[Gtnorry]

I've asked this question on a couple different forums and find it amazing the wide range of different answers I get. Pros and cons for it.
I only buy new factory brands like Herters and Tul Ammo. Right now these are the only .223/5.56 ammo I can find that hasn't been severly price gouged.
Hopefully I'm not doing any damage to my 583 stainless Mini 14. I will say it likes it. Always feeds, extracts and consistant accuracy.

Thans for any info you can give me

 

[MajorD]

Each rifle is an entity unto itself as far as steel case. Some guns run it fine and some do not. If it works in yours it will not hurt anything. I doubt your consistent accuracy comment though ! The typical mini should be able to give you four inch or less 100 yard groups I doubt you Are getting that- if you are good for you but the accuracy of steel case ammo has been disappointing to me but my accuracy demands are pretty high- everyone has a different standard. For me if my rifle ammo combination is not accurate enough to shoot a perfect score on an NRA mr-1 target at 100 yards from a bench that is unacceptable to me

 

[pseudonymity]

If it runs I think you are fine. There is one issue fairly common on the AR platform that you may run into though, likely with Tula ammo. If you switch back to brass ammo after shooting lots of steel case ammo, use a chamber brush to clean your chamber really well first. The Tula is very sooty ammo and tends to be lightly loaded, so many people get some carbon build up in the chamber since the neck of the steel case does not expand enough to seal the chamber as well as hotter brass ammo. When you switch to brass ammo, it can stick during extraction on the built up carbon.

The .223 rounds seem to be more of a problem with this than the 7.62x39, possibly because of the taper on the body of the x39.

 

[Gtnorry]

Each rifle is an entity unto itself as far as steel case. Some guns run it fine and some do not. If it works in yours it will not hurt anything. I doubt your consistent accuracy comment though ! The typical mini should be able to give you four inch or less 100 yard groups I doubt you Are getting that- if you are good for you but the accuracy of steel case ammo has been disappointing to me but my accuracy demands are pretty high- everyone has a different standard. For me if my rifle ammo combination is not accurate enough to shoot a perfect score on an NRA mr-1 target at 100 yards from a bench that is unacceptable to me

When I talk accuracy I'm not going for tack driving @ 100yds off a bench. I'm going for 6" center mass hand held SHTF accuracy. That's all I bought this rifle for.

 

[Gtnorry]

The 1 general comment I seem to get is "make sure you clean it more often". So I will do that

Thanks

 

[atTheWheels]

I have run steel and brass back to back in mine and had no issues.
Mini's generally are far more picky with their mags than ammo type. I tested my mags several times to find out which ones functioned reliably. The others got sold, shot up or turned into practice mags.
I got mine with the plan that it should eat anything and go bang every time with the right mags.
And it's no nail driver but that wasn't part of the plan - I have better options for that.

 

[phauxtoe]

I have shot everything and anything out of my mini14, and the only issue is mags. with a ruger mag, no problems. aftermarket mags occasionally have feeding issues.
Remember those cases are thin and crappy metal, no worries. just keep an eye out for odd markings or wear.

 

[luvmyAR]

I don't know the design of your gun. I wouldn't recommend the use of steel casing in an AR. It destroys the extractor. AK's have a different extractor set up so steel isn't really an issue with them. I prefer to run brass in all my rifles if possible.