steel cased ammo in an M1 carbine

tommy45autos

Folks: May I use Hornady Steel Match steel cased ammo in a Plainfield M1 carbine without damaging the ejector and extractor or other parts? Thankyou

charliemeyer007

I wouldn't but on the other hand your rifle will never wear out if you never shoot it. Likely that unless you do a serious amount of shooting the rifle will not notice the difference.

fordsix

steel cased 30 car and 45acp was used during WW2

TRAP55

Same thing as Wolf ammo, Polymer coated steel case. I've shot thousands of rounds of it, never a problem.

beantownshootah

Steel case ammo is made of soft steel; there is nothing intrinsically wrong with using steel for cartridge cases.

The ejector should not be damaged by this. Neither will the barrel chamber nor certainly any other parts not directly contacted by the cartridges.

For a variety of reasons I won't get into, steel case ammo can be a little more "sticky" than regular brass cased, and in some cases this can mean more work for the extractor in removing spent cases from the chamber. This is why cartridges DESIGNED to be made out of steel (eg Russian 7.62x39 and 7.62x54) are cone shaped; to ease extraction.

Consequently, your extractor *MIGHT* have a little extra wear and tear depending on how "sticky" the cases are, and might wear out a bit sooner than usual from increased forces/metal fatigue. Realistically, the M1 extractor is fairly beefy, and I don't think this will be an issue.

And in any case spare M1 extractors are readily available and relatively inexpensive (ie about $20). Even if yours does wear out early, the cost of replacing it will be tiny compared to the cost savings in ammo from using steel case ammo.

Bottom line, I wouldn't worry about this. So long as your gun runs fine with the ammo, use it. To the extent that this ammo increases wear and tear on your gun, the cost savings you have with the ammo should more than offset small increased maintenance costs of the gun. And as Charliemeyer says, some wear and tear is the price you pay for actually using your gun.

babun

I use steel case ammo in any guns that do NOT have a fluted chamber.
IE some H&K's.

Riomouse911

I have a friend who has a.30 carbine that will not shoot steel cased ammo without a jam every other shot, mine does just fine (Now that I got a replacement slide, thanks experts who pointed me in that direction). If they work in yours, fire away!