223 Silver Bear small range report

[Sky]

Shot my first Silver Bear tonight. Firstly want to say thanks to those who recommended it. I paid $104 for 500 rounds at AIM.

For those who have not shot the round my experience is limited to only 40 rounds so this is just my first impression.

Was shooting at steal plates at 300 yards with my CMMG. I could not see they were any less accurate than my federal at that range. Scope and gun worked with the ammo.

The smell of the ammo was different yet not unpleasant. I like the smell of cordite and burning jet fuel in the morning so it may not be the same for you.

Had limited time so when I got back home I tore the gun down to see what I had hiding inside.

The residual gun soot was a tad bit blacker and was slightly more than what I would have expected however it came off easily with the Break Free.

I must say having only to pay $4.19 for 20 rounds which is 1/2 price of Walmart's $39.95 hundred round box of Federal might be coloring my assessment slightly.

My guns are not picky about about Mags or ammo and haven't had any issues with them shooting whatever I have stuck in them as of yet.

I have been wanting some other selections so I ordered this stuff and I plan on getting some more Silver Bear later.

Item Description Quantity Unit Price
AP223M855 Prvi Partizan PPU .223 M855 62grn 20rd box 10 $6.19
APMC223SS109 PMC X-TAC .223 5.56x45 62grn SS109 20rd Box 10 $6.39

Again for those who recommended Silver Bear Mucho super Gracias!!!




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[WC145]

Good to know, I've got 1000rds of Silver Bear .223 62gr JHP that I haven't gotten to yet. I'll expect that it'll work just fine. Of course, I've shot a lot of Brown Bear without any trouble, expected the same from the silver.

 

[highorder]

The only issue I have with Silver Bear is the light, dusty zinc corrosion the top 3 cases pick up sitting in loaded GI mags. Covered Pmags don't have the same issue. YMMV.

 

[Sky]

Highorder I gotta a question for you or others.

In a high threat area/war I would keep my mags full and ready to go. Do to my senility or something I was told (?) I usually only keep two rounds in a go to mag that will not be fired for a couple of months; rifle and pistols both! Prolly gonna catch some comments on that!

ANYWAY, some where along my dusty road to the grave I was told that a full mag degrades the spring in the mag making it weak and setting you up for a "no feed properly" situation. Info is probably 55+ years old so maybe springs and stuff are better now.

Been told over time the lip of the mag "might" deform due to Psi. Kinda like cleaning and dry firing to release the bolt or firing pin? Just kinda wonder what thought you or others might have?

Thanks guys

 

[FLAvalanche]

ANYWAY, some where along my dusty road to the grave I was told that a full mag degrades the spring in the mag making it weak and setting you up for a "no feed properly" situation. Info is probably 55+ years old so maybe springs and stuff are better now.

Been told over time the lip of the mag "might" deform due to Psi. Kinda like cleaning and dry firing to release the bolt or firing pin? Just kinda wonder what thought you or others might have?

All complete bunk.

Springs don't degrade by being held in one spot even under tension. It's the working of the spring that degrades it. Technically, leaving your mags fully loaded are better on the spring than actually loading and unloading them.

The lip of the mag shouldn't deform from keeping a mag loaded either.

 

[highorder]

Most modern magazines with modern springs can be left loaded indefinitely with no issues. GI AR mags may exhibit feed lip creep if left fully loaded; the quality and age of the magazine is a big factor. Magpul Pmags utilize a cover that depresses the rounds to remove pressure from the feed lips.

All my magazines are loaded. I can't think of a better way to store ammunition.

 

[Sky]

Thanks guys

 

[Travis McGee]

I bought some silver bear and a lot more regular Wolf ammo. I put both, plus brass rounds, into a variety of corrosion tests, such as burying them in mud, half-submerging them in salt water, etc. Believe it or not, the silver/zinc ammo started showing nasty black corrosion after about one day. The regular steel Wolf looked pretty much the same. But they all shot.

BTW, I shot 1,200 rounds of steel Wolf through my Bushmaster AR carbine last weekend with no problems whatsoever.

 

[John Wayne]

Shot my first Silver Bear tonight

Hope you had tags for it, and that it wasn't out of season.

What kind of groups did you get?

 

[Sebastian the Ibis]

In a high threat area/war I would keep my mags full and ready to go. Do to my senility or something I was told (?) I usually only keep two rounds in a go to mag that will not be fired for a couple of months; rifle and pistols both! Prolly gonna catch some comments on that!

