I am just not a fan of steel cased ammo in general so I dont run any of it in any of my guns. I suppose in a shtf scenario, use what you can find, but we arent there yet.

 

I was like you for a long time, Fred. But after trying TulAmmo out of curiousity back when it was still dirt cheap and more recently Win USA Forged last month because it was all I could find at that time, I am not as strongly against steel cased ammo as before. They worked fine in my Glock with no issue.

That being said, if I could find brass cased ammo for the same price or even a bit higher now, I would not buy steel cased ammo made in Russia. (FWIW, it was $39.99 for a 200-round value pack.) But it was the only 9mm range grade ammo I could find this week. And I do not reload....

 

Ive shot 1 box of 9 & 1 of 223, unimpressed, dirty as hell & despite what sme clam, it will add wear to certain parts. I do reload my practice ammo & its far better quality.

 

I’ve shot a lot of it in several calibers over the years. It’s dirty, smells weird, and a little smokey, especially in the indoor range.

But it shoots. Accurate and reliable enough for plinking and practice.

I don’t prefer it because it’s dirty and takes more effort to clean up afterwards, but I shot a lot of it before I started making bulk orders online.

 

This can be your shtf stuff, if you run out of brass-cased ammo. I’ve never bought steel, but if steel was .20 and brass .50, steel’s a no-brainer. These are strange times, and they could get worse before they get better.

 

My g17 ran fine just dirty shooting ammo. Same for the AR woth tula/wolf ammo. Ymmv.

 

My experience with TulAmmo steel case 9mm was very much the same as yours: It was dirty, smokey and smelled bad. I had to clean my gun more often carbon and powder residues. I also thought it was rather weak and under-powered compared to most other commercially available brass cased 9mm ammo. Nevertheless, all 2,700 rounds I shot through my G43 worked fine with no issue.

When I examined the extractor with a x30 magnifying glass, I could not detect any unusual or excessive wear. Perhaps 2,700 rounds is not a large enough amount to cause any noticeable wear on Glock MIM extractor....
I only shot 300 rounds of Win. USA Forged through the same G43, and all went fine with no issue. I think USA Forged is sightly better quality than TulAmmo.

When brass cased FMJ ammo in 9mm was readily available at $8 - $9 a box, steel cased ammo was never my first or even second choice because I always picked aluminum cased ammo over steel cased ammo even though steel cased ammo was a couple of dollars cheaper. It is still not my first or even second choice, IF I could find brass cased or aluminum cased FMJ ammo in 9mm locally. Unfortunately, it is a different time now....

 

OK, I had a chance to shoot 100 rounds of Monarch Steel Case ammo pictured above today.

It smelled bad and made the gun dirty. But all 100 rounds worked flawlessly and cycled my G43 with no issue. It was not as smokey or weak as TulAmmo. Actually it was very similar to my experience with Winchester USA Forged steel cased ammo. Very small sample size, but not a bad result, either.

Still not my first or even second choice, but if this is the only 9mm range ammo I can find, I will grab it so long as the price it right. The only down side is that most indoor ranges won’t allow this and other steel cased ammo with “bi-metal” bullets.

[Note that I shot most of those 100 rounds while practicing active drills involving “draw and point-shoot” one handed; shooting while moving toward and away from the target; shooting one-handed while running for cover, etc. As always, I used 4 OEM mags, of which 2 are equipped with MagGuts+1 and 2 are equipped with Ghost+1. My G43 is equipped with the DPM RSA just like all other Glocks I own.]

 

Works fine for plinking and better than nothing for SHTF.

 

I own three handguns I depend upon for personal self-defense. I've never shot steel cased ammo through any to avoid added wear to extractors. My two other firearms are .22lr caliber and if steel cased ammo was available I wouldn't shoot any of it either. Call me paranoid, cheap, Chicken Little, etc ... , I don't care; I don't want my last conscious thought to be, "If only I hadn't ... ". A dollar or two less in cost for ammo isn't worth the risk for me. (I religiously clean every gun I shoot within 24 hours of firing them, to boot, if that helps to understand my mindset)

 

I respect your preference and decision about steel cased ammo.
Given my own first-hand experience with it, I am just a little more tolerant toward steel cased ammo than you are (particularly now). That’s all.

