I'll summarize this article as brief as possible, for those looking for the bottom line. Steel cases ammo will absolutely destroy your barrel much sooner than brass cases ammo. However, with the savings associated with shooting steel you can certainly buy another barrel.
Our recommendation is shoot whichever you prefer just know, that you can't shoot steel targets with steel ammo. It's dangerous. So those of you coming to open range wanting to shoot steel targets, make sure your bringing brass cases with a lead projectile.
Shoot groups, see what your MOA is with your specific ammunition and barrel. Once the group opens up past what you deam unacceptable accuracy, it's time to buy a new barrel regardless which ammo your shooting.
Our standard at USS is a 1 inch minute of angle gun/ammo combination for precision gun.
2 MOA for a patrol rifle.
1 MOA for a precision rifle.
All of this means, you must be able to consistently shoot groups at 100 yards. Frankly, it's not hard with good instruction. We are here to help. Without good instruction, we'll, your friends will be passing their guns to you asking for you to zero them. Your in the right group. 💪