It’s a pity that brass, the perfect metal for shell casings, is also two thirds copper. Fortunately for budget-minded shooters, steel provides a viable alternative. This 7.62×39 cartridge by Red Army Standard is priced for high volume shooting with its copper-free casing, and it feeds and extracts especially reliably courtesy of its friction reducing polymer coating. Do note that a steel casing is impractical for reloading, especially when it has a Berdan primer pocket like this one.

This round’s 122 grain bullet is a full metal jacket, the standard choice of target shooters thanks to its economic design which promotes easy feeding, clean shooting, and straight flight. Red Army Standard’s Berdan primer is sensitive and at the peak of modernity with its non-corrosive priming solution. This round’s propellant is similarly clean burning, which isn’t to suggest your rifle won’t need a shot of Hoppe’s after it has been fired. This ammunition is manufactured at the Tula Cartridge Plant in Russia.