(image from website)Sure looks like a lycanthropically named ammo we all either swear by - or at - doesn't it? Well, I picked up 100 rounds of .223, 45 ACP, and 200 rounds of 7.62X39mm (the AK isn't finicky, the AR can be) and brought the rifles to the range this weekend. Pistols will have to wait until another range outing, but the difference in price on .45 ACP isn't that great - $15 per 50 rounds vs. $33/100 rounds Winchester White Box, and for that $3 you get 100 rounds of once-fired brass, too.
I brought 60 rounds of each ammo for the AR and the AK and wound up shooting it all. The AR actually functioned best with the Tulammo - only one failure to feed out of 60 rounds (3 different 20 round magazine). It looked like the bolt rode over the round, so I cleared the jam, put the round back in the magazine, and it loaded, fired, and ejected just fine. The Bushmaster was relatively clean before shooting - only 20 rounds previous - so that might have had something to do with it working okay. Visual inspection showed a little more dirt and schmutz than normal, but not outrageously so. The AK was a little bit worse, with two failure to load, oddly enough both about halfway through the two separate 30 round magazines. The AK was a little dirtier, having fired some 90 rounds or so prior to this test, and showed no appreciable difference in wear from the comblock ammo I shot in it last.
3 total failures out of 120 rounds - not the greatest outing ever, but certainly nowhere near as bad as my experience with JSPs in the Bushmaster (it hates them with a passion). I'll be buying quite a bit more of this ammo going forward - it's certainly good enough for plinking/general target shooting (it wasn't quite as accurate as the Remington, but in my fumbling hands that's not necessarily the fault of the ammo)... The guns might need a bit more scrubbing than with sterile factory stuff, but the savings is substantial (and I don't have to scrounge the brass!).
Overall, it seems to be pretty decent stuff for cheap ammo.
That is all.
8 comments:
Just to correct a common misconception, steel cases can be reloaded, if you use carbide dies.
At least that's true for straight-walled pistol ammo. Bottle-necked rifle cases? I haven't tried it. And the various coatings found on steel cases introduce yet anothe variable.
If you're really into reloading, it's worth experimenting.
Then again, if you're really into reloading, you probably won't bother buying steel case commercial ammo, because you've got a truck load of brass ammo.
Most of the wolf steel case ammo, pistol and rifle in berdan primed.
http://www.wolfammo.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1&Itemid=12
The exceptions are 45, 40, and 223 which are boxer primed.
All there brass case ammo is boxer.
Any idea where to buy berdan primers?
That failure rate is pretty alarming.
I wasn't there, so I don't know whether it was the gun or the ammo or the mag, but assuming a good gun using good ammo from good mags, your failure rate should be about one one-hundredth of that.
Tam,
I guess I just haven't done enough centerfire rifle shooting to have a firm opinion - I didn't think it was that bad, not "bet my life on" good but not "never buy again" bad either.
Don't forget, too, that I'm using 16+ year old magazines {grumble}...
The Old Western Scrounger used to have Berdan primers -- I don't know if they still do. I think Navy Arms owns them now.
Same magazine on the AK? Could be a small dent or some crap inside. I've got a beat up AK mag that rusted in a couple spots inside that'll hang up the follower every time.
Is is steel or lead core ammo? I've been thinking of picking some up but haven't yet. Thanks.
I will have to see if they have some 7.62x54R. I have been using Serbian surplus ammo with a little better failure rate (1 failure to eject out of 120) at $5 per 15 rounds its not bad, but it is corrosive. I would like another option so I don't have to carry a bottle of windex with me to the range.
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