From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>Steel bullets do shorten barrel life, although it depends on how
>hard the bullet is and how thick the jacket is. They are also
>lighter than lead so they can be affected more by the wind.
Rubbish.
Steel cored bullets still have a lead ogive around the core
as well as the copper jacket. The material in the core doesn't
affect barrel life one jot. The purpose of the core is to
increase the length of the bullet without adding too much
weight. This is to match the length and weight of the
matching tracer ammo to give equivalent impact points.
Even with some Russian ammo which does use bimetal jackets,
a steel jacket with a thick coating of copper plated to it,
barrel wear is not usually a problem. The fact that most
rifle barrels are hard chrome plated with a surface hardness
around 75 Rockwell C and unplated barrels run between 35-45
RC, it'll take a lot of use before any wear emerges.
Steel cored bullets can be less accurate if the ogive isn't
the reliably same weight and centrally positioned inside
the bullet.
Guy Savage
--
I've used some dodgy military surplus ammo that was steel
cored, that stuff would wreck the barrel, IMO. I think it was
Chinese. And most rifle barrels are not hard chrome plated!
Not in your typical sporting rifle at any rate.
It depends on the hardness of the steel. I've shot thousands
and thousands of rounds of Geco 9mm which has mild steel jackets
with no ill effects. I'd be wary about using any military
surplus AP ammo in a sporting rifle though.
The Chinese steel-cored 7.62x39 had a reputation for wrecking
SKS barrels in short order.
I think what you're talking about is current military issue
stuff, which I agree is nothing to worry about really, but
the term "steel-cored" covers a lot of territory!
Obviously if you have a bullet with lead and copper wrapped
around a steel core barrel life will be unaffected.
Steve.
Cybershooters website: http://www.cybershooters.org
List admin: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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