I just bought 500 rounds of Brown Bear 9mm ammunition online for a good price, I also just found out that my range "SharpShooters" does now allow the use of any ammunition that uses core/jacket.
Brown Bear is a Bi-metal jacketed ammo, so while it's actually a lead core (which is good), it uses a copper washed steel jacket.
Now I'm stuck with 500 rounds of unusable ammunition; anyone know where I can go use these things? Which range (indoor/outdoor) would allow them, preferably one that does not require expensive memberships, and is close to N. VA, DC Metro area.
Thank you.
Bought Brown Bear Ammo, but no where to shoot.
Re: Bought Brown Bear Ammo, but no where to shoot.
If your willing to drive a couple of hours, you can go to Hite Hollow or Westside in the National Forest. Free public ranges open everyday. There is a meet and greet at the end of the month at Hite Hollow. Here is a link.
http://sites.google.com/site/cyansamurai/firearms/ssng
Welcome
http://sites.google.com/site/cyansamurai/firearms/ssng
Welcome
Improvise, Overcome, Adapt
The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.
T Jefferson
4-H Certified Shotgun, Rifle, Pistol, Archery & Muzzleloading Instructor
NRA/ATA Shotgun Coach
The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.
T Jefferson
4-H Certified Shotgun, Rifle, Pistol, Archery & Muzzleloading Instructor
NRA/ATA Shotgun Coach
Re: Bought Brown Bear Ammo, but no where to shoot.
Do you consider Louisa 'close' ? 
I'm sure they'll go bang in my backyard...
I'm sure they'll go bang in my backyard...
Now is the time for all good men to get off their rusty dustys...
Re: Bought Brown Bear Ammo, but no where to shoot.
Wow something closer would be greatly appreciated... Remember, it's a 2 way drive 
Thank you though.
Thank you though.
Re: Bought Brown Bear Ammo, but no where to shoot.
Would you not be able to shoot these at the NRA range?
Re: Bought Brown Bear Ammo, but no where to shoot.
Are you sure there is steel in the bullet? They have steel cartridge cases, but i have not read that the actual bullets are steel. Just the normal copper clad lead. That being said some ranges do not allow steel cased ammo, but that is a different issue than the bullets themselves.
Re: Bought Brown Bear Ammo, but no where to shoot.
K so there's a Case, Jacket, and Core.
Case = Steel.
Core = Lead (I believe)
Jacket = Copper washed steel / bimetal. So it looks like copper on the outside, very very thin layer of copper, but the inside of that jacket is steel. The thickness of the copper layer is about the same as the thickness of 2 pieces of paper.
I did the magnet test to the front of the bullet, it definitely fails.
BlueRidge Arsenal in Chantilly said to bring it in, they'll cut it in half and see how thick the steel is, then decide if I can shoot.
I'm pretty sure it will fail.
Case = Steel.
Core = Lead (I believe)
Jacket = Copper washed steel / bimetal. So it looks like copper on the outside, very very thin layer of copper, but the inside of that jacket is steel. The thickness of the copper layer is about the same as the thickness of 2 pieces of paper.
I did the magnet test to the front of the bullet, it definitely fails.
BlueRidge Arsenal in Chantilly said to bring it in, they'll cut it in half and see how thick the steel is, then decide if I can shoot.
I'm pretty sure it will fail.
Re: Bought Brown Bear Ammo, but no where to shoot.
Hopefully its thin enough for them. I could see the range having issue with hitting the backstops with too big a piece of steel.
Re: Bought Brown Bear Ammo, but no where to shoot.
Ya but it's just the jacket not the core... It really shouldn't be much of a problem.
My understanding is that they are usually more concerned with steel on steel sparks, and the fires they may cause.
That said, the chances of that happening are incredibly small, more importantly, the small amount of steel in the jacket (probably very weak steel, since it's the cheapest the Russian manufacturer could get their hands on) shouldn't be much of a problem.
I could be wrong, as I am fairly new to this whole thing, but reading threads say that it shouldn't be a problem. At the end of the day however, it's their range and they can make whatever rules they want.
My understanding is that they are usually more concerned with steel on steel sparks, and the fires they may cause.
That said, the chances of that happening are incredibly small, more importantly, the small amount of steel in the jacket (probably very weak steel, since it's the cheapest the Russian manufacturer could get their hands on) shouldn't be much of a problem.
I could be wrong, as I am fairly new to this whole thing, but reading threads say that it shouldn't be a problem. At the end of the day however, it's their range and they can make whatever rules they want.