Posted by Jillian Hodgin on May 8th 2023
Brass, Steel, Aluminum, Oh my!
Brass, Steel, Aluminum, Oh my!
Does it really make a difference?
A very common question when picking out ammo is what's the difference between brass, aluminum, and steel cased ammunition? Often followed by, ‘Well which is the best choice to shoot out of my firearm? Well, let's get the obvious out of the way: Different metals have different price points, different hardness, different reactions and traces left behind when exiting a receiver. One of my favorite things about this topic is while there will always be opinions in the gun world, specifically what ammo is best, this topic has a good bit of science back information which makes sifting through opinions on the topic vs fact much easier. Let's look at a Pro’s and Con’s chart for each casing!
Aluminum
| Pro’s | Con’s |
| Cheap (Mid range pricing) | Can cause damage to firearms over time due to residue left behind. |
| Lightest (compared to other two) | More limited production at times |
| Durable | Can not be reloaded |
| Not allowed at some shooting ranges | |
| Unpredictable reactions |
Steel
| Pro’s | Con’s |
| Cheap (Lowest priced of the three) | Not very durable |
| Heavy, which I suppose could be a pro or con depending on who you ask. | Less consistent than other options (more produced for plinking/ practice then competition or accuracy based shooting) |
| Possible to cause issues with firearms because of how malleable the casing is | |
| Not allowed at most indoor ranges because steel can wear out back stops and cause problems. | |
| While it is lowest priced, market changes can affect that. | |
| Can not be reloaded (Safely) |
Brass cased
| Pros | Cons |
| Midweight | More expensive than other options |
| By far the most widely used and accepted at all ranges | Depending on how it's made, brass cased can be prone to extraction issues. |
| Can be reloaded | |
| Less residue then other options (Seals better in the chamber because of how malleable the metal is, less blow back.) | |
| Corrosion resistant |
As you can see each option definitely has some good qualities and some faults. When we polled the users of our FOOF (Fans of One Force) page the results were almost completely Brass cased with some use of steel mixed in and a very small percentage of aluminum: But that's only our small corner of Maine, I'm sure that would change depending on a number of variables including location. The cool thing about this topic is it has been very heavily researched and tested so there's a TON of information out there and if you like to look at numbers like I do, there's plenty of articles to read and charts to look at!
Now, with all those little tidbits laid out above you might think ‘Well jeez steel doesn't look like a good option for anyone’ and yes, maybe… But it's very important to remember that all ammo is NOT made equally! Steel ammo in general is aimed to be one of the cheaper options on the market and tends not to be held to as high of a standard and its not consistently made from what i've seen- but some brands like Hornady who have made a Steel match which is said to perform wonderfully and doesn't have half of the complications or difficulty as some other brands of steel ammo.
At the end of the day some pro’s do outweigh the con’s and that's for you to decide, for example if you do the math on buying exclusively steel cased ammo to shoot out of your AR15 vs brass cased you will save enough money on average that replacing the extractor and barrel by the time the steel cased wares it down enough that it will still be more cost effective vs shooting all brass cased. BUT, you also have to be way more on the ball about firearm maintenance then the average shooter is.
Really, again, it comes down to personal preference and how much each of those pros and cons matter to you and your arsenal. It's definitely an interesting topic in my opinion and one that while there is evidence of one technically being better for your firearms then the others, cost can come into play depending on how many rounds you are shooting so which option weighs more for you?