I keep two less in my mags, but that's to make sure that they feed. I have seen overloaded mags so tight that the bolt will not go forward. To me, a 99% chance of 28 is better than a 98% chance of 30, or a 90% chance of 31.

 

[killchain]

That's what the forward assist is for.

 

[crossrhodes]

I'll give it a try

I just posted some where else about wanting to try silver bear so, thanks for the good info. I have ran about 1500 rds of the wolf ploy and also had no problems just the smell is different. I did notice that the poly actually burned a little cleaner then anticipated.

 

[Sky]

Well that's good news on the wolf stuff; I have stayed away from it due to some rumors....prolly put out by Remington? Hope Mr. Rem doesn't read that!

 

[crossrhodes]

WOLF

Actually I haven't bought any commercial ammo for awhile except for wolf. I retired from the gun fighting club (USMC) about 10 years ago and just do a lot of plinking and range work to keep myself kind of tactically lubricated, if you know what I mean. I live in Vermont and have a few acres and set up my own range. Lots of rusty steel cases laying around and no extractor problem in any of my AR's and chambers are fine too. I have six, four in 556 and two in 762. Retirement is good, getting old sucks. I'm going to order some silver bear tomorrow and give it a try. I should mention that I have not tried the 308 wolf but have a lot of radway green surplus and that works fine in the 762's.

 

[Sky]

Yep I keep telling my young wife I am retired...it hasn't worked yet!

 

[crossrhodes]

Yep. I keep telling my OLD wife I'm retired too, still receive a Honeydew list that resembles a patrol warning order.

 

[Sky]

Travis that is interesting about the corrosion test. People used to put sacrificial zinc on drive shafts for saltwater boats and if I remember right they turned black after awhile also.

Really glad I found out about the mag stuff. There was a huge drug bust (Zetas) in Mexico where they had over a million dollars worth of stuff captured. In one of the pictures I saw they had 27 rows stacked 10 high by 17 deep of magazines; all full of ammo. I couldn't tell if any was (SB) Silver Bear!?

There should be someone around here that has used our thread topic while hunting. It is hollow point or at least the stuff I got so I wonder how it works compared to the federal on 100 to 300 pound pigs?

Today I am going to be busy loading mags and doing a few honey due things around the house. It's not easy being me!

John Wayne you asked what kind of groups I got at 300 yards and to be honest I don't know. Its a 14" steel plate suspended by chains approximately 4 feet off the ground; all I can say is the SB was making the plate jump, dodge, and dance. Really not fair for the plate; the scope is zeroed in for that range. The gun and scope I don't use for Jack Rabbit hunting so the next time I go shoot I will do a 100 yard grouping thing with some federal and the SB in a different gun or two.

 

[Sky]

A manufactures comment about steal case Russian ammo:


There are some differences in chambers in various ARs. The predator and Varminter Bushmasters do not like Tula or Silverbear. Usually just failure to feed.

I like Silverbear and shoot it in my other ARs providing they are "CHROME LINED" which came about do to a conversation with Bushmaster.

http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=548179

These two Bushmasters will shoot any other "brass" ammo I have tried without problems.

If I had to bet the problems arise do to different expansion characteristics between the two causing the carrier to either short stroke or ? Either way no worky.

I have 4 other ARs that do not mine anything I feed them but they do not have match barrels and chambers.

My type of shooting I will never wear any of my guns out before I go to the great tree stand in the sky; however I have changed my thoughts on ammo/weapon selection just a bit do to info I have collected these last couple of weeks.

Just got off the phone with Del-ton. Our discussion centered on steal cased ammo. Their opinion was don't use it especially in a non-chromed lined barrel. That is two manufactures who have said the same thing.

Also spoke about AR parts:

All your manufactures get their parts from just a few places. I tried to find out the supplier (s) but that is propriety info.

Several Ar manufactures were mentioned which I do not wish to repeat due to I might get them wrong and start a verbal war on mine is bigger better than yours. Just info and adds to my understanding of why there was such a back log last year and people had long wait periods; all were waiting on parts from a couple of suppliers. Something I do like about Del-Ton is their guarantee and each rifle is assembled as per an individual order.

I only have one Del-Ton but have always considered it one of my first choices (like my CMMGs and the little short Bushmaster) for a goto weapon due to it's reliability for me. Probably a clouded evaluation due to it being the first Ar I purchased after my guns were stolen a few years back.