Ammo: Why prefer brass over steel casings?

[JEDI]

My local walmart finally has .380, but it's Russian steel casing.

the person who works there said this .380 hasnt been selling.
He mentioned that people prefer brass over steel.

Is this true? Do people prefer brass casings over steel?

If so, WHY?

 

[coldmeat]

why didn't you just ask him?

 

[SSSnail]

Brass, you can reload and is corrosion resistance. Steel, not so much.

 

[DrPizza]

I'm not sure why, but wild guesses: softer metal (less wear on your gun's parts), more corrosion resistant.

 

[kranky]

No first-hand experience, but I've heard two reasons not to shoot steel. One is that the steel cases don't expand as well as brass, and that allows more of the gases to escape which makes your gun dirty faster. The other is that steel cased ammo has a lacquer coating to prevent rust, which melts upon firing and that residue, in some guns, will cause ejection problems. But again, this is hearsay.

Does your gun's owner's manual say anything about using steel?

 

[sjwaste]

Not all brass is reloadable, or at least easily. Boxer primers are easy to reload. Berdan, not so much.

Steel case may be harder to eject if you have a finicky mechanism. I have a Mosin-Nagant, and it is a bitch to eject steel cased rounds. Of course, it eventually started cracking shells at the neck, which means it's now completely unsafe to shoot. Brass loads worked just fine, though. Didn't even know this was an issue until I put in some other surplus that had steel casings. It jammed up and cracked them.

 

[TallBill]

DrPizza is correct, steel cases are harder and will break extractors. Although its ok to shoot in most firearms, a lot of people just don't want to risk it. Also, you can reload brass, even though most shooters don't reload.