But I don't know anybody runnin cheap steel cased ammo in a rifle other than a black rifle.

Think ware-wolf ammo lol.

Well allow me to introduce myself. I have shot many large piles of steel cased ammo through my bolt gun, back in the day before reloading.

That's a Werewolf. Warewolf is made from the contraction of beware & wolf. Used for those who have nothing nice to say about wolf ammo

Please do keep us updated on what you think Trent!!

 

I noticed in a local shooters supply place, their ad had Tula cases and bullets as reloading components. Only had the .223 listed and 55FMJ. Is Tula offering brass cases now?

 

The stuff I have is still the regular Tula steel case with a new zinc wash bullet instead of copper. But they do have a brass line with jacketed bullets. I've seen them in 9mm and .223 before. It's called Brassmaxx by tulammo. It's made in Italy. I bought some of it a while back in .223 for $15 a box of 50. It shot just as good as anything I've had from pmc and such.

 

Steel jackets are more popular in Europe. Probably one of the reasons that you find barrels on military surplus rifles 'washed' out at the throat. Cleaning rod wear gets most of the blame, but when the rifling is gone pretty uniformly for 3 or 4 inches from the muzzle, the steel jackets are a little more likely to blame.

Keep that in mind.....

 

Isn't zinc softer than barrel Steel? I'd not worry too much about it

 

From the understanding that I've always had, is that even the steel jacket itself is relatively soft. So I'm not scared to that hurting the barrel. My main concern is how well the zinc will clean out of the barrel with the regular copper solvents out there.

 

My 'Local Range' has a Rule against use of any Projectile that will attract a Magnet.
Chev. William

 

Zinc and copper are metals used in batteries. I wouldn't put a zinc bullet down any barrel I own or work on.

 

Jack,
Silver, Lead, Iron, Nickel, Carbon, Sulfur, Lithium, Silicone, and a few others Besides Zinc and Copper are used in making batteries also. Why are you Worried only about Copper and Zinc?

Best Regards,
Chev. William

 

Because of the severe electrolytic reactions that can take place between two 'heavy' metals and carbon steel in the presence of a catalyst or electrolytic fluids like bore cleaner! The steel is the chemical 'fuel' eaten by the other two.
The zinc plated steel cases of the 45 ACP rounds caused all sorts of trouble in the presence of salt water in the 1911.

 

Years ago there was a cast bullet design that used zinc washers at the base. You place the washer in the mold and then cast. No lube grooves. I dont know if it worked but it was not popular.

I dont think the zinc or steel jackets will hurt the barrel.

 

Zinc and firearm do not belong in the same sentence!

 

Zinc and firearm do not belong in the same sentence!

....unless it was made in a warehouse in west Miami.

 

Yeah, I had one of those come apart in my hand when using the magnum cylinder! Nothing dramatic-the frame just broke at the topstrap and took the cylinder out of alignment with the hammer.

 

I will jump in here since I am pretty well familiar with dissimilar metal corrosion. First off we are talking galvanic corrosion and not really electrolytic. Galvanic corrosion is the transfer of ions between dissimilar metals via an electrolyte. Dissimilar metals are listed on a chart with the most corrosion resistant or noble on top. Very noble metals could be lead, gold copper etc. all if which are generally heavy and don't corrode. On the opposite end of the scale are the lesser noble metals like zinc, magnesium or aluminum which do indeed corrode. Put one of each in an electrolyte or any fluid or substance that conducts electricity and the two opposite metals start exchanging ions which is current. The heavier more noble metal is the cathode the lesser metal the anode which will waste away. Wet cell batteries and plating operations work on these principles -- cathodes and anodes. Anyway not a great idea to have copper and zinc residue cohabitating in a steel barrel if there is a true electrolyte present. For the short term during cleaning operations it's almost a non-issue but leave the barrel wet with these two players and you could possibly have some problems. I'm thinking given the small amounts of metal deposits any reaction with the parent metal or barrel would most likely be minor, such as etching or frosting, though neither is desirable for a shooter wanting a barrel that doesn't foul easily.

Along these lines Outers makes a FoulOut cleaning system that essentially uses electrolysis to clean fouling metal deposits from the barrel. The only real difference between galvanic corrosion and electrolytic is that the prior generates its own current while electrolysis is like galvanic on steroids and is excited by an external electrical source via electrodes. Electrolysis can work either way. It can transfer metal as in electroplating or as in the Outer FoulOut it transfers metal through a special electrolyte from the barrel and plates the electrode rod. Anyway those are the basics. I've shot zinc bullets out of my revolvers years ago and shot decent at close 21 feet range. They are very hard and very light compared to lead. Supposedly the zinc will scour your barrel of lead deposits. Hand Loader Mag had a write up on them years ago.

 

That's one of many of the Davis enterprises guns. There's a book out about that whole mess. "Move to Fire"

 

Didn't know!

Wikipedia says those little Bryco Model 38 pistols are cast from pot metal! I didn't know such obviously cheap firearms were available!
As for zinc bullets, I'm pretty sure military aircraft shoot them for training. The strafing targets are microphones that are optimized to pick up the crack of a supersonic bullet going by. Light weight and cheap bullets don't penetrate (damage) facilities as badly and are less apt to wander off range.
If they work in an F/A-18's Gatling gun, they'll probably work just hunky-dory in a handgun.

 

I hear what you're saying Carcano about die cast zinc parts or ' pot metals ' but remember back in the early 50's or late 40's when Bill Ruger offered up his little 22 Standard Pistol or the Mark l many were stunned and swore they would fail. How dare he make a pistol receiver out of two stamped halves of sheet metal housing a bolt of sorts and call it a real gun. Well we know how that turned out. Anyway those die cast zinc products like Zamak etc actually perform reasonably well in certain application. You just have to know the metals limitations and design for it. It is obviously cheap, pretty stiff and easy to cast into some pretty intricate parts. The operative word here is 'cheap ' .

The amazing thing is how often these die cast metals used in some pretty critical stuff like transmission valve bodies, hydraulic controls, tons of household appliances, compressors, almost all consumer level woodworking tools, it just goes on and on but most of the time the end user doesn't even know it's there. A former neighbor of yours and friend of mine Wes Ugalde used to melt down die cast junk and shoot it with some pretty good results. I still have a couple bags of his 38 cal bullets he gave me when he was working for Thompson Center.