and Eastern Bloc servicemen might argue that point.

On 5/15/2019 at 12:52 PM, Ray Ray said:

Thank you all.  The rifles in question are both Springfield Armory produced.  One is a SOCOM 16 and the other is an M1A.  

Wow. Your wife loves you. I asked for a 1903 Springfield and was denied.

3 hours ago, ChrisJM981 said:

Wow. Your wife loves you. I asked for a 1903 Springfield and was denied.

Mistake highlighted

Exactly.  You don't ask lol.

Ray - for you.

https://guntalk.com/news/guns/bought-m1a-now-what

1 hour ago, Krdshrk said:

Exactly.  You don't ask lol.

Ray - for you.

https://guntalk.com/news/guns/bought-m1a-now-what

So then she doesn't know she bought them for you. Even better. 

23 hours ago, ChrisJM981 said:

So then she doesn't know she bought them for you. Even better. 

Christopher, you tell your wife want you want.  Be a friggen man dude.  And don't tell her about your Tinder escapades.  I still remember them.

19 hours ago, Ray Ray said:

Christopher, you tell your wife want you want.  Be a friggen man dude.  And don't tell her about your Tinder escapades.  I still remember them.

You guys met on tinder? Lol

2 hours ago, fishnut said:

You guys met on tinder? Lol

We did, me and @ChrisJM981.  

Nay?  I think?

I picked up 60 rounds from Walmart over the weekend and I had one round get stuck in the chamber.  I would probably buy it again just because it was 10 bucks for a box of 20.

 

Sweet looking, How does it shoot. whats the trigger pull like.

6 hours ago, silverado427 said:

Sweet looking, How does it shoot. whats the trigger pull like.

The muzzle break is a life saver.  The trigger isn't bad, it needs to be broken in.  The safety is stiff, that needs to be manipulated a ton.