[Dollar An Hour]

We all know brass-cased ammo prices are through the roof. :eek:

The most affordable 9mm practice ammo out there is Tula / Wolf / Brown Bear Russian steel cased stuff.

Does anybody use this with regularity in their pistols, and what's your experience with it?

My pistols in question are a Glock 19 and HK P2000sk.

[highorder]

I'm shooting Silver Bear 9mm from AIM in my Sig and it runs fine.

[Steve C]

I shot up a case of 9mm Wolf ammo when it was only $89 /K and it fired just fine from all my 9mm's. Ran some over the chrono from my Glock 19 at it did 1,219 fps average velocity.

[lions]

My only problem with Wolf 9mm is that the red primer sealant flakes off and gets everywhere inside my pistols. Lots of people say Wolf is really dirty but the dirtiest part in my opinion is the primer sealant. I'll still shoot it though, just a little extra cleaning to do.

[possum]

you will definetly be good with the glock 19, i have shot and or witnessed thousands and thousands of wolf and the like through glocks, and more specifically the model 19. i have shot exactly 1000rds of wolf through a 1911, with 0 issues as well. i have no issues with shooting steel cased handgun ammo in any handgun that i own, however i reload so i rarely buy factory ammo unless attending a training course, and i am good on factory ammo for a while. but if wolf comes up at a good deal the next time i need some i will have no problems buying and shooting it up.

[seanie!]

My friends and I have all shot it mostly good results. The only problem I've ever had with any steel cased ammo was a FTF with one round(out of the 300 or so gone through that day) of .223 Brown Bear while I was shooting my Saiga in the rain one day. The only other mishap I've even been witness to was while at the range one day, my buddy had 6 out of 50 misfires with his PPK. I guess it was just a bad box.

[paradox998]

I have been shooting brown bear in 223 and 7.62 without any problems. Seems to work well and be fairly accurate.

[Dollar An Hour]

I'm going to order a case and give it a try. Thanks guys!

[m2steven]

I've been shooting loads (no pun) of steel cased silver bear and wolf in my Makarov. The wolf ammo feels very dry and it's somewhat hard to manhandle into the magazines. Nevertheless, I've shot about 400 rounds of the wolf and 400 of the silver bear and they both fire fairly clean. The wolf ammo smells of sulphur and will knock you down if there isn't a breeze.

Both brands seem to be reliable. I somewhat agree about the red coating on the primers getting in your gun. It's not bad, but it does happen.

I think you made a good choice. I purchased 500 rounds each of the above and i'm glad i did.

[Onmilo]

Not the most accurate stuff in the world, but I haven't had near the problems with the handgun ammo as I have with certain brands of steel case rifle ammunition.

[tekarra]

I have gone through a couple of thousand rounds of 9mm Brown Bear. The first case shot like a charm. With the second case I had a lot of problems chambering. Had to push the slide closed. I always took care to clean the chamber afterwards to remove any residual lacquer.

[mgkdrgn]

If that G19 is anything like my G26, it will happily eat anything you care to feed it like so much candy.

[2TransAms]

Shoot the heck out of it; I have. Lots of internet speculation about why it's so bad, but I've yet to catch it red-handed breaking anybody's gun.

[ThePunisher'sArmory]

Ive shot alot of wolf Military Classic .223 through my AR and it likes it. the only problem is the lacquer on the case gums up my chamber after it heats up. However they are fairly accurate, cheap, and armor piercing. Now who needs armor piercing rounds?.........;)

[Shadow 7D]

Stay away from it, leaves more for me

It's been used for hundred years? is the major type ammo for combloc countries, and goes bang for much less than a domestic product, kinda like CCI blaze, except it CAN be reloaded, just not easily.

[mljdeckard]

You can have it.

I use Russian ammo in Russian guns. AK, SKS, Makarov, go for it. AR, 1911, Mini-14, don't think so. My grandfather's heirloom M-1 Carbine? NEVER.

[Shadow 7D]

Hate to break it to you, BUT the Allies produced steel cased rounds for use in WWII, so that carbine, well there were steel cased rounds meant for it. Its range ammo, not accuracy ammo, don't really understand the controversy of what the case is, I would be more concerned about how dirty / corrosive the ammo is. Paying extra for a pretty case, no thank you.

[mljdeckard]

Don't care. It's sixty years old and irreplaceable.

And I know that not ALL allied ammo was steel. In fact, I've never seen any.

[MisterNoisy]

I shoot a ton of Monarch steel-cased ammo in my CZ75 and PT92. Works great, though the powder burns with a funky smell and it's kinda dirty-shooting. The price ($10/box) is pretty tough to beat for range ammo.

