This is a looooong read but it has a lot of info in it for those of us who always wonder how firing one type of ammo vs. another type of ammo might wear on our AR's. After reading this article I know one thing for sure, I'm never gonna buy any Tula ammo. I've already quit buying Wolf and have never fired any of it out of my current AR.

http://www.luckygunner.com/labs/brass-vs-steel-cased-ammo

Good info...thanks for posting.

Hardened steel on softer case steel is supposed to be OK, but not nearly as safe as brass. After all, fundamentally it is iron on iron, and you will get wear, even if the composition is different.

Brass only in my guns. F it. I have money.

If and when S ever HTF, then I'll shoot whatever I have to.

It's not so much the steel vs brass case (the article title seems odd)....it's this:

" The Federal 55gr .223 ammunition featured a solid copper jacket and a brass case, while the other three brands used a bimetal (steel and copper) jacket and a steel case."

If they had included Hornady's "Steel Cased Match" ammo (steel cases w/Hornady target bullet), the results would likely have been the same as the Federal ammo. The "bimetal" label on the import stuff is marketing; a thin copper plating over a steel jacket.
There will always be some that latch onto "shoot what's cheapest/it's soft steel/AR barrels are cheap (?)".
I'm in the camp where "when/if Sierra brings out a steel-jacketed Matchking" to run through your quality barrel, then I'll change my opinion.

Well done and thorough article. I would, however, always avoid shooting steel cased ammo in an AR-15.

Well, there could be made an argument of economics. If you save $.20 per round for the life expectancy of 5,000 rounds using those cheap rounds, you'd save $1,000. That's morr than enough to replace your barrel, or even entire upper.

How many people actually put that many rounds through their rifles anyway?

Also, how would a hardened stainless and nitrided barrel compare in this test?

Just curious...

I understand brass and copper are the best ammo to run through my guns.

If you shoot only steel you will approximately break even (compared to shooting only brass) by buying a new barrel every 3100 rounds.

Assumptions (gathered from google (super legit)):
$5.79 /20 rnds of steel
$7.19 /20 rnds of brass
New Barrel is approx. $220

For a poor student like me steel is the way to go. However, when I get a "real" job someday I plan on building more ARs than I know what to do with. That said, I think brass is the way to go if you shoot a lot and really want to stretch the life of an AR without replacement of parts. I also keep mine loaded with brass for self defense purposes.

My AR shoots the Hornaday steel match stuff great. That is an accurate round. It was great when you could get it for $24 per 50 at academy. Haven't seen it on the shelves in over a year.