 

I bought my 3 box Monarch limit from academy in early December to use for practice/training First time I ever shot steel in my Glock. 150 rounds later, no failures. I don't normally buy steel but it was all Academy had

 

I bought my 3 box Monarch limit from academy in early December to use for practice/training First time I ever shot steel in my Glock. 150 rounds later, no failures. I don't normally buy steel but it was all Academy had

Yep, same here. Monarch was all they had at my local Academy, and it was $39.99 for 200 rounds. Not bad by today’s crazy standard. So I grabbed it. I’m relieved that it seems to work as well as other steel cased 9mm pistol ammo that I have had luck with so far.
Having steel cased ammo that I know works in my Glocks always beats having no ammo for my Glocks!

 

It’s dirty but I have shot a lot of it over the years. I reload now so I can load it cheaper than steel and don’t shoot it anymore.

I much prefer aluminum case Federal or Blazer to steel. Much cleaner

 

...
I much prefer aluminum case Federal or Blazer to steel. Much cleaner

Me, too. Aluminum cased ammo is not only cleaner but you can shoot it at indoor ranges, whereas steel cased ammo (with bi-metal bullets) is not allowed at most indoor ranges.

 

Lol at cleaning your Glock right after you shoot it one of my glocks has about 1200 rounds between multiple sessions over months haven’t cleaned it or oiled it yet! It runs like a champ don’t baby your guns like they are made of glass


Sent from my iPhone using Glock Talk

 

I have range only guns that only get cleaned once a year or so. But I still put a squirt of oil on each gun before heading to the range each session. I can understand not cleaning them but I never run them dry.

 

I am big into 9x18 caliber guns, (Makaovs, etc.
For years I've shot A LOT of Russian steel case ammo.
And I still have thousands of rounds of Barnaul FMJ and JHP ammo.

 

I know my Glocks would “probably” work reliably for thousands of rounds with little or no cleaning so long as I lube them properly. In fact when I got my first Glock (i.e., gen 2 G19) a few decades ago, I wanted to test how many rounds I could shoot my then new Glock without cleaning. After several months I had to quit because it just kept going like the bunny in the Energizer commercial even though it was too dirty with carbon to carry IWB.

That being said, I still lightly clean, properly lube and more importantly inspect my Glcocks after each range session because they are my CCWs that I trust with my life and the lives of my loved ones, so I can make sure that my CCWs are in good working order at all times.

Of course, I want the bad guy to be the type of guy who brags about how dirty his gun is or how badly he abuses and neglects his gun. lol

 

I have shot another 100 rounds of Monarch ammo - mostly one handed from draw and shooting while moving, etc. Once again, I have not experienced any reliability issue whatsoever. Its performance is very similar to that of TulAmmo, but its quality may be better in that 1) Monarch is not as weak as TulAmmo and 2) Monarch is slightly less dirty than TulAmmo. I cannot make any definitive assessment with only 200 rounds fired, but so far it is that not bad...

 

Of the 600 rounds of Monarch steel cased ammo that I picked up at my local Academy Sports last December, I have shot 500 rounds - all through one of my G43s that I practice with.

Just like other 2,500 rounds of steel cased ammo (e.g., TulAmmo, Win. USA Forged, etc.) that I shot through the same gun, every one of those 500 rounds went bang and cycled my G43 without any issue whatsoever. I still cannot detect any unusual or excessive wear on the chamber, bore or the current extractor (which is scheduled to be replaced after a few hundred more rounds) when closely examined through a 30X magnifying loupe.

This ammo is pretty dirty just like other low-end “plinker” ammo, though it may still be a tad cleaner than some other really dirty ammo. The steel case is “clear lacquered” instead of “polymer coated” like TulAmmo’s case is. I was worried that the lacquer on the case would melt in the hot chamber during rapid fire drills and might cause the spent case to get stuck.... As I already stated, there were no FTExt or any other issues.

The worst part of this ammo is the smell. I don’t know what kind of powder they are using, but it actually stinks worse than any other low-end ammo I have ever shot including TulAmmo steel cased ammo. But otherwise, it is just like other steel cased ammo: It works in my Glock with no reliability issue whatsoever. Unless you only shoot steel cased ammo and unless you shoot tens of thousands of rounds of it, I really do not think they are harmful to your Glock pistols or their parts.

I still wouldn’t pay $30 for 50 rounds of Russian steel cased ammo. But if I have no other choice and if the price is right (i.e., appropriate for its quality), I don’t mind shooting it for training.