Wolf ammo...how good/bad?

I've read a lot of people having problems with Wolf in their handguns. Works fine with rifle ammo in an AK or SKS though.

Wolf

I regularly use Wolf ammo in various rifle calibers... 303, 223, 7.62X39, 7.62X54R and have never had any problems. Sometimes it seems a little dirtier than other commercial brands but not always. In pistol calibers, I've had equally good results with the .30 for the M1 Carbine, the 9X18 Makarov, and the 7.62X25. I've been using Wolf for about 3 years with no FTF, pressure issues, or notable accuracy concerns. Can't speak to the 9mm, .40, or .45 however but I would expect similar good performance.

I would not shoot it if it was given to me.

Wolf ammo used to be "formulated" different in that it had a lacquer coating. This lacquer coating would sometimes cause build-up in the chambers of some guns, thus causing feeding/extraction problems, leading to a poor reputation for this ammo. This has since been resolved because nearly all of it now comes polymer-coated.

Also, the steel cases are not popular at most shooting ranges, with some places (mostly indoor ranges that sell the brass to reloaders) actually banning the use of any Wolf ammo.

Some people have reported a lot of carbon build-up in chambers that can also cause feeding/extraction problems, and they also say that Wolf ammo is very "dirty" and even smells funny.

You need to keep in mind that all Wolf ammo is loaded according to SAAMI specs, so safety should not be a concern.

I shoot Wolf ammo in my AK, and never have had a problem, although I have never used their handgun ammo.

A general rule-of-thumb that you'll see posted here on THR is:
"Use commie ammunition in commie guns"

This is because you'll see posts now and then about how Wolf ammo won't work in someone's M14, but you'll never, ever, ever, see a post about how Wolf won't work in someone's AK47 or SKS.

One of these days I'm going to get an assortment of Wolf steel-cased ammo and fire it in all my semi-auto guns. When/if I do, I'll post the results.

How many rounds do you supposed it would take to get some degree of certainty on a go/no-go in a given gun?


-T.

Again?

Sigh. Thousands of rounds of Wolf .223 and 5.56 through my ARs, thousands of rounds of Wolf 9mm through my SIGs, Berettas, an H&K and a Taurus, and hundreds of rounds of Wolf's .45 ACP through several 1911s of various brandnames. No problems, ever. But, based upon "what I've read on the internet," I must be just plain lucky ...

Only used Wolf ammo in my AK's,RPK,and SKS's...never had a problem so far.

Used it for .45 ACP and 5.56. Seems to work.

I do not like it in 40 S&W. Dirty and not very accurate.

Here are the main points/counterpoints that are going to be brought up in the course of this thread.

1. Wolf is dirty. (which honestly is kind of true)
2. Wolf is crap.
3. No, it's not.
4. Wolf leaves unsavory lacquer in guns.
5. No it doesn't.
6. I won't shoot cheap ammo through my awesome pistol.
7. It works fine, my awesome pistol works great with it.
8. Steel cases hurt guns.
9. No, they don't because the steel in the casing is softer than the extractor.
10. Wolf in inaccurate/unreliable/not worthy of discussion
11. Wolf is good for practice, reliable, underappreciated.

I am probably missing a few, but this is roughly the quintillionth thread on Wolf ammo that I have seen on THR, and the above points are brought up as sure as the sun rises.

For the record, I have used Wolf in lots of different guns and have never had a complaint. I liked the .45 so much that it was what I used as carry ammo up to the point that I stopped carrying a .45. Now I use hydra-shoks for my .45 in it's new role as house/truck gun, but Wolf is still my preferred practice ammo.

Ive only used it in my SKS. It works just fine there but i reload for all my other firearms, so ive never tried it in any of them. I read an article in The American Rifleman, where one of the writers reloaded steel cased ammo and got about 3 reloads out of it.

