Anyone shot steel through M1 Carbine?

[luvs2jeep]

If so what kind of luck did you have?

[Faulkner]

I assume you are referring to steel cases, such as Wolf ammo. I have and I've read a good deal of the internet arguments for and against steel cased ammo, especially for M1 carbines. I don't have a particular problem using steel cased ammo in most guns. I've fired hundreds of rounds through my Russian SKS, Romanian SAR-1, and my Glock 23 without any ill effects at all. My Walther PPK/S does not seem to like the stuff by indications of FTF's, while brass gives no problems at all.

As for M1 carbines though, I personally recommend against it. The M1 carbine is pretty much over-engineered for the suped up pistol round it fires. The weak link, though, is the extractor. I have encounterd signficantly higher extractor issues with steel when compared to brass cases. Significantly more! Also, for some reason, I find steel cased ammo in .30 carbine to be very, very dirty. I know that does not really have anything to do with it being steel cased, but I've shot a lot of foreign made .30 carbine in brass that wasn't particularly dirty, and the steel ammo in other calibers I've used didn't seem to be excessively dirty, but sure seems to be consistently dirty in .30 carbine.

In short, for M1 carbines, I shy away from steel cased ammo.

[Durangokid]

I agree with your caution on shooting steel cases in the M1 Carb. I know the danger and I shoot steel in a Quality Hardware no problems yet. If you do shoot steel expect a problem in time.

[Helen Keller]

what about all that steel cased .30 carbine ammo they went through in WW2?
I bet you that stuff was much harder than wolfs crap.


Wolf was garbage through the carbines I had. loud and dirty but very lacking in the power dept.

Same with the old steel cased copper washed ww2 stuff, somewhat hot but incredibly filthy.





For the price, spend a few more dollars and buy brass cased ammo OR take that money and start rollin your own.

[Faulkner]

Only a very small percentage of WWII .30 carbine ammo was steel cased.

[Hummer]

I would concur about laying off running steel case ammo but there is another problem that is not widely known these days and that is cracked bolts for which they are notorious for. When I went to work for the Army Small Cal Lab at Picatinny Arsenal I was trained to work product engineering and subsequently had engineering responsibility for all rifles, shotguns and SMGs except the M16 and one then later two guys had that alone. When they got overwhelmed I was assigned to conduct catastrophic failure investigations that occurred with them.

But back to the carbines. There is a army manual that describes the cracked bolt problem and I can my hands on it I will try and scan the page on the carbine bolt problem. It was known there were a number of GIs killed in Korea by these blowing up however it was not documented in the engineering files and the only way it was known was the brother of the guy that trained me got back from Korea and told my trainer that he helped put bodies of dead GIs in body bags with carbine bolts sticking out of their foreheads.

Thus be careful of what you run in them. The crack in the bolt can be seen at the back of the locking lug where it joins the bolt body and goes off at a angle towards left front of bolt body.

[2k05gt]

I wish I would have found your post before I purchased some TulaAmmo .30 cal Carbine. 200 rounds and I then I started getting Failure to eject took my 1943 National Postal Meter home for closer inspection and the extractor edge wore down. I am sure the old item was worn but only after 200 rounds did I get this wear.

I replaced the Extractor and I only shoot brass. 300 rounds later and still no wear on the part. So I vote no to steel cased ammo as well

[ltorlo64]

I don't even shoot steel through my communist made weapons.

[2k05gt]

yea I am wondering about that, the older extractors are a softer steel compared to today's hardened parts, steel case
ammo just does not give when steel on steel.

I always shot tulammo steel 7.62x39 in my SKS and after this thread I had to check the bolt and extractor
and there is considerable wear. I am purchasing another extractor tonight. even though the steel ammo is considerably
less expensive is it worth it in the long run for the damage?

[Faulkner]

Some guns were likely designed with the use of steel cased ammo in mind, most eastern block rifles probably were. Not so much with western designs, and specifically not so with the M1 carbine.