FWIW, my take is that the brass cases are reloadable (easily) which mitigates the cost to me.

I also got a good idea of what we did to issue rifles when we shot thousands of rounds through one in an afternoon, often at full auto. I have to say though, that despite the high round counts, I don't recall them being as dirty as the Federal carbine appears to be.

--
Sincerely,

Hobie