Any experience with this ammunition?

[Dryft]

So, as is usual, I'm checking out various websites for the best deal on a RIA Tactical .45, and decided to look at the site's ammunition sales.

What is the general consensus on Wolf ammunition? The stuff on the website is billed as: Wolf .45 FMJ 230g Steel Case Boxer Primed Non-Corrosive.

The price seems to be right: 1000 rounds for $255.

Can anyone suggest a better option? I don't reload, but if I decide to it'd sure be nice to have a thousand or so casings lying around, and I'm pretty sure I've heard steel case is non-reloadable.

Any help would be much appreciated. This stuff would be fed through a variety of 1911s. Thanks!

 

[Red Tornado]

I shot some Wolf through my Springfield Milspec 1911 and didn't have any issues. It smells funny, but it all worked for me.

You are correct about the cases not being reloadable. If you want to save them, look for some brass cased ammo. I don't know if there's a difference in the brass quality, but Blazer Brass is usually the lowest cost I can find. Remanufactured ammo will often be less, too.
RT

 

[gatorjames85]

Had some trouble with hard primers in 9mm Tulammo (another Russian steel cased brand). From what I've heard, the Russian ammo has hard primers FWIW.

 

[grumpy66]

It's very dirty, got to do a lot of scrubbing after a day at the range.

I HAVE reloaded steel cases before but they don't last as long as brass.
Kind of a pain to resize, but do-able.

 

[kingpin008]

Steel is indeed reloadable, in most cases. As mentioned though, it won't last nearly as long as brass will.

That said, I LOVE Wolf ammo. I've never had an issue with it in any gun I ran it in (a RIA Officer's .45 and SKS) and it was always plenty accurate as long as I did my part. As far as it being dirty...that's definetly true, but I'm not afraid of scrubbing guns, so it made no difference to me.

 

[chevyman097]

I use it in my milspec 1911. It chews it up and spits it out. Its cheap. Alot easier on the pocket book. But it is dirty. I dont use the wolf in my XD. But ill shoot it through my 1911 any day.

 

[grumpy66]

Scrubbing guns is a great way to end the day.
After a couple of hours of "aroma therapy", I go home and "meditate" while cleaning.

 

[Dryft]

Considering I clean my guns every time I use 'em, I'm not worried about the dirt! There's nothing finer after a day of shooting than the radio, a workbench, Hoppe's, and a beer.

Thanks for the advice on the ammo - seems like a not bad idea!

 

[bigfatdave]

chevyman097, our XD9sc loves steel-case, that gun is plenty tough to handle a few soft iron-based casings instead of brass or aluminum. In fact, feeding that gun junky steel case ammo is the only way to induce a malfunction I've found ... which brings me to:

Dryft, most of the steel-case ammo is fine, but you may find an occasional failure of quality control in there, so buy cheap and inspect, and don't be surprised to lose a few defective rounds. I've found primers seated sideways, case mouths dinged up, and dents in the sidewall of the case. It also commonly smells funny and it may not run well in really tight guns, but a milspec 1911 should eat it happily.

To the guy who is about to come in talking about increased wear from the harder casings ... take a spent brass case and a spent steel case and apply some pliers or vise-grips. You'll find that the steel is almost as soft as the brass, due to being very thin and a mild steel.

To the guy about to post about the dreaded "lacquer buildup" :
1- Clean your damn guns more often.
and
2- It isn't lacquer as much as it is the escaped carbon that gets in between the case wall and chamber wall, steel doesn't seal into the chamber as well as brass and allows more crap to migrate backwards.

 

[Vonderek]

Not nearly as dirty as Remington UMC. I expect guns to be dirty after a day at the range anyway.

 

[longdayjake]

When I went through the police academy that was what the academy gave us to shoot. We went through thousands and thousands of it. There were definately more missfires than other brands, but I qualified as 'marksman' with the stuff so it can't be too bad.

 

[wristtwister]

Hope you have a couple of spare extractors using that steel-cased ammo... 90 percent of the problems with 1911's are extractor related, but I'm sure that steel cased ammo hammering the extractor won't damage it like that nasty brass cartridge would...
You're kidding... right?

Seriously, I might use steel cased ammo in revolvers, but semi-autos don't usually design the extractors to take the "hard case hit" of steel cartridge cases. I suspect that it won't take long for the damage to show up and the problems start... but that's just me.

