Fal and steel cased ammo

[HerrNuguri]

Hi all, recently got my DS Arms SA-58, and I have heard that I should not put steel case ammo thru it. Can someone confirm if it's true/what's the reasoning behind it? Thank!

 

[Suck My Glock]

You shouldn't, but you can. All repeating rifles work better with brass. But will you HURT your FAL with steel cased ammo? Well, you will likely shorten the life of the chamber a bit. But if that means your rifle only lasts 9,000 rounds instead of 10,000, but you save a lot of money, is it worth it? Only you can say.

But when you consider all modern western militaries choose brass cases over steel, you should ask why. It comes down to cost cutting. The communist bloc had no choice but to economize and pinch pennies. But just look at the war in Ukraine to see where that policy got them.

If you do use steel cased ammo in your FAL (or any weapon), just make sure it is in PERFECT condition. Steel cased ammo rusts so easily. And firing rusty ammo in any gun will indeed cause extra wear and even reliability issues. And if you are putting ammo away for long term storage, choose brass. Or if you MUST get steel, buy only in sealed tins and keep them away from moisture.

 

[HerrNuguri]

You shouldn't, but you can. All repeating rifles work better with brass. But will you HURT your FAL with steel cased ammo? Well, you will likely shorten the life of the chamber a bit. But if that means your rifle only lasts 9,000 rounds instead of 10,000, but you save a lot of money, is it worth it? Only you can say.

But when you consider all modern western militaries choose brass cases over steel, you should ask why. It comes down to cost cutting. The communist bloc had no choice but to economize and pinch pennies. But just look at the war in Ukraine to see where that policy got them.

If you do use steel cased ammo in your FAL (or any weapon), just make sure it is in PERFECT condition. Steel cased ammo rusts so easily. And firing rusty ammo in any gun will indeed cause extra wear and even reliability issues. And if you are putting ammo away for long term storage, choose brass. Or if you MUST get steel, buy only in sealed tins and keep them away from moisture.

Thanks for the info. I think I will stay away from using steel cased ammo.

 

[omegaman]

Don't run TULA I know in a FA they blow cases have seen this on more than one gun.

 

[That Guy]

You shouldn't, but you can. All repeating rifles work better with brass. But will you HURT your FAL with steel cased ammo? Well, you will likely shorten the life of the chamber a bit. But if that means your rifle only lasts 9,000 rounds instead of 10,000, but you save a lot of money, is it worth it? Only you can say.

But when you consider all modern western militaries choose brass cases over steel, you should ask why. It comes down to cost cutting. The communist bloc had no choice but to economize and pinch pennies. But just look at the war in Ukraine to see where that policy got them.

If you do use steel cased ammo in your FAL (or any weapon), just make sure it is in PERFECT condition. Steel cased ammo rusts so easily. And firing rusty ammo in any gun will indeed cause extra wear and even reliability issues. And if you are putting ammo away for long term storage, choose brass. Or if you MUST get steel, buy only in sealed tins and keep them away from moisture.

“All repeating rifles work better with brass”

Yeah, I used to believe that as well but my experience has proven that’s not exactly true. Many self-loading rifles DO run better with brass cased ammo. Fr’instance M-1 Garands and M1A’s. Howsoever in my experience some rifles cycle steel cased ammo MUCH better than brass. For example AK’s and I’ll tell you why. When I was in Iraq the Iraqi Army under Saddam bought a zillion rounds of really nice Yugoslav brass ammo and it was all over the country after we invaded. So one fine day I was given a ChiCom Type 56 AK, went to the range, loaded her up with Yugo M67 ball, put the selector on the first setting and cut loose a full auto burst of precisely ONE round. The action wouldn’t open and I had to boot jack the empty out. Turned somehow there was a pit in the chamber and enough of the brass case flowed into it under pressure which prevented the round from extracting. I tried a coupla more times and the same happened. I loaded up the mag fulla Russian steel cased ammo and it ran 30 rounds without a hitch. Back when I was into G-43’s the Romanian steel cased ammo was much better. Why? Because with overgassed weapons the extractor can rip off the rim of the softer brass cases (I had it happen).

Back to the original question WRT steel cased in a FAL. In my experience really only two kinds of steel cased .308 was ever imported: Chinese and Russian. The Chinese cases were just flat outa spec. Some guns liked them cuz’ they were copper washed and had a bit more lubricity than plain steel butb some guns didn’t. Doesn’t matter cuz’ the last of it was imported almost 25+ years ago. That leaves the Russian.308.

IMO most .308 Russian steel case ammo is absolute garbage: mostly underpowered, and somewhat outa spec, but I’ve heard a lotta rumors of guns blowing up using it. My gunsmith told me it won’t cycle the action of his Galil ACE .308 pistol and just plain won’t fire in his .308 Tavor. HK-91’s seem to run fine on it. The zinc plated stuff seems to be OK but that’s now kinda scarce. Frankly considering the sketchy quality of .308 steel cased ammo there’s no way in hell I’d put it thru an FAL. NO WAY.

 

[338lapua]

I shoot steel cases only in K guns, AK's and H&K's. Had to help someone last week at a range get a stuck steel case out of a AR. Lucky for him I carry a can of WD-40, a squib rod and a mallet. As soon as I unstuck it and cleared the barrel of WD-40 he loads up and goes again. When he jammed it the second time I told him to get his own tools. I bought a couiple pallets of (mm wold years ago and shot it through the MP-5's and no problem. In the Colt sub gun some problems. In H&K 5.56 and 308 guns never a problem.

 

[792mauser]

Don't run TULA I know in a FA they blow cases have seen this on more than one gun.

Yup. I can confirm that steel cases will blow in a FAL. Semi or FA.

Blew out 2 good magazines. Didn't do any real damage to the rifle but destroyed the 2 magazines.