What Wolf ammo would you shoot?

[2234me]

Newbie here with a question on the Wolf ammo. I've got my new S&W MP 15 and will be getting a case of Federal so I can reuse the brass however I would like to shoot some Wolf so I can let the casings fly and not be concerned about trying to pick it up. I've searched the data base and found allot of good information about the good and bad characteristics of Wolf and I would like to shoot some. There are several different choices and I'm not sure what would be the best of all the evils. I see there is a Zinc coated case, would that be easier on the chambering compared to the others? What Wolf would / do you shoot and do you think one is better than the other? Thanx

[Jay Cunningham]

May as well shoot the cheapest that you can find. If you shoot steel-cased you need to be more attentive to cleaning your chamber.

[rob_s]

I shoot 75 grain Wolf pretty much exclusively now. I got groups that were 1/2" with this ammo from my BCM 16" midlength upper the other day using a 3-9x scope set to 9x. I was pretty impressed with myself. :D

Generally speaking I'm more interested in using a weight/type that most closely mimics the POI of my critical use ammo which is Black Hills 75 grain. Perhaps not surprisingly, I used the 62 over the 55 for this until Wolf released the 75 grain, and now I use that.

[RUSKI]

I use Wolf 9mm ( exclusively), 7.62x39, and .223
My 9mm pistols shoot the Wolf no problem, been doing it for 2 years now without one issue. One out of my three AR's owned had issues with the wolf .223 the problem being FTE, most likely due to the lacquer coating. No AK I have ever shot has had an issue with the Wolf, but any half way decent AK will eat anything its fed. The Wolf is dirty so I just pay extra attention while cleaning.

[WhoUtink]

I shoot this

http://www.ammoengine.com/find/store_frame/2767188?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cheaperthandirt.com%2FAMM232-5.html

It goes bang and costs less then wolf.

[rob_s]

I shoot this

http://www.ammoengine.com/find/store_frame/2767188?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cheaperthandirt.com%2FAMM232-5.html

It goes bang and costs less then wolf.

I've been wanting to try some of that. According to gun-deals.com it looks like it's about $.02-.04/round cheaper than Wolf after shipping. At as much as 40/case less I might be interested.

They (Barnaul) were actually going to send me a case for a steel-case article I was working on but then the ammo shortage hit and they were selling it faster than they could get it out the door.

[andy t]

I use any Wolf I can get my hands on. I also shot half a case of Brown Bear through my 6920 upper with no issues whatsoever. I agree with Rob that you want to use training ammo closest to the weight of self defense ammo. However, the differences in drop are negligible out to 150-200 yards, I believe.
Oh, and Wolf is fairly accurate for what it is. During the walk back drill at the October LAV class, the shooter that won it from 200+ yards was using Brown Bear.

[rob_s]

You might be surprised at how much shift you can get from one type of ammo to another, even as close as 50 yards. Yes, with the majority of classes that take place inside 50, and 90%+ inside 25, you may not get a chance to notice it, but it can be there.

I like to keep my zero with the Black Hills and then check for shift at 50 with other types of ammo and use what has the least amount of zero. From my testing it's been the 75 grain Wolf first and the 62 grain Wolf second. Groups are tighter with some other ammo in some guns, but I'm more concerned with shift than with absolute group size.

[2234me]

Thanks for all the great information! I'm getting the impression that no one is concerned about the coatings on the cases. I wondered if one would be better or worse than the rest. Has anyone noticed any wear using steel cases?

[RogerinTPA]

Thanks for all the great information! I'm getting the impression that no one is concerned about the coatings on the cases. I wondered if one would be better or worse than the rest. Has anyone noticed any wear using steel cases?

Not really. Some folks have unfounded concerns about the lacquer coatings causing stuck cases, but after shooting over 10K of it in both Wolf and Barnaul, I haven't seen it. You'd have to use a blow torch to get the lacquer to melt off. I train with Wolf regularly (over 25K fired, not including Silver/Brown bear, Barnaul and Brass ammo) and have used it in all my carbine courses without problems associated with the ammo. I also don't clean my weapons except every 3-4 thousand rounds, just lube, so I'm pretty confident in the ammo, as far as using it, and from an economical stand point. Your chamber will get dirtier, but the folks having the most problems are with chambers that are not true 5.56 and lesser quality rifles, for the most part.

