Silver Bear Ammo: Any Issues?

[Gun Geezer]

I have shot Wolf without any problems. There is a smoking hot deal on Silver Bear at Sportsmens Guide, and wonder if this Russian ammo is as good as Wolf?

Any bad experiences with Silver Bear?

 

[wally]

I shoot lots of Wolf. I've had mixed results with Silver Bear, but no problems with it in 9mm. I got a bunch of the 9mm 147gr JHP at a gun show for $40/500 rounds.

147 gr 9mm is the most problematic 9mm ammo but that's not Silver Bear's fault. Usually stronger magazine springs is the fix unless the OAL causes it to bind in the magazine as you load it.

I'd try a couple of boxes first befor stocking up, as not all guns work with all ammo and vice-versa!

--wally.

 

[boofus]

Silver Bear .45ACP + Brand new USP Compact
You do the math.

 

[wally]

Got a link to the details of this KaBoom! ?

--wally.

 

[Kramer Krazy]

I've shot 500 rounds of 45ACP Silver Bear, and probably won't, again. I have two guns that will shoot it without any appearant problems (Colt Gold Cup and Government models). I have a Colt Officers that tries ripping through the case rim and results in MANY FTE. I also have an AMT Backup 45ACP that doesn't like to extract the stuff. I ended up finishing off the majority of the ammo with my Series 80 Government model. I won't shoot any more 45ACP, though, because I mainly like shooting my Officers and want reliable ammo.

The Silver Bear is not consistantly charged, as some seem to be a little hotter than others, but not overly so in my experience. It also isn't too awefully bad to clean, but I did have problems cleaning the first 1/2" of rifling. It got deposits that just didn't want to come out with just a brass cleaning brush.

I haven't used any Silver Bear in anything else, but I do have 1000 rounds of 380ACP hollow-point that the wife and I will run through our Bersas. For other Russian ammo (besides Wolf), my wife and I have run 1000 rounds of 9mm Brown Bear through her S&W 5903 and my Ruger without any problems, but the charges are quite inconsistant, also. The wife didn't mind it enough to not want to order more, so I have another 1000 rounds sitting in my safe. My Ruger P-89DC shoots the stuff fairly well, also. I have no idea how the Glock 19 will handle it, as I haven't attempted to fire any through it, yet. Most of the Brown Bear, about 800 rounds, was fired throught eh S&W without any problems.......Now that I think about it, I believe I may have had less than 5 primers fail to detonate with both the Silver Bear and Brown Bear. I'm thinking three bad primers out of 1000 rounds of Brown and 3 out of 500 rounds of Silver.

 

[Ascot500]

I have had extraction problems using Silver Bear in an Austrian and a German pistol but it has worked OK in an American pistol.

 

[boofus]

That's my friend's USP. He had just gotten it and saw Silver Bear on sale at Aimsurplus. Ordered a whole case of it. He finished off a box without problems and then the first or 2nd round out of the next box exploded. It blew part of the frame out and cracked it all the way down the rear, the extractor was nowhere to be found and the slide was completely locked up.

He called up Aimsurplus and explained what happened. They told him to ship the gun to them and they bought him a new one, so apparently they thought it was ammo related. They didn't get one with night sights like the one that blew up. Even with the new replacement gun it just doesn't seem worth the risk of losing your hand/eye just to save a buck on a box of ammo.

Needless to say the rest of that case of Silver Bear went into the garbage can.

 

[Gun Geezer]

Ouch!

Well, so much for Silver Bear!

 

[Onmilo]

We have had some Silver Bear 9mm returned as underloaded.
One customer claimed, and I have no reason to doubt him, that one cartridge lodged the bullet in his barrel and he had to drive it out, luckily no permanent damage was noted.

 

[wally]

Firing a live round after a squib plugs the barrel is one of the best ways to blow up a gun! Ultimately this is a shooter error for not noting the lack of muzzle blast and recoil from the squib round. Any one who shoots surplus ammo of any brand or source needs to be on high alert for possible squibs. Reloaders too!

--wally.

 

[mjb]

I shoot silver bear ammo out of my Colt 1908 .380 and sometimes it jamms. I think the holowpoint bullets are too wide for this old gun. I won't but anymore after I shoot this stuff up.

 

[Walt Rauch]

Why would you continue to shoot this ammo? Do you have to see your own blood?

 

[M2 Carbine]

I shoot thousands of rounds of 9x18 SB JHP 115 and 120 grain JHP out of my Makarovs and continue to do so.
I'm fixing to order a case or two for my .380 Makarov.

I've tried it in .223 and 7.62x39 and 30.06 but it's too inaccurate in the .223 and 30.06.

