Steel case is fine, been running it in ak 47s for years. I ran some in my carbon 15 (all cf ar 15, 3.9lbs!!) and it did fine. Nothing wrong with steel case at all. Never used it in pistols, but I used to be able to get brass case 9mm for 90 bucks per 1000 so I never needed cheap ammo... Glad I bought alot back in the day...