I get spam ads from various firearm-related sites, and so often, they lead with these "very low prices" on Tulammo and Wolf rounds.

But it seems every time I've read about someone having issues with their ammo, or just opinions in general, Wolf or Tulammo are part of the "don't use" recommendation.

So, who does use it?

I bought some of each to function-test my AR--just to make sure it would cycle it properly. You never know what may be available if TSHTF or TEOTWAWKI. Otherwise: No.

The below comments are circa 2001-2006 or so. Not sure how much has changed since then.

Never tried Tulammo, but I had buddies that did in Eastern Bloc calibers and had no specific complaints that I remember.

As for Wolf, I have buddies that used it in 9x18MM and .45 ACP. Nothing special, and I remember it having a distinct smell.

Also lots and lots of .223, 7.62x39 and some 7.62x54R. Same smell as the pistol ammo and fairly dirty. If you didn't clean the melted lacquer from the cases out of the chamber every so often, feeding, chambering and extraction problems would follow.

Since then most of the guys in my circle of friends moved away and nobody local buys Wolf anymore. Plus it isn't $69 per thousand delivered these days.

Wolf Gold is a different animal.

I have shot a good bit of both, mostly 9x19, with some 45 ACP. Burns dirty, but was even cheaper than aluminum case Blazer. Never had any function problems, and I clean my guns anyway.

I have bought several cases a while back when there was a bigger difference in price between steel and brass cased ammo.
Never had any issues out of it in my g19, CZ75, AK-V or Stribog.
Can't really speak on how well it would group as I shoot steel.

quote:

Originally posted by fpuhan:
But it seems every time I've read about someone having issues with their ammo, or just opinions in general, Wolf or Tulammo are part of the "don't use" recommendation.

This is generally because much of the Wolf and Tula ammo is dirty and lower powered, especially in handgun calibers. (Much like many of the other cheap ammo brands, including brass cased brands.)


I've shot a bunch of Wolf and Tula 7.62x39, a fair bit of Wolf .223, and a small amount of Tula 7.62x54R and Wolf 9mm and .45 ACP. Never any problems.

Understand that Wolf is just a distributor. They don't make any of the ammo themselves. They contract it out to various Russian, European, and Asian ammo factories. So saying "Wolf ammo is crap" is inaccurate, but you could say "The Wolf ammo that was made by XXX factory is crap", since some of the cheaper steel-cased ammo in some calibers made at various factories can be hit or miss.

Their brass-cased Wolf Gold line in particular is excellent. Most of the calibers are made by Prvi, and the 55 grain 5.56 specifically is great quality military-spec M193 ammo made by a Taiwanese military contractor. I've shot thousands of rounds of that, and have thousands more in my stockpile.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: RogueJSK,

quote:

Originally posted by RogueJSK:
Their brass-cased Wolf Gold line in particular is excellent. Most of the calibers are made by Prvi, and the 55 grain 5.56 specifically is great quality military-spec M193 ammo made by a Taiwanese military contractor.

This...I've shot a couple thousand rounds of the Wolf Gold stuff and found it as good as any M193 out there. That being said, I really haven't had any issues with the steel cased Wolf. On the other hand Tula will not function reliably in my Ruger AR556.

OP didn't say whether the question was about rifle or pistol ammo. I bought a couple cases of .223 about 10 years ago and shot maybe 1/3 of it. Then I started hearing stories about the lacquer on it gumming up chambers and quit using it. I didn't have any problems, but chose not to risk it. Supposedly the newer stuff doesn't have that problem, or at least not as bad.

I've put about 400 rounds of Tula .45ACP through my G21 with no issues and will probably buy more of that.

I also like the Wolf Gold 55gr .223. It shoots much better for me than the Prvi stuff I was using before. That said, my SHTF stash is all Lake City, about 75% XM193 and the rest XM855 (except for a few hundred rounds of 64gr Gold Dots, and after initial testing in my newly completed target rifle I'm going to be laying in some IMI mk262 type stuff).

quote:

Originally posted by Expert308:
Then I started hearing stories about the lacquer on it gumming up chambers and quit using it. I didn't have any problems, but chose not to risk it.

