Wolf ammo
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There's a lot of talk about it, both good and bad, the primary question is whether shooting Wolf ammo has actually harmed any firearm, on the very busy AR15 forums there has never been a documented report of any damage or excessive wear caused by Wolf ammo.
I have one AR that I consider my "beater" AR, I have shot around 1,000 rounds of Wolf 223 rounds through it with no ill effects at all, I also use Wolf in my AKM and SKS, of course those were designed to be used with steel case ammo. While I haven't seen any proven damage from Wolf, I'm conservative and only shoot Wolf in my beaters, the good guns get good ammo.
I have one AR that I consider my "beater" AR, I have shot around 1,000 rounds of Wolf 223 rounds through it with no ill effects at all, I also use Wolf in my AKM and SKS, of course those were designed to be used with steel case ammo. While I haven't seen any proven damage from Wolf, I'm conservative and only shoot Wolf in my beaters, the good guns get good ammo.
Wouldn't the cases be soft ductile steel. The barell is hardened steel. So the barell is harder than the cases. How many rounds would you have to shoot to actually wear out the barell? If the steel cases wear out the barell, is it only the chamber? If I save $30 per 1000 rounds and a new barell cost $120 than 4000 rounds is the break even point. If the barell last 17,000 rounds, the savings in ammo just paid for the gun.
Based on experience and information form the web taht was reproducable, there are somethings to concern yourself with regardng wolf, but they aren't that bad.
1)Wolf pistol tends to be dirty. I've seen the .40 pistol ammo choke a glock in ~750 rounds. So you need to clean more often. The fouling isn't jsut form the powder tending to be dirty, which it is as far as i can tell, but from problem #2 as well.
2) Steel cases don't expand and form a seal as well or as quickly as brass cases. This results in burning powder and gasses blowing back around the case some (you can also see this with minor power factor reloads using good brass cases so...) this results ina dirtier chamber. However, that can lead to issues with extraction problems if you switch form wolf to brass cased ammo without cleaning your gun. This is mostly noticed on the AR-15 platform.
3) their .223 ammo in 62gr BARELY makes minor power factor out of a 16 inch barrel. their rifle ammo is loaded a little on the wimpy side. On the other hand, runnning it over the chrono it was more consistant than anything else I tried.
Wolf used to genuinely suck. Then about 2 years ago, they decided to get their act together. Dropped the laquer coating for polymer, went with normal jacketed bullets, improved QA so ammo was much more consistant and no more light charges or over charges than any other manufacturer, and even bumped the velocity on their ammo a little when the competition shooters told them it didn't make minor.
1)Wolf pistol tends to be dirty. I've seen the .40 pistol ammo choke a glock in ~750 rounds. So you need to clean more often. The fouling isn't jsut form the powder tending to be dirty, which it is as far as i can tell, but from problem #2 as well.
2) Steel cases don't expand and form a seal as well or as quickly as brass cases. This results in burning powder and gasses blowing back around the case some (you can also see this with minor power factor reloads using good brass cases so...) this results ina dirtier chamber. However, that can lead to issues with extraction problems if you switch form wolf to brass cased ammo without cleaning your gun. This is mostly noticed on the AR-15 platform.
3) their .223 ammo in 62gr BARELY makes minor power factor out of a 16 inch barrel. their rifle ammo is loaded a little on the wimpy side. On the other hand, runnning it over the chrono it was more consistant than anything else I tried.
Wolf used to genuinely suck. Then about 2 years ago, they decided to get their act together. Dropped the laquer coating for polymer, went with normal jacketed bullets, improved QA so ammo was much more consistant and no more light charges or over charges than any other manufacturer, and even bumped the velocity on their ammo a little when the competition shooters told them it didn't make minor.
A very good friend of my family works for the PA State Police. He is in charge of product testing (guns, ammo, etc.) for the whole state police force. He told me that under no circumstances should you ever shoot Wolf pistol ammo. He went into lots of technicalities about his reasoning, but from what I understood it had something to do with the hardened steel casings being harder than the extractors in M&P's, as well as Glocks, XD's, 24/7's. He said that many of the state troopers have actually broken extractors shooting Wolf for practice. Therefore, Wolf ammo is now completely forbidden to be used in the troopers duty guns. Even though it is pretty cheap ammo, and there aren't any problems with feeds, primers, etc., you still should never use it.
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That's been a huge subject of discussion on the AR15.com ammo board, the observations are that the real haters of Wolf ammo have never shot it, and there is a standing invitation for someone who has actually had a firearm of any kind, damaged in any way by Wolf ammo, this offer has been standing for several years, guess what? NOT ONE SINGLE INCIDENT, while there has been the occasional broken extractor, the occurrence rate is about the same as with regular brass cased ammo.
The chamber does get dirty, the theory is the steel cases not expanding enough to seal the chamber, but that's about it.
Like I said, I shoot Wolf in my "beater" AR for plinking, the good guns get the good ammo, naturally that includes my MP40.
The chamber does get dirty, the theory is the steel cases not expanding enough to seal the chamber, but that's about it.
Like I said, I shoot Wolf in my "beater" AR for plinking, the good guns get the good ammo, naturally that includes my MP40.
Gun shows, local stores on sale. I would probably consider Wolf again if I didn't reload. Whenever Blazer Brass is on sale, I get a few boxes to get new cases. I'm not a constant shooter, but If I didn't reload, my wallet would hate me. My issue with Wolf is the amount of cleaning needed afterwards. I've only fired five boxes of varnished case Wolf. They're using polymer now?
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