 

[Walt Sherrill]

It seems that all of the Russian-made stuff is great in guns originally designed to handle steel-cased ammo, and a hit-or- miss proposition for other guns.

A while back I ran a survey here on The High Road about Wolf ammo (similar ammo without the nickel plating). About 1/2 of the users loved it, and 1/2 hated it, citing problems that varied from guns locked up by the lacquer coating (no longer used in the new Wolf), to problems with extractors, arguably damaged by the steel cases.

There's just too much other ammo available for nearly the same price for me to bother with the Russian-made stuff.

 

[wally]

There's just too much other ammo available for nearly the same price for me to bother with the Russian-made stuff.

I'll agree with this for 9mm FMJ, but for .45 Ball, the $40+ a case I save with Wolf vs. the rest sure adds up fast. Not feeling guilty about not scrounging for brass afterwards is nice too as some places I shoot I'm doing good to recover 1/3rd of the brass afterwards.

OTOH 145gr JHP at $80 a case of 1000 for Silver Bear was too good to pass up. I've had no problems with it, find it accurate, and a cheap way to sort out which of my 9mm guns will have problems with the heaviest 9mm ammo. Stronger mag springs have fixed the issues in a few -- I'd have a hard time justifying doing this with Gold Dot or Golden Saber at 6X the price!

I'm un-impressed with Silver Bear 7.62x39 "match" barely more accurate than Wolf in my guns at 25% price premium. The 115gr Silver Bear rocks in the Makarov although its too long for one of my six mags -- binds after loading a few rounds.

The plating on the Silver Bear .40 S&W I tried was "corroded" covered with a whitish powder and had feed failures. After wiping this crud off I shot the rest without problems but made a note not to buy any more I couldn't inspect beforehand.

The polymer coated Wolf is much cleaner shooting than the old lacquer stuff was, if you had problems with the lacquer coated stuff give the new polymer stuff a try, you might be pleasently surprised.

If you leave your chamber wet with oil from cleaning you will have problems with steel cased ammo that you might not have with brass cases. Don't think lubrication, think suction cup, brass shrinks more and cools faster (by transfering more heat to the chamber) than does the steel cases.

A squib .40 S&W Sellier & Bellot led to a blow up of a Ruger Carbine -- so nobody should buy S&B either?
http://www.thegunzone.com/ use their search: Ruger PC4 kb!" since they seem to prevent direct links.

Not all guns work with all ammo and vice versa! so that's why I always suggest buying a few boxes first before trying a case. Any ammo that has "surplus" associated with it in any way must put you on high alert for the possablity of squibs!

--wally.

 

[Glocker]

junk

 

[jon_in_wv]

I've shot quite a bit of it from my Bulgy Mak. It shoots more accurately than the Hornady in my gun. Make sure your recoil spring is up to snuff if your shooting the 115gr stuff. It seems to work just fine for me.

 

[weregunner]

Shoot 115 gr.JHP Silverbear 9by19 and the 94 grain JHP stuff that is 9by18 and have had no troubles so far. So far so good. The 9mm. Luger goes out of Ruger P95s and Taurus PT111 Mil/pro and the 9 by 18 is out of the Bulgarian Makarovs 2-each. Even the 115 gr. JHP out of the Makarov has never had a problem.

 

[grimjaw]

I've shot alot of 9x18 Silver Bear out of a Makarov PM. No problems, but it's a bit sparky.

jm

 

[Technosavant]

Their 7.62x39 is great stuff, but I can't vouch for the pistol ammo.

My general rule is to use Eastern Bloc ammo in Eastern bloc calibers in Eastern bloc guns. Western guns in western calibers get western ammo.

SKS or AK in 7.62x39 = Russian ammo
1911 in .45ACP = American ammo
Makarov in 9x18mm = Russian ammo (don't have one, but if I did...)

 

[jon_in_wv]

I noticed the sparks too. They must use a less refined powder. The hollowpoints are a bit crude too but it still seems like the toughest round going for the Mak.

 

[Pumpkinheaver]

I bought a box to try out when I bought my XD9. It was pretty rough stuff, some of the bullets where misshapen. I wouldn't buy anymore unless their quality goes up quite a bit.

 

[Whatsit]

Saw a few rounds of SB gum up a 9mm Hi Power so badly that the slide was stuck out of battery and required gunsmith intervention to free it up.

 

[made2cut]

I bought some for my Makarov. They have all gone bang so far but it's REALLY dirty stuff and as others have said lots of sparks. I won't be buying any more of it.

-- Holy crap, I just noticed the date of this thread. Talk about bringing them back from the depths....

 

[foob]

I use it for my mak. Works.