[wrench]

I've shot lots (4k maybe?) of wolf and brown bear, mostly in 9mm, through several different pistols.
Works fine, as accurate as any other cheap range ammo.
Dirty? Well, I've got to clean the pistol anyway.... so....

[emtpacker]

+1 for the Monarch 9mm stuff. Bought everything the local Academy Sports had a while back and my xd9 and kel tec pf9 ate it up with no problems. Mine was only $8/box of 50 and I had a coupon on top of that!! :)

[makarovnik]

Lacquer gums up the chamber. Clean it out and good to go.

[jackstinson]

I use Silver Bear and Brown Bear 9x18 a lot in various pistols. No problems.
Don't care much for the Wolf I've used (9x18 & 9x19), but that is just me.
The smell of all of the brands is interesting...an acquired taste.

[The Lone Haranguer]

I've shot quite a bit of Wolf in SIGs and Glocks with no ill effects on the guns. One .223 case in a Ruger Mini-14 got stuck in the chamber, the extractor tearing the rim off the case. This was the lacquer-coated type which they no longer use.

[DAVIDSDIVAD]

I fired a buttload of Wolf .45acp through my Kimber, and it ran fine.


I will admit one thing, though: it seemed that the Wolf ammo had much more felt recoil than the other rounds I was firing that day.

[w_houle]

I fired Wolf .380 through:
Hi Point need to do something about the feed ramp, but it wasn't anything a little forward assist (not a suggested action) couldn't fix. Didn't hurt gun.
Bryco 48. Watched as the primer started pooching out and beating the frame. now all cartridges have a slight pooch when fired through it.
Bryco 38. Didn't believe the results so I made sure the slide was Kosher before firing, and it started to do the same thing as the 48
CA380 First box had lots of small problems: Had a lot of rounds that the slide didn't want to go fully into battery on and quite a few pierced primers, this is the only gun to pierce a primer with this ammo. Didn't hurt gun.
Edit: Forgot to mention that I also ran a box through my Lorcin L380 without incident. It was beat up like the Bryco

[Philo_Beddoe]

I have shot thousands of rounds of steel case ammo thru various pistols & rifles with no problems.

Its dirty and not the most accurate, but its great plinking ammo.

[WoofersInc]

Another shooter here who has run steel cased ammo through my guns. I have never had any issues from using steel cased ammo. I boought my guns to shoot them and sometimes the steel caesd stuff is the only thing available that is not completely overpriced.

[mjb]

In my Kel Tech 9mm it will jam. I have been told that it will also jam in AR15's. My other guns: Glock, Ruger, Colt, Sig I have shot it with no problems

[Marlin 45 carbine]

I've fired the Silver Bear in my Makarov with good results.
I've fired a couple boxes of it in my 5906 with good results but am apprehensive about this stuff.
I won't shoot Wolf 'black box' in anything but SKS.

[warman]

Just shot some Tula .45ACP through my Springfield XD45 - I found it a little harder to load into the magazine, I think because the finished surface of the steel isn't polished, but firing was fine. No feed problems and accuracy was fine...

[wnycollector]

I have shot a case of wolf .45 through my SIG P220 with zero problems. I cant count the number of wolf/silver bear/brown bear rounds of 9x18 I have put down range...again all w/ zero problems. IMOO com block steel case ammo gets a bad rap. All of the stuff I have used went bang when asked and hit what I aimed at!

[shooter1]

Current production Wolf ammo has a polymer coating. Silver Bear has a zinc coating. Both run great in my .45s and ARs. I put over 800 rds of the Wolf .45 thru a full size Kimber in the first day of a class I attended. No problems. Yeah, I shoot the stuff.
str1

[pirate]

I use steel case all the time in all my guns with no problems, wolf, brown bear, silver bear, barnaul and mil surp. and it has the added benefit that you can pick it up with a magnet on a stick so you don't have to bend over like you do to clean up brass.

[SifuGun]

I have shoot 50 rounds of Monarch bullet from Academy with My Kel tech Sub 2000. No problems. But i have been shooting brass ever since because I want to start reloading them.

[dakota1911]

Several years ago I shot some Wolf .45 ACP indoors and thought the smoke was almost acrid. When ammo went up recently I tried some Tula steel cased rounds and they were fine. I reload, but when it is hard to impossible to pick up the brass I go with the steel.

[frankt]

At the outdoor membership range I shoot at, the ground is littered with thousands of empty steel cases. Somebody is shooting a lot of it.

I reload but I have shot steel cased 9mm, .45 .223 and 7.62X39 and never had any problems other than a funky smell in the air.
In the early days some of the cases were lacquer coated and gummed up some tight chambers after extended shooting sessions.
Most companies have changed to a poly coating to eliminate that problem.