Steel cased ammo in a Kel-Tec SU-16

If you've only got a minute and want to know about steel cased ammo in your Kel-Tec, skip to the 2 final paragraphs.  The rest of this post provides supporting details to those paragraphs.
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AR-15's are all the rage these days.  They're more or less the iPod of the shooting world -- they're more expensive than the other very similar options, do most things really well, do a few things poorly, and are constantly being improved.  One thing that comes to mind is the relatively new option of a gas-piston option that keeps the receiver much cleaner than gas alone -- new AR-15's are becoming available with this design, and conversion kits can make old gas guns into gas-piston machines.  This is a huge benefit in my mind.

Two and a half years ago when I was still in college, I started looking at the looming problem of another democratically controlled government taking over, and though financially broke (no, make that penniless and deep in debt) I scraped together what I could and started planning ahead.  I couldn't afford a whole gun, but by golly I just had to at least buy some high capacity magazines that I feared would be outlawed again before long.

I ordered as many AR-15 30-round magazines as I could, as well as a few 25-round Ruger 10/22 magazines.  I figured whether I ended up with an AR-15 or simply held onto them until a ban went into effect, I'd be money ahead.  (During Clinton's Assault Weapons Ban, the price of used 30-round mags quadrupled).  Shortly after graduating and starting my job, I once again decided to forego other financial necessities and dump as much as I could into firearms.  You can never be sure in the modern political climate.

My first gun was a Ruger 10/22 to match the magazines I'd already bought for it, and since I really couldn't afford an AR I was thrilled to find out about the Kel-Tec SU-16.  It was about 1/4 the price of a gas-piston AR-15, came standard with gas-piston operation, had a cool built-in bipod, and the Charlie model had a collapsible stock which still allowed firing from the closed position.  I ordered one, and was delivered a SU-16CA.  Disappointed at first, I've since come to appreciate the ammo storage in the stock, and I can always buy the Charlie stock separate at a later date.  Anyway it was the second gun I'd ever bought so it's seen a lot of range time as I've slowly added other guns to the collection.

I've owned that Kel-Tec for about a year and a half now.  It's gone through more than 2000 rounds, has been mounted with both a red-dot and a compact 6x scope, has been shot from 25 through 100 yards, and 10 degree through 100 degree weather.  The first 60 rounds were brass cased.  The next thousand rounds were Silver Bear, and the past thousand were Tula.  My first 1065 shots were 100% trouble free.  Not one single jam, FTE, FTF, or any other problem.  After 5 rounds of Tula, however, I had a FTE, and that entire thousand rounds has been more of the same.  I've become expert at noticing the jam, clearing the weapon, ramming a rod down and knocking out the stuck case.  It has happened literally hundreds of times through the entire Tula batch.

That was frustrating to say the least.  One big drawback to the Kel-Tec design is the inability to straight-line access the chamber from the rear.  The receiver slopes downward and blocks that access.  The only way to clean the chamber is with a flexible rod and either a .30 caliber bore brush, or a more specific .223 chamber brush attached, entering from the ejection port.  After cleaning the chamber, I got a solid 60 rounds of Tula through before another FTE. 

The reason I am writing such a long, detailed post is with the hope that others might find this and won't have to repeat my trial-and-error process.  The internet forums beat to death whether steel-cased ammo is ok for AR's or other .223 weapons, whether it'll destroy your extractor, and so forth.  The next paragraph is as succinct and factual as I can make it.

Kel-Tec representatives advise against steel cased ammo.  Silver Bear steel cased (zinc coated) ammunition works beautifully in my Kel-Tec SU-16CA.  Tula (polymer coated) ammunition absolutely does not work in my Kel-Tec SU-16CA.  If steel cased ammo gets stuck in the chamber, the extractor tears off the case's rim.  The only method I've found that works for me to remove a stuck Tula case is to make sure the round in fact fired, take out the magazine, stick a brass cleaning rod down from the muzzle to the case, turn the gun upside down and bounce the rod into the ground a few times until it drives the case out.

For my Kel-Tec, I will always gladly shoot steel cased ammo and will replace the extractor for less than $15 if I ever wear that out.  However, I will personally not buy Tula again for it, but I will buy silver bear (or other similar zinc plated cases).  I will try out the higher quality polymer cased ammo if the price is low enough, but will only buy a hundred rounds at first to see if it works better than Tula.  This would include Wolf Military Classic (but not Black Box) and Brown Bear.  The Kel-Tec SU-16CA has been an excellent, inexpensive, lightweight, fun gun in my experience.  It just doesn't like the cheapest polymer cased ammo available -- but does well with zinc plated steel ammo.

Happy Shooting.