I have had good accuracy with the HPs (55 and 62grn) over the FMJs. As far as accelerated wear using this stuff, that's subjective. Anytime you use a firearm you are adding wear and tear. I had to replace an extractor once during a class, but later, I reinstalled it with a black insert( it had a blue one previously), black O ring and a 5 coil spring, and it ran fine.

[RogerinTPA]

During the walk back drill at the October LAV class, the shooter that won it from 200+ yards was using Brown Bear.

I did the same thing, using my 6920, EOtech 553, and Wolf 62 grn FMJ.;)

[tmorg]

I have never had any problems with WOLF.You just need to be aware of the lacuer bild up.and clen it a little more.

[motorolahamm]

None at all Sorry just no luck with this ammo

[RWK]

I understand that a lot of people shoot a lot of Wolf ammo. Personally, I stay away from it. I've found it to be inaccurate, dirty, and I've had several casings blow apart and case head separations. Maybe that's just me, though.

[rob_s]

Maybe that's just me, though.

it must be.

[andy t]

Those of you having issues with Wolf, what is the brand your upper and how is it chambered?

[RogerinTPA]

I understand that a lot of people shoot a lot of Wolf ammo. Personally, I stay away from it. I've found it to be inaccurate, dirty, and I've had several casings blow apart and case head separations. Maybe that's just me, though.

You can get a bad lot of ammo, regardless of the brand being used. I've heard several accounts of the same thing with allegedly higher quality brass cased ammo as well.

I've heard and seen more complaints with XM193, (popped primers) than any other brand out there. I had a guy in a carbine class that was popping primers with xm193 so bad (literally every 2nd or 3rd round), he had to switch to another brand that he brought with him.

As far as being dirty, I haven't shot, nor heard of, ammo that leave weapons "clean" in my life. I've fired tons on Military Grade M193 (which is not all that accurate either) that got my weapon dirty as hell, after an annual or semi annual qual. I've fired 10s of thousands of rounds of match grade ammo (7.62 and 5.56) while on various rifle teams in my life, that left my weapon filthy, but it still ran after no cleaning (several thousand rounds) during entire shooting seasons. Just kept it lubed. I fired a BCM Middy with over 14,000 rounds on her, in a Pat Rogers Carbine course, that was never cleaned and it ran like a champ, using Wolf and Lube. I don't understand, or get, the response of ""It's dirty so I won't use it". News flash...All ammo gets the weapon dirty. Most if not all quality weapons will run wet and dirty for a long time, but not dry and dirty. I rarely clean mine, and only after several thousand rounds of, dare I say "Wolf" ammo. If being a clean freak is some peoples thing, then knock your self out and press on. It's the same excuse folks who buy piston uppers use "Because it runs cleaner".:rolleyes: Like The Katar once said, the AR is not the delicate flower most people think.

[Magsz]

Its really simple guys.

Steel does not expand the same way that brass does. Steel does not seal as well in the chamber as brass does.

As a result, wolf and other popular steel cased munitions usually run a tad dirtier than their brass counterparts.

Lube your weapon, clean it every now and then, run with a proper spec chamber and you will most likely not have any issues.

Brass can and will stick in chambers just the same as steel cased. If brass ammo was as cheap as steel i would choose it over steel every time but the simple fact of the matter is that steel is cheaper, it runs great for me and ive used thousands of rounds of it without any issues. I will continue doing so until i start running into issues.

If you dont like wolf, fine, run your brass and enjoy life.

[m4fun]

Being a cheap bastard, I reload...quite a bit. That said, I've have been using Wolf for quite a while and have a lot of confidence in the ammo. I tend to use it in carbine classes, etc where it I dont plan on scrounging for my brass(I do rezero)

It goes bang and it is fairly accurate.

I have used 9mm, .40, .45, 30 Carbine, .223 (55 and 62gr) and 7.62x39.

[TomMcC]

M4fun, you're not cheap, you're frugal. And you'll have cartridges when the stores don't.

We use Wolf primers exclusively. The were some changes that we made. The primers are a bit smaller (3 thousands), so they had to be seated deeper than say a Win primer.

Whether purchased primer or purchased cartridge, Wolf also goes bang and the projectile goes in the direction pointed. And that is what is important!

~wifey

[m4fun]

Roger that - AND I LOVE WOLF PRIMERS - biggest/only issue I really had was going from CCI SR to Wolf SR primers - I had to change the depth of swaging my primer pockets as the Wolf was wider than CCI - This has to be done for all primer changes, regardless!

I do know some rifle "team" shooters that use Wolf for mathes. Says a lot.