Polymer Coated Wolf Ammo

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Pushrod

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I know there has been a lot of discussion on here about Wolf ammo. My question is; Has the problem with the laquered ammo been addressed with the new Polymer coated ammo? I've seen some good prices on it but have been hesitant to purchase it to fire through my AR-15 for plinking.

Anyone been using this ammo regularly?
 
I use it in my AR and it works fine, must be a couple thousand rounds by now and no problems. A little dirty, but i clean my stuff after each range trip anyway so that doesnt matter.
 
Some guns shoot it OK and some don't. Get a few boxes and try it out in your rifle.

Take a steel cleaning rod with you to the range.

Last time I shot it I had to beat the cases out of the chamber with a steel rod.

Wolf223extractor.gif
 
I have a friend that used wolf in his AR ~500 rnds no problems. The new polymer coating doesnt work as well as the laquer. So limit touching the casings, as it will start to rust.
 
Exactally 500 rounds through my new AR of Wolf. I shot the first 100 rounds with true 5.56 (myth I heard about breaking in the rifle) and the rest has been Wolf .223 from Cabelas. 500 rounds for $99.99
 
The problem was never with the laquer, it was with that red sealant all over the primer, and case mouth that melted and jammed rifles, the polymer coating doesn't make much of a difference from the military classic(still laquered, but no globs of red crap). The problem in an AR is differences in steel cased and brass cased ammo. Steel cased ammo doesn't spring back the same as brass, making it harder to extract in tight chambers, this is part of the reason 7.62X39 (designed as steel cased) has the large taper angle. try to chamber a fired brass case, and a fired steel case, the steel case normally won't chamber, the brass will, this puts a strain on the AR extractor. Berdan primers used in most steel ammo is quite a bit harder than boxer primers, and wolf has about the hardest there is, this is to prevent slam fires, but puts stress on the pin. look at a fired wolf vs most any brass to see the dent in the primer. wolf tends to be fairly dirty, but it is not corrosive, and will just wear out the extractor and firing pin quicker, both are fairly inexpensive and easy to replace if you do choose to shoot wolf. I have found it to be quite inaccurate in my AR, and am not the type to enjoy more than the occasional bump firing blasting. For accurate target work, or even quick aimed fire this is not the best stuff.
 
I have never had a problem with it, but my rifle is chambered for 5.56, and is not some .223 target rifle. I bought a spare bolt assembly for the price savings of one case.
 
Depends, AR's don't seen to like any wolf, on the other hand SKS and AK's love it. The lacquer was never a problem, it never melted , it was the sealer flaking off, try some, if you gun likes it, then use it...
 
Wolf shoots fine through my AR. It's not as accurate as other brands, but functions with no problems.

RH
 
works fine in both my AR's. Just dont run brass ammo through the gun after shooting wolf unless you clean the chamber first. And when done shooting, do a decent clean job.

Do that, and you shouldnt have issues. I did a one day rifle class using the old laquer coated wolf in my Bushy. Shoot 500 rounds that day, didn't clean or lube it during the class ( though i did clean and lube throughly before and after the class) and not a hiccup.
 
*Just dont run brass ammo through the gun after shooting wolf unless you clean the chamber first.*

I know it's sound advice, but I've always wondered what the reason is that it's good advice.
 
Good question, Joshua. As I understand it, the steel cases don't expand the way brass does, and hence do not obturate the bore as well. You therefore get powder blowback around the case. This builds up, and when you put a brass case in and it expands, it sticks because the chamber is now smaller due to the powder build up. So if you just shoot the Wolf, you should be OK. It's using both kinds of ammo that leads to problems. Or so the theory goes.
 
The first couple of hundreds round I put through my recently purchased SKS were Wolf. Hardly definitive set for study, but I didn't have any problems with it.
 
