evan price
Member
I see the same question all over the forums: Are Wolf primers any good?
I loaded 1000 Kead 125-gr lead roundnose 9mm projectiles in range brass with Wolf primers and took them to the range. 500 were loaded with 4 grains of Titegroup and 500 were loaded with 4.5 grains of Titegroup.
There also were a few loose rounds loaded with Win231 and WIN primers as a control.
The good news is that of the thousand, 998 were fired with no problems.
2 rounds failed to fire, one of them locked up the gun (a Springfield XD9 Service).
General accuracy among the group of people who fired this ammo was average considering the experience and familiarity with the guns it was fired in.
Ammo was run through:
(2) SA-XD9 Service
Sig P239
Kel-Tec P11
Sig P6
Kel-Tec Sub-Rifle 2000
S&W Sigma 9VE
Glock 19
Generally, at the 15 yard range we shot at, accuracy was within 3" groups assuming the shooter was capable of it.
The power difference between the 4 grain and 4.5 grain loads was not immediately noticeable in the heavier guns, however the Sub2K had some difficulty with fail to load next round on the lighter loads. When compared with WWB factory ammo the 4.5 grain loads felt snappier, but not unpleasant, and general consensus was this was their favorite load, hitting to POA at 15 yards. The lower charge loads also tended to smoke more.
The first bad round was in a Sig P239 9mm. It was the third round in the magazine. The previous round cycled and fired normally. The next round loaded, the slide closed, >click<. Repeated strikes of the firing pin yielded no bang. The round was dumped in the brass bucket after waiting with the muzzle downrange.
After I got home from the range, I examined the failed round. The primer had a deep, deep indentation dead center that should have ignited it. The extreme depth was probably because I pulled the trigger 8-10 times to see if it would go off.
Breaking down the round revealed a normal powder charge that weighed 4.5 grains. I deprimed the case and discovered there was no anvil inside the primer. Elementary, my dear Watson.
Now, the Wolf primers are packaged like Winchesters, in trays with the top up so the anvil is easy to see. I dump them in the Lee flip tray and shake them back to bottom up. Any missing anvils would have been very obvious to me during that process. The best I can figure is this primer must have been once which misfed in my Pro-1K and got put back in the primer feed manually, and the misfeed dislodged the anvil. Lee's primer system can be finicky and I tend to let the primers get low in the tray. It's possible this primer misfed and in the process the anvil was jarred out of the primer cup, and the primer was then loaded into the shell.
Verdict: Probably my mistake when loading.
The second malfunction was the second round in the XD9. The first round fired. The second round failed to fire. The slide was racked and the next round jammed coming out of the magazine and could not be unjammed. The mag was dropped, and the unfired dud round was picked up and examined. It was found to have no primer at all. The magazine was examined and an unfired primer was discovered lodged beside the jammed round. Tapping the mag on the bench cleared the primer and all the rest of the rounds fired normally.
The loose primer was test fit back into the primerless shell and it slid in with very light pressure, and fell out if the round was tapped on the bench.
The case was NATO headstamped and I recognized it as one of a bunch I picked up from some guys firing a select-fire HK MP5 a while ago, the color was oddly golden and I recalled the bullets were golden in color rather than copper. This was once-fired brass I had reloaded.
At home I tested another Wolf primer in this case, and it fell out too. I also tested a Winchester primer and it fell out also.
The case was broken down and components salvaged. The case was crimped flat with channel lock pliers and tossed in my scrap bucket.
Verdict: Bad case.
I loaded 1000 Kead 125-gr lead roundnose 9mm projectiles in range brass with Wolf primers and took them to the range. 500 were loaded with 4 grains of Titegroup and 500 were loaded with 4.5 grains of Titegroup.
There also were a few loose rounds loaded with Win231 and WIN primers as a control.
The good news is that of the thousand, 998 were fired with no problems.
2 rounds failed to fire, one of them locked up the gun (a Springfield XD9 Service).
General accuracy among the group of people who fired this ammo was average considering the experience and familiarity with the guns it was fired in.
Ammo was run through:
(2) SA-XD9 Service
Sig P239
Kel-Tec P11
Sig P6
Kel-Tec Sub-Rifle 2000
S&W Sigma 9VE
Glock 19
Generally, at the 15 yard range we shot at, accuracy was within 3" groups assuming the shooter was capable of it.
The power difference between the 4 grain and 4.5 grain loads was not immediately noticeable in the heavier guns, however the Sub2K had some difficulty with fail to load next round on the lighter loads. When compared with WWB factory ammo the 4.5 grain loads felt snappier, but not unpleasant, and general consensus was this was their favorite load, hitting to POA at 15 yards. The lower charge loads also tended to smoke more.
The first bad round was in a Sig P239 9mm. It was the third round in the magazine. The previous round cycled and fired normally. The next round loaded, the slide closed, >click<. Repeated strikes of the firing pin yielded no bang. The round was dumped in the brass bucket after waiting with the muzzle downrange.
After I got home from the range, I examined the failed round. The primer had a deep, deep indentation dead center that should have ignited it. The extreme depth was probably because I pulled the trigger 8-10 times to see if it would go off.
Breaking down the round revealed a normal powder charge that weighed 4.5 grains. I deprimed the case and discovered there was no anvil inside the primer. Elementary, my dear Watson.
Now, the Wolf primers are packaged like Winchesters, in trays with the top up so the anvil is easy to see. I dump them in the Lee flip tray and shake them back to bottom up. Any missing anvils would have been very obvious to me during that process. The best I can figure is this primer must have been once which misfed in my Pro-1K and got put back in the primer feed manually, and the misfeed dislodged the anvil. Lee's primer system can be finicky and I tend to let the primers get low in the tray. It's possible this primer misfed and in the process the anvil was jarred out of the primer cup, and the primer was then loaded into the shell.
Verdict: Probably my mistake when loading.
The second malfunction was the second round in the XD9. The first round fired. The second round failed to fire. The slide was racked and the next round jammed coming out of the magazine and could not be unjammed. The mag was dropped, and the unfired dud round was picked up and examined. It was found to have no primer at all. The magazine was examined and an unfired primer was discovered lodged beside the jammed round. Tapping the mag on the bench cleared the primer and all the rest of the rounds fired normally.
The loose primer was test fit back into the primerless shell and it slid in with very light pressure, and fell out if the round was tapped on the bench.
The case was NATO headstamped and I recognized it as one of a bunch I picked up from some guys firing a select-fire HK MP5 a while ago, the color was oddly golden and I recalled the bullets were golden in color rather than copper. This was once-fired brass I had reloaded.
At home I tested another Wolf primer in this case, and it fell out too. I also tested a Winchester primer and it fell out also.
The case was broken down and components salvaged. The case was crimped flat with channel lock pliers and tossed in my scrap bucket.
Verdict: Bad case.
