{"id":1242,"date":"2014-05-13T11:56:58","date_gmt":"2014-05-13T15:56:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/?p=1242"},"modified":"2025-03-17T13:59:35","modified_gmt":"2025-03-17T17:59:35","slug":"steel-cased-22lr","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/steel-cased-22lr\/","title":{"rendered":"Steel Cased .22LR & the Shortest Ammo Test Ever"},"content":{"rendered":"

Having been in the ammo business for over six years now, we\u2019ve seen a lot of\u2026 interesting products come through the doors at Lucky Gunner<\/a>. Most of the ammo we sell is newly manufactured, but sometimes we\u2019ll have a chance to pick up some military surplus or new old stock ammo. Usually, this stuff has been sitting around in a climate controlled warehouse for a number of years, and is just fine to shoot. Ammo doesn\u2019t have an expiration date, so as long as its been stored properly, it\u2019ll function as it was originally intended.<\/p>

But every once and a while, we\u2019ll run across something special. And not necessarily the good kind of special. One of our supply chain guys recently saw an unusual looking box of .22LR on the shelf at a local gun shop. The dude behind the counter showed him that it was Russian steel-cased ammo from the 1990s. The ammo, marked \u201cJunior\u201d in big letters on the front of the box bears the LVE logo, a Russian ammo plant that we\u2019re familiar with.<\/p>

\"LVE<\/a>
An unusual specimen – Russian steel cased .22LR.<\/figcaption><\/figure>

While the supply of .22LR ammo has been generally improving lately<\/a>, we\u2019re always looking for new sources wherever we can, so our guy bought a box of the vintage plinking ammo. If it turned out to be decent stuff, we\u2019d send our purchasing detectives out into the wild to try to track down more.<\/p>

Initial Inspection<\/h3>

Steel cased .22LR is a rare sight in the US, although it is supposedly common in Russia and elsewhere around the globe. In general, steel cased ammo gets a lot of criticism, but not all of it is deserved. All other factors being equal, steel cased ammo will function just as well as brass cased ammo 99% of the time. The problem is that \u201call other factors\u201d are usually not equal. The problems sometimes experienced by users of steel cased ammo can often be attributed to the bullets, propellant, or load recipe used by the manufacturer, but not the steel case itself (see our epic steel vs. brass cased ammo test<\/a> over at Lucky Gunner Labs for more).<\/p>

In theory, if steel cased ammo can be loaded to the same specs as brass cased ammo, it should work in most firearms. But the only way to find out if that\u2019s the case with the LVE \u201cJunior\u201d ammo, was to try it.<\/p>

\"LVE<\/a>
Is that a squirrel or a rabbit? Maybe a Russian mutant hybrid.<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\"LVE<\/a>
Wondering what to do with your .22LR ammo? Fear not, LVE has some helpful suggestions right on the box!<\/figcaption><\/figure>

So, the 50 round box was passed along to me for testing. It does have a unique appearance, even before\u00a0opening the box to examine its contents. The graphics looked like something from an American hardware store in the 1960s, but instead it was Russian and stamped \u201c02-94\u201d on the inside (a date stamp?). The box itself was in immaculate condition, but the ammo inside had seen better days.<\/p>

\"LVE<\/a>
Is 02-94 a date stamp? I tried to get Google to translate the Russian letters, but then found there is no Russian letter “I”, so I have no idea what that means. Leave a comment if you read Russian and can help us out with that.<\/figcaption><\/figure>

EDIT: Mystery solved by Oleg Volk<\/a>. The stamp reads “E 10-02-94” or Feb. 10, 1994. Thanks, Oleg!<\/em><\/p>

Despite the waxy coating on the lead round nose bullets (a common lubricant for .22LR ammo), several of them showed a white residue, an indication that the ammo may have been stored in a less than ideal location . However, the steel cases didn\u2019t seem to be in bad shape, though they did look a bit dirty.<\/p>

\"LVE<\/a>
Each round has a “V” headstamp. From this perspective, the cartridges look pretty good.<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\"LVE<\/a>
Some mild corrosion on the bullets wasn’t a huge concern at first glance, but may have been an indication that this batch of LVE was stored in a less than ideal environment.<\/figcaption><\/figure>

We\u2019ve sold and shot LVE ammo before, with very few complaints. It’s not exactly Hornady Match or anything, but certainly usable plinking ammo. So despite being in less than perfect condition, the Russian 22 looked promising, and came from known origins.\u00a0I’ve\u00a0been working on an upcoming review of the Ruger LCR-22 revolver, so I grabbed the box of Junior on my way out the door to a filming session at the range.<\/p>

The Eight-Shot Ammo Test with Steel Cased .22 LR\u00a0Ammo<\/h3>

One of the great things about .22LR revolvers is that they\u2019ll run just about any kind of ammo you can get your hands on. There\u2019s no slide or bolt for the ammo to cycle, no feeding issues to consider, and even the most anemic .22 loads will usually find their way out of the short barrels, leaving very little chance of squibs. I brought along a few other .22LR rifles and pistols to try with the Russian ammo, but decided the LCR-22 would be the first guinea pig.<\/p>

After I finished filming what I needed for the LCR-22 review, I left the camera running and loaded up 8 rounds of the LVE Junior steel cased .22LR. I could describe what happened next, but the video tells the story much better (make sure your sound is on for this one):<\/p>

<\/p>