Mixed. I've shot a fair amount of 9mm through various handguns with no problem. I had some misfire problems with .45 in one gun (but not another), and in .223 the older lacquer-coated style left a case stuck in the chamber of a Ruger Mini-14. The powder was pretty stinky - somewhat like burning hair - and left more than the usual amount of soot residue, but this cleaned up easily with normal procedures.

I will give my standard advice (for the quintillionth time): buy a box or two and try it in your gun(s) before committing to a case purchase.

The only trouble I had with wolf in 9mm .40 and .45 was that is appeared to run dirtier. Other than that no FTF or FTE.

Wolf

I've run thousands of rounds of Wolf through my AR's. Yes, its a little dirty, but thats ok, I clean my guns after each range trip.

Have had no failures to feed or extract. Had one round fail to go bang. It is all I use in my AR's at the range, when I shoot brass I end up losing too much of it.

It's dirty, it's steel cased, it's less accurate in my experience than normal(brass cased) commercial ammo, but it does goes bang(though you WILL find a dud or two once in a while). IMO, it's good plinking ammo(not prone to KBing, cheap, accurate enough) but I wouldn't use it for SD ammo.

I don't shoot it in my Mini30 due to reports of firing pin breakage w/it. I have shot it in my 9mm Luger pistol and my Makarov w/so-so results.
I just recently tryed some Wolf Military Classic and was surprised, it shot well and was fairly clean - this was in my Mak. seemed to be fairly hot loaded also.

I've shot the .45 and 9mm through my CZs and it's worked fine. No hang-ups.

I've had few problems with Wolf in any caliber, I'd vote .40S&W as the worst as it seems to be under powered compared to the rest. The extra friction from the steel cases is a challenge for some magazine designs.

Ultimately my Wolf problems have been traced back to marginal extractors, and/or dirt/oil in the chamber, or marginal magazines. First shots after cleaning will be a problem if you leave oil in the chamber -- think suction cup, not lube.

Personally I'd never trust a gun for personal self defense that could go thru a box of Wolf without issues as it means to me the gun's design has inadequate performance margins.

However, I agree if you've a tight "target" gun or your goal is to shoot the smallest groups possible, Wolf is a waste of money.

I've shot probably over 20,000 rounds of the stuff in a variety of guns, but I've quit buying it as the cost of a case of Wolf vs. the cost of the cheapest brass cased ammo has the Wolf usually a bit more expensive after you factor in the value of once fired brass to a reloader. I'm shooting mostly reloads these days, slowly working my way thru the ~10K rounds of Wolf I've stashed away from back when it was ~$100 a case, when oil went over $60 a barrel I knew ammo prices would rise so I bought as much as I could find storage space for and still regret not having bought more!


Like with any cheap ammo, try a few boxes before you invest in cases as your specific gun and your goals will be the only valid determent of if its "good" or not.

--wally.

The only guns I use Wolf in are the Combloc stuff, SKS, AK and Makarov as they were designed for it.

I use it all the time because it costs 40% less than the next least expensive factory new 40 s&w ammo I can find. In my 4006 my groups are tight and I never have a FTF or FTE.

I shoot wolf in my savage 12fv .223 and it shoots just fine It is a little dirtyier but hey its cheap beggers can't be choosers I just get to spend that much more time with my gun cleaning it. Its always worked fine for me.

It's the best ammo ever.
It's adequate
It's the worst ammo ever.

Read your manual. Some manuals specifically state not to use steel cased ammo. My P85, on the other hand, states you can use brass, steel or aluminum cased ammo without issues.

I put about 1,000 rounds of Wolf through my 45's with no ill-effects. It always went bang too. That's the only Wolf hand-gun round I use. I tried a box of Wolf in my CZ-82 and it was jam-city.

The 7.62x39 and .223 works just fine in my rifles. Just be sure to clean the chambers well. Reason being the steel case doesn't expand as well as a brass case and the chamber gets more exposure to the combustion by-products of the round.

I bet more Wolf gets shot than any other brand out there and Armageddon hasn't broken out yet.