Does steel case ammo hurt AR's?????

[jay.sharkbait]

I would avoid the ammunition with bi metal jackets.

I think people need to put it into perspective.

Are you going to shoot 10,000 rounds through your rifle? I've built comp guns for local guys that have over 10k and accuracy is just starting to suffer. These rifles were 1/2 MOA rifles that now shoot little over MOA. Rifles are shooting brass cased 55 gr copper jacketed bullets with some 77's thrown in. Powder is TAC.

Now, what's your typical range session like? And how many times a year do you shoot? 

Barrels cost 100.00-300.00, maybe more for a super premium fanboy driven and marketed barrel. These uber expensive barrels with the goofy fluting don't shoot any better than a 200.00 plain Jane barrel.

Where is the trade off? That's up to you, but I don't think that shooting a couple hundred rounds a year is going to cause any issues and if you are able to shoot more due to cost that's good.

[pianoman9701]

I had a thought.  How about a dedicated barrel to shoot steel when just having fun with it.

...or dedicated upper so you don't have to mess with the gas tube, grips, rails, etc. But as Jay was saying, if you're not putting 10K rounds through it, it's not a huge concern.

[Special T]

The article on ar15 that did a wolf accuracy comparison  shows they shoot horrible. 4" groups at 100yards. Not sure the savings is worth anything.

[jay.sharkbait]

The article on ar15 that did a wolf accuracy comparison  shows they shoot horrible. 4" groups at 100yards. Not sure the savings is worth anything.

I take everything on Arfcom with a grain of salt.

That said every rifle is different and I've had much better results  with comblock ammunition.

[Alchase]

The article on ar15 that did a wolf accuracy comparison  shows they shoot horrible. 4" groups at 100yards. Not sure the savings is worth anything.

I take everything on Arfcom with a grain of salt.

That said every rifle is different and I've had much better results  with comblock ammunition.

Jay, have you read Molon's threads on AR15?

He puts out a ton of info.

http://www.ar15.com/forums/t_3_16/505915_.html

[BULLBLASTER]

Keep in mind that not everybody is out after extreme precision with their ar.
I see far more ars at the range that shoot to shoot. Maybe a paper target at 50-70 yards or clay pigeons at that range and just lots of shooting. 

[T-Dozzer]

There is a rather long article somewhere on the internets where steel ammo was compared to Federal (If I remember correctly).  The Steel bullet wore at a much higher rate and the barrel with the Federal ammo stayed accurate much longer.

Gun problems often come back to a couple of things, bad ammo or bad mags.  Don't go cheap with either.   

Was this the same article that broke down the cost saving of steel to the cost of a new barrel? Sounds like it's not worth it.