29 replies to this topic

[The1930sRust]

Just found out that the brown chariot of the Gods is bringing me 1000 rnds of Wolf steel cased. I could have swore this was brought up before, but search turned up nothing. Is it going to be ok to shoot this in my Westy?

[LongRifle]

I have a Kahr Semi Auto Thompson and as hard as it is to believe, Wolf is the only ammo that functions 100%. Brass Ammo sometimes will hang up as it enters the chamber. The bolt will not go all the way home.

I have fired over 1,000 rounds and it really shoots great. Stinky and dirty, but shoots great.

[Brickyard]

Chris,

Right, wrong or whatever ... I shoot it in my AO and have never had an issue. Distinctive stink and a bit dirty but cheap and in 2 years, the "brass" has rotted away. I normally shoot my re-loads but have 250 rds. of Wolf on the shelf just in case.

[john]

Chris,
I've shot over 6K of Wolf in my 28 with only one problem.....broke the tip off an ejector. Not sure if it was due to the steel casings but could be. Extractors are cheap and I have a handful. It is dirty but the new polymer coated stuff doesn't gum up your chamber like the old stuff did.

Tracie said he'd seen a couple barrels ringed by it and wouldn't allow it at last years shoot but I haven't persona;;y had that problem.

john

[LIONHART]

I say don't. I only use Wolf .45 in my Stainless Revolver, as I can switch from .45LC to .45ACP with a different cylinder. Other than that, and feeding my AK's Steel Cased Ammo, I don't/won't use it. Stick with Brass. JMHO FWIW..

[Grey Crow]

Chris,

Most I have spoken with feel its really tough on Thompson's. I lost an extractor at about 450 rounds.

Others seem to feel its ok in .223.

Wolf burns a lot cleaner, and a lot less carbon than Winchester. You can't beat the price of the steel case stuff, plus you save a lot of time not hunting your brass.

Who knows, perhaps its Russia's plan to disarm Americans, by destroying the guns. Taking over the US without firing a shot.

John,

Barrels ringed??

For my guns its either brass, or nickel plated.

[Z3BigDaddy]

All this rhetoric...

"For semi use, I won't argue with Wolf, other than the steel case being hard on the system. "
Why? What does a steel case do that brass doesn't?



"Tracie said he'd seen a couple barrels ringed by it and wouldn't allow it at last years shoot but I haven't persona;;y had that problem."
What caused this?

"Most I have spoken with feel its really tough on Thompson's."
Do people know this from experience or just passing on the unverified gossip.

"A 'kaboom" on the receiver from out-of-spec round, or trashed barrel from a squib in full auto is too expensive."



I haven't put that much thru my bastid TSMG, but I have put thousands of rounds thru my little 380 with no problems.... I have put maybe 500 thru a friends TSMG with no problems.... I think the quality control is on par with any USofA mass produced ammo... Have people had problems, first hand, with squib loads? I assume there are not problems with exploding guns as the case size, with the powder used, is not enuff to blow something up even if it was a double charge... jmho's

[amafrank]

I've fired a few thousand through my post sample M1 and M1A1 (and soon to be tested 28A1).
I've had no problems with it damaging the guns or running well. It seems to be more reliable than the US made WWII stuff. It is dirty as others noted and the indoor range we use at times won't let us use it because of the contamination of the brass scrap. (its too hard to use a magnet to remove the steel cases) As to whether you should use it in your transferables???? thats up to you. If there is any question in my mind as to ammo causing damage to my expensive toys I will pay a bit more to get ammo of known quality. Stuff I know is junk I won't run even in the post samples. I like the wolf and use the 9mm and .45 in my transferables too.
Hope that helps
Frank

[Ron A]

I have trouble with Wolf in my Kimber 45 handguns. I have 3 and they will feed the ammo for about 45 - 50 rounds then I will find that the rounds will not chamber completely and you will need to push the back of the slide to close and fire.
the 223 jams in my Robinson arms guns - I have both the standard 96 and a bren conversion. It will take a while for the 96 to jab, but the top feed bren wont even feed more than 3 -5 rounds before it jams. For a while I thought it was the gun as I had purchsed several thousand rounds - switched to other ammo and jams.

I have never had any problem with any other ammo.

I will not use it in an expensive gun or for that matter any thompson...

