Steel Core Ammo

[landtoy80]

I got a box of China Sport that says lead core. I put a magnet on it and it stuck. It was either miss boxes or someone swapped out the ammo.
That got me thinkin...
I checked my 7.62x51 ammo and the LC and WRA is steel core.
Most of it is on m14 clips.
Is this armor piercing or just steel core?

[nalioth]

This is common military ammo. It is soft steel and is not considered "armor piercing".

[tump]

sometimes the chinese is steel jacketed copper washed so its a lead core with a steel jacket and the copper wash makes it look normal regular but sticks to a magnet.:icon_lol:

[okie shooter]

Mild steel jackets are common out there. I imagine if you really want to know if the stuff it steel thur and thru, you might pull a projectile and section it.

[SteelCore]

it is the only way to be sure. lotsa rounds are called 'bimetal' and are somewhat magnetic, but without opening it up to see, you can not know it is steelcore.

Case in point:

I got some 172gr. Czech ammo, at a local store. Shot it and shot it, looked it up on the mosinnagant.net ammo page, and it only said a bit about the Tz ammo, not about it being steelcore until the 80s. When I was setting targets up on the berm, I found this long metal cylinder of heavy steel, and suspected I was shooting steelcore...I sectioned the projectile on a bench grinder, and sure enough, there was a steel core to it. It is 1953 production, perhaps mis-marked (they forgot the paint on the tip, and perhpas packed it as lead core).

Most any ammo i pick up that is russian or soviet is magnetic, but onyl some is steelcore