Lucky Gunner has undertaken a very impressive look at Brass vs Steel cased ammo for the M4-style carbine. They did a great job of mitigating variables and recording data. So much so, that this report is going to tell you a lot more than whether steel or brass cased ammo is preferable. I don’t know if they intended to from the outset, but they’ve provided the shooting community with a much larger look at several brands of ammunition and how they perform and affect the carbine.
It’s well laid out, in an easy-to-read format with plenty of photos, videos, and graphs. But there’s no point in me extracting tidbits of data from their report to provide here as it’s a rather vast resource that I’m sure gunners and manufacturers will reference for some time to come. It’s well worth a full read. No, I take that back. This is a must read if you are serious about the carbine.
I am very impressed. Well done gentlemen.
www.luckygunner.com/labs/brass-vs-steel-cased-ammo
Tags: Lucky Gunner
Good research, good analysis, and great presentation.
This is surprisingly well done. Wish they used a better base rifle and a more detailed/better lubrication schedule. Still an extremely informative article. This is why I only shoot brass. The savings you get from steel will go right back in to a barrel…
I’m actually glad they did it the way they did. It’s pretty much a low level baseline and will more accurately reflect the most common denominator. There are loads of Bushies out there.
Concur. Interesting to see the results with the 416 though. Would be interested in a test using 416s and seeing if they run the Steel Ammo better.
Maybe they’re listening.
Listening, but I don’t know if we’ll be tackling another project of this magnitude any time soon.
being a civi shooter that cant aford a high end AR unless i build them myself I am happy they used the rifle they did. It’s a quality entry level rifle which is similar to what most guys looking at saving money on steel cased ammo would shoot.
Very nicely done!
I run steel cased MFS in my VZ58 and have yet to have any issues through the 2000 rounds I have run through it. Only issue I had was magazine related.
Those guns are made for Steel cased ammo. Notice the shape of the cartridge case.