I am the type that buys wolf in 7.62X39 by the case to feed the AK for plinking and 50 or 100 yd offhand fun. I buy FMJ Hornanady 55gr bullets to load up and fire out of my AR for target work, they seem to be more accurate than I am at 200 yds and components cost about the same as wolf, I don't go blasting through them.
 
Did you know the russian word for Wolf is Volk?

Да я знал это

As to Wolf, I don't know what to think. I tend to favor the steel obturation theory proposed earlier in this thread. On the other hand, Hornady makes steel cased ammo that runs just fine in ARs. So clearly it can be done.

All I can say is that polymer or lacquer, I've seen Wolf choke up all kinds of rifles. Mostly ARs; but not just ARs. It will occasionally choke AKs the same way if you get them hot enough. I've tried melting the lacquer off the old Wolf in an oven - 500F for an hour and no melting lacquer - so I don't see how a rifle chamber is going to have issues with that. I've seen the thick red neck sealant on the old Wolf make a gooey mess; but the latest version has neither lacquer nor sealant and still does the same thing.
 
Wolf .223 is inherently less accurate in the slightly roomier 5.56 chamber. The old reddish lacquer can seriously gum up the works, but it's not a problem if routine cleaning is done. I haven't seen anything close to the same degree of fouling with the current polymer coating. Somehow I've never had a single failure with Wolf, but I'm probably not even up to a 6-figure round count with it.
 
I just noticed one of the local stores carrying Wolf, 20 rounds for $4.99. The price is tempting but I 've read too many negative things about them to feel that it's not worth the risk. I've been buying Black Hills Blue Box when it turns up, and Dicks usually has Ultramax 150 round bulk pack on sale for $29.99. It's okay for accuracy, even with being reloaded, and I don't worry about any sort of build up in the chamber. Maybe I'll toss out one every hundred because the bullet wasn't seated properly, but other than that, it's pretty decent ammo.
 
UPS just dropped off 220 rounds of igman yugo x39 from AIM.ran me $5.98 a box O' 20, as i recall. obvioulsly, i haven't shot it yet, but judging the book by it's cover, looks real nice : very shiny brass cases and copper projectiles, liberally applied,unusual red color primer sealant, all set in a plastic holder inside 20 rd. boxes, then sealed at both ends with the igman logo and manu. date (01/06). several posts at a couple AK forums have yet to yield any range info.
 
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I for one am not a fan of the polymer coating. In my experience it provides inferior corrosion protection for the steel case compared to lacquer. I've had some polymer coated 7.62x39 rust in storage. I won't buy any more once my stock of .223 and 7.62x39 is gone. Unfortunately, it looks like the Wolf Military Classic is now coming with the polymer coated cases rather than the lacquered cases it first had. My last order of 7.62x39 was for a case of Golden Tiger, for this reason.

The problems related to the lacquer are mostly Internet myth. As stated earlier in this thread, it was excess primer and case mouth sealant that caused problems in some rifles.

I have experienced failures to extract when firing brass cased ammo after shooting a box of Wolf. This was in my Underwood M1 Carbine, and the cause was a dirty chamber. Once the chamber was cleaned the problem disappeared.
 
I actually somehow acquired 60 rounds of what I believe was the old lacquer coated round. I was under the impression that all the Wolf ammo was now the polymer coated kind, so maybe the gun store had some surplus left over. I shot them through my DPMS Panther Lite 16 with absolutely no problem. I then ordered a 500 round case of the new polymer coated rounds. I've fired around 350 of these rounds up last weekend, with no problems whatsoever. Was the gun dirty? Sure, but I'm not adverse to cleaning my rifle, so what do I care? Just clean it after you shoot it and I believe you'll be okay.
 
I think the Russian theory of lacquer and now polymer coating is that the cartridges would "live" in a sealed steel can until opened up on the battlefield and expended. Without the sealed can, the rounds will suffer the effects of humidity.

Has anybody opened up a sealed steel can of Wolf, and found rusty cartridges? It's a good question, I think.
 
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