Above: Federal Bulk (left) and Wolf Military (right) 9mm, 115 gr. FMJ. Make the jump for the primers’ eye view. Now how much would you pay? [h/t to JeffD]
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Dunno about quality, but I can say that the Wolf casing retains a lot more heat than brass. Not unusual to get plinked by ejected brass on the firing line in High Power matches – mostly AR’s in my neck of the woods. Uncomfortable, but not serious. Then I got hit by a Wolf and carried the burn mark for 6 months. Gotta wonder about impact on the firearm over a period of time.
From that point of view, Wolf is better for your firearm. The burning propellant creates a finite amount of heat. If more of that heat is leaving the firearm via the ejected case, it stands to reason that less heat is remaining in the chamber. Less heat, less erosion, less distortion, longer firearm life. I’m not saying it’s completely true, as there are other factors at work. From a heat-management standpoint, though, steel would seem to be the way to go.
Ive heard that steel cased ammo can damage your weapon because the casing is as hard as the weapon itself. Any truth to that?
I couldn’t give an honest opinion without examining the casing and weapon in question. I’ll just say that, unless the steel the cases is made from is harder than the steel the barrel is made from, barrel life should be comparable to one which fired only brass-cased ammunition. I’ll also say that it is hard for me to believe that Wolf (or any other manufacturer) make their single-use cartridge cases out of something harder than rifle-grade 416 stainless or 4340 chromoly.
The manual for my H n K says no steel case ammo. So i do not shoot steel case out of it. My barretta says nothing about steel case and after trying some out looking for practice ammo i had feed issues as well as failure to eject issues. Ergo i no longer use steel case ammo.
Brass ammo draws more heat from the weapon, you are more likely to overheat with steel ammo.
That is my understanding. Also steel does not really free form when fired and make a tight gas seal sometimes; resulting in the chamber fouling. Most people seem to have more problems with steel.
Can’t reload the Wolf. I will admit that I use it when I am shooting at a range (usually indoor) that does not allow me to pick up my brass.
My ammo cans are full of different ammo.
Pistol can has some Federal 40 S&W FMJs, Speer Lawman 9mm FMJ, Remington UMC 9mm FMJ, Hornady 40cal JHP, Federal 9mm JHP, some old Golden Saber and Black Talon 9mm JHP
Rifle Box has a few hundred rounds of 5.56 Wolf SP(since no FMJs on the range)
5.56 Herter FMJs, American Eagle 5.56 FMJs, 200 or so of the M855 Penetrator rounds and 1 box of tracers for shits and giggles.
Small Rifle: American Eagle
Large Rifle: Prvi Partizan
Shotgun: Winchester
Pistol: Magtech, Sellier & Bellot, or American Eagle (Depending on Caliber)
.45LC: Winchester (So expensive!)
And of course Milsurp ammo when ever it’s applicable. However Swedish GP11 is in a class all its own <3
If I want quality I'll reload.
I only shoot Pitchfork Ammo, it’s pretty underground, you probably haven’t heard of it.
100% local-grown, hand gentled and soothed by smooth jazz, this ammo does Yoga three times a day and is self-carbon-footprint-offsetting.
Do me a favor and don’t buy any, you’ll only mainstream it…
GUN HIPSTER AWWAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYY!
Okay, that was funny. +1
You made me laugh!!!
+1
Made me laugh out loud, thanks.
For self defense I’m currently using Hornady Critical Defense. For range use it’s all about the Benjamins. The cost of .40 S&W is already high so I shoot the cheapest I can find. The last batch was Blazer in steel.
For .308 I go with surplus ammo: Radway Green, FN, and the latest is Portuguese.
I find prices, even with shipping, to be lower with online vendors like Century Arms, Cheaper Than Dirt and Sportsman’s Guide, than with local retailers. I wish I could get ammo via Amazon Prime…
Ammo at local dealers is a joke. Out here is Los Angeles…. Wow… I’m on the Westside of time, and we have… 2 stores Turners in Redondo (South Bay) and Martin B Rettings in Culver city. Thats it. Dont get me wrong, I dont mind Rettings, but they have high prices on EVERYTHING except the CR123 batteries. Typical gunstore douchebaggery . That place gets a lot of lookie loos. I’ve gone in there several times cash in hand ready to make a purchase, only to walk out when I see the prices. They dont change, they dont haggle, they are pretty firm on all prices. Haggling would be bad for business because every knucklehead there, including the G-star with the saggin’ pants who’s girlfriend happens to be buying a gun… (eye roll), would ask for a the price you just gave “that guy.” I go there mostly for cleaning supplies and misc crap. Turners is your typical Herpdurp Retail Durp. They suck, but the prices are good, usually. I get most of my ammo from a local ammo reloader who also has the occasional PMC .223, and other OEM ammo. I buy my hollow points from Ammotogo.com. LAX wont sell Winchester Ranger to civilians. Whatever… Your loss. I wont shoot wolf through my rifle, shes an American princess. My XD, mostly brass and reloads.
Blazer in steel? I may be wrong, but I thought that all of the CCI Blazer products, (including the “blue nylon jacketed” US made CCI Blazer sold by Cabela’s under its Herter’s label), were either aluminum or brass cased.