[PATHFINDER]

I use Wolf and find it to be cleaner burning than US stuff. Using it in a 1917 mfg. Colt 1911 has caused no part failures and My Sig P220 loves it. It has done nothing bad to my Thompson except foul the hell out of the comp but then again show me ANY ammo that will not do that!!
As for ranges moaning about the steel case being mixed in with the brass?!? Tell them the one about the gift horse.

[PK.]

I have not heard of squibs or oversize cartridges in the Wolf brand. I have noticed that the lacquer finish on the case will deposit in the bolt way of the receiver and chamber when run on FA. This deposit is sticky and difficult to remove (solvents I have tried won’t cut it) without mechanical means such as steel wool, and then you have to work at it. This sticky deposit (especially in the chamber) may be the cause of broken extractors sometimes associated with Wolf usage, especially in the chambers used in the semi auto barrels that have less draft than a proper FA chamber, or are under size to begin with, as is common.

If I were given a case of the stuff (as apparently you have Chris), I would shoot it up in field scenarios where I couldn’t easily recover good brass cases.

[21 smoker]

I have first hand knowledge of Wolf .223 in my M16...don`t!...every single time I used it the gun broke or locked up with lacqer residue...in 9mm STens it broke the bolt extractor groove 5 times,as well as fail to eject the spent case all the way out of the tube...Sterling 9mm same story..these two types are blowback and the rate of expansion of fired brass seems to be critical in the timing and longevity of operation....steel case 7.62x39 was designed for Kalishnikovs,so I use it in an AK47,but I personally have not worked the nerve to use it in my Thompsons....hth...

[mgdoc8307]

I've shot thousands of rounds of .223 polymer coated 55 and 62 grain thru My M16s and hk 53 without a single problem. 5000 rds plus thru my W.H. also no problems. Stinks but don't have to pickup brass. I'll continue to shoot it in my transferable weapons.

[TSMGguy]

Many thousand of rounds of this in my MP40 and not nearly as much through my TSMGs have given no problems whatever. (The original German ammo was steel cased and lacquer coated as well.)

[hawksnest]

I have shot 10,000+ rounds of steel wolf .45 and 9mm in my full auto Thompsons and my S&W 76. Non corrosive primer. No problems except the .45 is dirty. I spray welder's anti-splatter into the Cutts every 100 or so rounds and the compensator stays clean. U.S. G.I. was steel cased in WWII (corrosive primers, so clean everything real good). My .02.

[philasteen]

I routinely run Wolf steel .45 in my M3A1 but I have not been brave enough to put it in my M1A1. I also run it through a Glock, Kimber and Les Baer with no issues.

[Grey Crow]

Z3,

Actually what I stated came from here (the Board) as well as from local shooters.

Being a long term reloader, looking at the spent cases will also tell a story.

If you look at a newly fired brass case you will notice that it is fairly well beat up, the steel cases do not reveal the damage. So the torment goes to the next weakest link in the chain. Weather that be the extractor, bolt or what ever piece is slightly weakened.

IMO, I do not feel the trade off is worth it to save a few pennies on the firing line. Especially if one is dropping those cheap loads down the bbl of a Colt or Savage made Thompson.

On the other hand if money is no object, and one can afford to drop a few Thompson's into the dumpster, eh why not save a little on ammo.

Just my .02, to each their own.

[mp40]

I believe the problem is with the steel cases, is the fact that steel casings do not have the elasticity or "spring back" of the so called cartridge brass..That is of course, when the cartridge case expands during firing it hugs the chamber walls tightly, in fact, compression forming into any defects that the chamber may have.

These can be microscopic imperfections but they will increase the frictional coefficient..And due to the lack of elasticity inherent in the steel cartridge casings(compared to the brass casings) the case(s) "stick" in the chamber causing the extractor undue stress effectively decreasing extractor life.

The Germans and later on, the Russians experimented with coatings to combat this "problem"

[John Jr]

Extractor $12.50 from Sarco

Save a few pennies?...$175-$200 per 1,000. Or $112 per 1,000.

Savings over 5000 rounds...over $300. I can buy a LOT of extractors for that.

Reloading is a hobby, not a way to save money.

I'm in it for the blasting.

[TSMGguy]

The next time you find yourself in possession of a fired steel case (nobody saves them), take a moment to drag a file across the rim of the base. You'll find it to be rather soft. There are so many different hardnesses of steel for different applications, and I doubt if our government would have adopted steel cased .45 ammo in 1943 if there were any issues with it. It was produced through the end of the Korean war by the billions in anticipation of a brass shortage that never developed. I've found it to be excellent (though dirty) stuff!