Product Question and Answer
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Q: I'm not familiar with the differences in brass and steel casings, what are the potential issues with firing steel cased ammo from an AR-15 as opposed to brass casings (if any)?
Posted On: 3/4/12 By: Cory Harris
A: The biggest difference is that brass obturates, or stretches to fill, the chamber, while steel cases do not. This can allow carbon to build up on the walls of the chamber. As long as steel ammo continues to be fired, this generally won't cause problems, at least not unless many thousands of rounds are fired. However, if brass cases are fired after steel cases have been fired and the chamber isn't cleaned before this transition, failures to extract may be encountered. This problem is easily solved with a quick chamber cleaning in between steel and brass cases.