Wolf ammo in 223

[1PATRIOT]

Whats yall's opinion on shooting steel case ammo in an AR15 ? It's noncorrosive
of course but is it hard on the gun ?
I have a case of Wolf 62 gr. thats begging me to shoot it but I don't want to
do anything to harm my rifle.

 

[rcmodel]

If your rifle will work with it, it won't hurt the gun.

Some rifles don't like it.
Some manufactures strongly suggest you only use brass case ammo.
Some manufactures don't care what you use.

rc

 

[FLAvalanche]

I don't shoot it.

Will it harm your rifle? Probably not. Lots of people shoot it without problem.

 

[Hatterasguy]

I have always said its not much of a military rifle if it can't digest all kinds of crappy ammo. Now if its a target rifle, that may not be the case.

Wolf is great for plinking.

 

[Barbara]

Just shoot, especially if its sitting there. Or send it to me and I'll shoot it for you and let you know how it went.

 

[swiftak]

Shoots fine in my Bushmaster. Haven't shot a ton of it, but it always seems to work ok. It may be me, but it seems a little underpowered.

 

[Chopdoktor]

I shoot copious amounts of it, and it runs like a champ through my own AR builds that I've done. I can't speak for factory rifles, but the consensus seems to be, "most rifles handle it, some don't". If steel case is all you can afford to shoot in vast quantities (like me), then DO IT. As is said in Boston's Gun Bible, "I'd rather have 900 rounds of practice and 100 rounds in the mags, than 100 rounds of practice and 900 in the mags." If your gun runs pretty darn well with it, practice, and stock up on nice brass-case for when your life depends on each round fired.

 

[wally]

Most of my ARs have seen nothing but Wolf, I've few setup for accuracy and Wolf just won't deliver -- 2-3 MOA is typical. But mostly I shoot steel plates so accuracy requirements are modest, but speed and volume shooting is where Wolf shines.

I always say it ain't much of a gun if Wolf breaks it. I had one (XM style carbine) that was fine with brass cased ammo but lots of extraction failures with Wolf -- turns out the extractor was out of spec, fixed the extractor and no more issues with Wolf in it.

I agree the Wolf 62 gr seems a little light, I usually have to set the gas regulator to the "dirty" position with it in my Sig 556 or MSAR, but its always been fine my ARs, and no issues with the 55gr stuff.

Look at it this way, shoot 8-10 cases of Wolf and get a "free" AR with the savings

 

[Carter]

Brown bear or silver bear is better IMO. It burns hotter and is the same price.
With silver bear you also skip the lacquer coating, which is always nice.

I shoot an xcr so that extra little bit of pressure helps with the piston, shouldn't be a problem with a DI gun though.

 

[billy b]

I've heard steel case will wear more on the extractor. Anyone ever had to replace theirs early?

 

[wally]

With silver bear you also skip the lacquer coating, which is always nice

Not here in Houston, Silver Bear quickly turns into splotchy white zinc oxide bear

Usually its just cosmetic, but in some mags it has caused "bolt over base" feed failures because of increased friction from the zinc oxide powder causing the rounds to bind.

Its usually a bit more expensive than Wolf around here, but I do buy it whenever its cheaper or the same price.

I've heard steel case will wear more on the extractor.

If your extractor is not seriously harder than the Wolf steel cases Someone has cut far more corners than merely skipping the Parkerizing under the front sight!

 

[XD9GUY]

I just got through shooting another 100 rounds of Wolf in my AR this morning. That makes almost 1000 rounds total. I have had no problems. Not even a hiccup. Accuracy is very good also.
If you are afraid to shoot Wolf in your rifle, give it to me. I'll shoot it any day, all day.
The worse thing I have heard of being a problem is the extractor may wear out a little sooner, which will cost you all of about $5.00 to replace.

 

[wnycollector]

I say shoot it! You may find that you get a case or two stuck though. I was having some extraction issues (6 stuck cases/100 rounds) with Tula/Wolf .223 in my AR (RRA lower and Delton upper). I polished my chamber with JB bore paste and then shot 100 rounds of tula w/o a single hiccup.

I agree with the other posters, Silver Bear seems to be a notch above wolf as far as group size and velocity. I have almost burned though half a case of silverbear 62gr JHP w/o incident. I think my AR is going to see LOTS of silver bear in the future!

 

[TexasRifleman]

With silver bear you also skip the lacquer coating, which is always nice

Keep in mind the Wolf ammo hasn't had the lacquer coating in many years, it's polymer coated now, very different stuff.

 

[possum]

welcome to thr.
My first ar loved and ate any steel cased ammo that i would feed it, even in high round count training courses, and training sessions. MY current ar does not like it at all and willl not go more that 60rds or so before it has an issue with steel cased ammo. I use PMC and there are no issues.

 

[jpwilly]

I'm on the back half of my 3rd 1000rnd Wolf case of 223. I've only had a couple of issues from the ammo.

One was an out of spec round that wouldn't fully chamber. I dropped the hammer but it was out of battery enough no ka boom. I pogo-ed the rifle and ejected the out of spec round and finished shooting another 8mags of the stuff. This was just a few weeks ago.

Another reason I wouldn't use it for SHTF in a non chrome lined chamber and bore. I ran 9 mags of the stuff through my carbine in less than 15min and somewhere during the 9th mag I experienced a stuck case and had to use a cleaning rod to get it out...the rifle was smoking hot...the extractor tore the rim off but the case was "glued" to the chamber. I could probably have gotten away with it if I had a chrome lined barrel.

Overall for plinking ammo / practice I have no issue using it and it runs plenty accurate for what I use it for.

 

[calvin13]

What is everybody going to do now that more manufactures are producing steel cased ammunition? Brass is becoming tougher to get and more expensive.

 

[Hatterasguy]

I wouldn't use steel for a situation when the gun had to run, say SHTF. Its not going to be as reliable as brass.

 

[jimmyraythomason]

I wouldn't use steel for a situation when the gun had to run, say SHTF. Its not going to be as reliable as brass.

So where is all that brass cased military surplus ammo?

 

[Storm]

Not five minutes ago I stumbled over a small supply of Wolf .223 that I had forgotten about. Having two AK's in .223/5.56 I think that they will go to good use.

 

[Hatterasguy]

So where is all that brass cased military surplus ammo?

Were fighting two wars their is no surplus. The DOD was having to import 5.56 to meet demand.

 

[DoubleTapDrew]

Another reason I wouldn't use it for SHTF in a non chrome lined chamber and bore.

I wouldn't user it for SHTF because the jacket on the Wolf stuff I've shot is very thick. No fragmentation at all, just banana shaped projos. The Saspan (Military Classic) 7.62x39 is a different story, but that's a different animal altogether.
I have shot a few thousand rounds of Wolf in .223 and it's great for high round count blasting ammo. It's stinky, dirty, and not very accurate, but in most ARs it runs fine and it's cheap!

 

[Carter]

Keep in mind the Wolf ammo hasn't had the lacquer coating in many years, it's polymer coated now, very different stuff.

I was stating brown bear vs silver bear.

 

[Maverick223]

Brown bear or silver bear is better IMO. It burns hotter and is the same price.

Agreed. Wolf won't hurt anything, but it is the dirtiest stuff in all creation, and some rifles refuse to digest it (like my M17). The three little bears (Brown, Silver, and Golden) have performed much better for me, though I have transitioned to brass only (only so I retain the brass for handloading).

 

[bikerdoc]

At 199 for 1000 rounds you bet I shoot it!