I’ll shoot nearly anything that’s brass cased in my long guns. I’ve never liked Wolf Ammo, and won’t shoot anything made by the Chinese due to their horrible quality control and the fact that it isn’t made here. The Herter’s Russian ammo I’ve shot has been accurate, reliable, and cheap, but it’s also been responsible for scratching the lovely chrome chamber of my Ruger SR-556. My plinking ammo of choice is either PMC Bronze or PMC XTAC (most polished brass at this price point, moderate accuracy, excellent reliability) or Federal American Eagle (hideous brass, excellent reliability, decent accuracy – and made in the US). The Federal / ATK MK 318 Mod O is the real deal for barrier penetration in 5.56 (whereas the .50 Beowulf is less ammunition – sensitive for that purpose!).
My home defense ammo is .40 Smith and Wesson Golden Saber, Speer Gold Dot, or Remington Ultimate Home Defense, all in 180 grain. I’d also check out Hornady Critical Duty once my checking account recovers. The most gimmicky, overpriced home defense ammo I’ve seen is the Extreme Shock.
If my guns and optics weren’t so pricey (with the exception of my stock Ruger 10-22), I might be a little more “liberal” in my selection. But my guns aren’t cheap, and I’m sure as hell not liberal!
So the short answer would be: a little picky for plinking ammo, and a lot picky for hunting, accuracy shooting, and home defense!
Not picky at all about my reloads!
Cheap, cheap, cheap. Federal value pack .22 ammo, Steel cased .233 and 9mm, bulk factory reloads (though I inspect all reloaded ammo personally before it goes into the magazine)… basically, whatever shoots and is still safe while being cheap enough to allow me to eat and go to school.
I shoot mostly Winchester, Federal, and Kent ammo in the shotguns, I burn up about 5000 rounds a year. I won’t use Remington because their rim bases won’t eject in a lot of guns we see clients bring into the field.
We’ve had a lot of experience with 223 Wolf ammo hunting prairie dogs in the summer. In a lot of the older 223 bolt guns they won’t eject. The cases expand a lot in the heat, to remedy that we keep it in a cooler with ice. Haven’t had that trouble with Wnchester ammo.
We also shoot a lot of reloads.
For deer I shoot an 06 and I prefer the 165 grain Winchester. Most of our shots are well within 100 yds on the Whitetail. The last 10 deer were one shot kills and all dropped in their tracks.
I like number 4 shot on turkey and I think 31/2 inch shells are over rated.
I’ve killed turkey out to 60 yds with a 20 guage and I’ve killed them at 3 yds. with a 12.
I think patterning and choke selection in shotgunning is paramount to success. The Winchester shotgun ammo seems to pattern best for us on ducks and geese. I don’t think I’ll change brands or loads anytime soon.
My silly concept is that if it works why change?
Jim
I tend to like what works the best. I usually buy ammo at Rural King or Walmart. Gun store prices are a rip off! Most of the time I have used Remington or Winchester Ammo. Some Federal and some CCI. Depends which gun and what I am using it for.
I played around at the range with various 9mm ammo and found the Wolf grouped the same as Speer Lawman. Both groups were 1/2 the size of the Federal WalMart bulk crap. Steel cased ammo has misfires if I load more than 10 rounds in Glock mags because it does not slide up as readily. BFD. I wouldn’t carry it for self defense, but it is fun for training.
I’ll shoot anything that runs.
What exactly are we supposed to be seeing in that primer photo??
Shoot whatever you like at the range as long as it works in your gun. For duty I use Winchester Ranger exclusively.
I believe the picture shows a high primer on the Wolf, as well as a short over-all length in the first pic. Both could be bad for functioning, and if the bullet on the Wolf is actually loaded too deep you could get a Lot of BANG for your buck.
Lately, I’ve been getting all my range ammo from USA AMMO. Haven’t had one misfire yet with the stuff and it shoots clean (unlike Winchester white box). Seems to be pretty good and the price is great. For defense, I’ve turned to Hornady’s Critical defense for both the handguns and shotgun.
USA AMMO putts off SO much smoke in the 9mm rounds i’ve fired, aside from that its pretty good stuff. I normally shoot fedeal 9mm and 45, with occasional tulammo 9 and 45. in 22lr its usually cci anything and federal.
Eric, I’ve had good luck with usaammo.com as well. I’ve probably burned through at least 2k rounds in .45 auto, 9mm for my pistols and .380 auto for my wife’s Walther. Can’t think of a single malfunction. Their prices aren’t as good as they used to be, but still very competitive.
I’ve seen a lot of comments on here about people using Hornady for defensive ammo and both my wife and I used to use it exclusively for carry. However, an old college friend of mine’s profession revolves around ballistics testing for ammunition and he swears by Cor Bon.
In his testing, he’s stated that in both 9mm and 45 Auto, the Cor Bon is slightly superior to anything Hornady offers in those calibers. More interestingly, he maintains that the Cor Bon .380 Auto JHP’s are the nastiest .380 Auto hollow points you can buy in terms of penetration, expansion and total energy that they deliver to the target. As a consequence, I’ve been using Cor Bon in all of my wife’s and my defensive pistols. Has anyone else heard or experienced anything similar with Cor Bon?