I'll keep on shooting brass cased, 230 grain ball ammo in my 1911's... because that's what the gun's designed to shoot. My "carry ammo" is frangible, but it's still brass cased... so hopefully, you won't have problems... but I won't be surprised to see anybody's posts up later about extractor damage from shooting steel cased Wolf. I think that if I was going to do that, I'd either redesign the extractor, or have the existing one case hardened... and hopefully, not enough to make it brittle.

Looks like a touchy problem at first glance...

WT

 

[cheygriz]

Check the difference in cost between a case of Wolf .45 ACP, and a case of Winchester White Box.

Then calculate how many extractors you could buy with that much money!

I can replace an extractor in a 1911 in 5 minutes.

Oh! and BTW, I've never had a broken extractor in thousand of rounds, even though I bought a spare when I first started shooting Wolf, just in case there was a modicum of truth to this tired old wive's tale.

 

[TheCol.U.S.M.C.]

Please Don't shoot stell case if you think it will break your extractor....MORE FOR ME I have shot close to 4000 rounds of steel case .45 in a 1911 no issues so far I'm not worring about (hell I have even shot around 5000 rounds of steel cased out of a AR no problems there. shhh that little tidbit almost got me kicked off a few mall ninja sites)

THE STEEL IS VERY SOFT STEEL DONT WORRY ABOUT IT

 

[MYREDTAIL]

I have shot the wolf ammo in my G21 in 45 acp & in my XD 40 guns with never any FTF, hangups etc. I always give my guns a good cleaning after every brand of ammo that I shoot through them, I found that the wolf brand is no cleaner or dirtier than any other brands of ammo.

 

[wally]

Steel is indeed reloadable, in most cases.

Not true, most of it is Berdan primed, Wolf .45ACP is one of the exceptions.

I've reloaded a lot of the Wolf 45 cases, I use them for shooting at places where I know finding brass will be difficult.

All my RIA pistols love Wolf.

 

[The Lone Haranguer]

Correct, steel cases are not reloadable, due both to the properties of steel and the Berdan priming system. But, although it has been some years since I've shot Wolf, I never had trouble with it, save for the stinky powder.

 

[Slotback]

Not a fan of Wolf. But if the price is right for the OP, get some. Use it as plinking ammo.

 

[Ala Dan]

I keep Wolf ammo [and all other steel cased ammo] away from MY firearms;
it may be OK, but that is just MY opinion, as I would rather spend a few extra
$$$ and buy brass cased ammo that won't damage my reloading dies when
properly cleaned~!

 

[isc]

Steel cased ammo is made from such mild, soft steel that you won't notice any difference in wear over brass cased ammo.

 

[splithoof]

I have shot close to 10K with Wolf 230 .45ACP, in a variety of quality guns. Never seen any crooked primers, dented cases, deformed bullets, etc. Only ONE missfire ever, turned out to be a case that had no flash hole. A quality gun should not be bothered with some fouling, and mine never have any troubles, in spite of cleaning only after 500-1k rounds being fired. Wish I could say the same about other brass-cased brands.

 

[johnthomas]

Wolf has always been good to me. I have shot 45, 7.62x39, 223, 9mm, 9x18 and 7.62x54r.
I have never had extractor problems. Once in a while I smell the pee smell after shooting, but that's ok, I'm old and it could just be me, lol.

 

[bigfatdave]

isc, those who think steel-case will wear more will never test their theory by applying a pair of pliers to a steel and brass case, it is a matter of faith.

 

[Ben86]

Steel cased ammo is made from such mild, soft steel that you won't notice any difference in wear over brass cased ammo.

I'm starting to believe this, as I keep hearing this more and more. I sure hope it's true because the price of tulammo is so inviting. I need to do that pliers test just to put my mind at ease. I use aluminum snap caps and they don't damage anything, so why would soft steel? Besides, Russians are big on being economic, shooting ammo that ruins your gun would be contrary to this philosophy. And it's not just a simple steel case, the case has a decent layer of polymer over it to make it less abrasive and assist in smooth cycling.

 

[Ben86]

I just picked up a couple boxes of Tulammo yesterday in .223 for $5 a box and plan to shoot it out of my AR this Friday. If it performs favorably I'll stick with this brand for my practice ammo in other calibers as well. That's a great price for ammo I'm just going to punch paper and the occasional water jug with. The ammo looks well made. The only negatives about it initially is that the polymer coating rubs off a little bit on my fingers (but so does brass powder) and some of the bullets have their jacket damaged a little bit around the area they are seated in the case (sort of peeled back a bit) and I'm not sure if this will effect anything. Overall construction looks consistent, and the seating depth is uniform. I can't wait to give it a try. I'm going to be comparing it side by side to my remington umc.