That's an internet urban legend. Lacquer coating on steel cases doesn't "melt and gum up your chamber", although you see that repeated ad nauseum on various message boards. Lacquer coated steel cases have been used on huge amounts of Asian and European military production ammo for nigh on 100 years.

What is true is that steel cased ammo in general will cause fouling to build up in your chamber a bit more quickly than brass, due to the fact that steel doesn't expand to seal the chamber as readily as brass. This can be exacerbated if you shoot a bunch of steel cased ammo and then switch to brass cased ammo without cleaning your chamber, as the now fouled chamber combined with the greater expansion of the brass will result in a greater frequency of stuck brass cases.

quote:

Supposedly the newer stuff doesn't have that problem, or at least not as bad.

Despite it not actually being a problem, many of the steel cased ammo companies switched to using polymer coated steel cases to placate those consumers who were starting to refuse to buy lacquered steel cases because they had visited a gun forum and now didn't want their chambers to get "gummed up". And suddenly, people were saying "this new polymer steel cased ammo is better because it won't gum up your chamber", despite it still being steel cased and still fouling the chamber more than brass, just like the lacquered steel cases.

It was all just a PR/Marketing stunt, but ended up having one major negative side effect: The polymer coated ammo is not as rust resistant as the lacquer ammo, so it's not a good choice for long term storage. I've had poly steel ammo develop rust spots in as few as 3 years, despite being sealed in .50 cal ammo cans inside a climate controlled house. (Luckily, it was only a few hundred rounds that I had to toss.) And the good news is that there are still some companies who have stuck to their guns and continue to offer the superior lacquered steel ammo, interweb hyperbole be damned.

Yeah, my Glocks and beater ARs eat it for breakfast lunch and dinner.

No issues at all. Thousands of rounds. I have enough brass to reload for a lifetime, if I every find the time to reload (currently don't).

So for shorter range drill shooting I like doing it at 1/2 price of brass with Wolf Steel.

Also makes cleanup at the range a snap - just swing the magnet sweeper around and done.

quote:

Originally posted by Expert308:
OP didn't say whether the question was about rifle or pistol ammo. I bought a couple cases of .223 about 10 years ago and shot maybe 1/3 of it. Then I started hearing stories about the lacquer on it gumming up chambers and quit using it. I didn't have any problems, but chose not to risk it. Supposedly the newer stuff doesn't have that problem, or at least not as bad.

I've put about 400 rounds of Tula .45ACP through my G21 with no issues and will probably buy more of that.

I also like the Wolf Gold 55gr .223. It shoots much better for me than the Prvi stuff I was using before. That said, my SHTF stash is all Lake City, about 75% XM193 and the rest XM855 (except for a few hundred rounds of 64gr Gold Dots, and after initial testing in my newly completed target rifle I'm going to be laying in some IMI mk262 type stuff).

I shoot handguns almost exclusively. I have two .22LR long guns, but my question was mostly centered around handgun ammo. Sorry I wasn't clearer.

quote:

Originally posted by RogueJSK:


Understand that Wolf is just a distributor. They don't make any of the ammo themselves. They contract it out to various Russian, European, and Asian ammo factories. So saying "Wolf ammo is crap" is inaccurate, but you could say "The Wolf ammo that was made by XXX factory is crap", since some of the cheaper steel-cased ammo in some calibers made at various factories can be hit or miss.

Their brass-cased Wolf Gold line in particular is excellent. Most of the calibers are made by Prvi, and the 55 grain 5.56 specifically is great quality military-spec M193 ammo made by a Taiwanese military contractor. I've shot thousands of rounds of that, and have thousands more in my stockpile.

I will echo these comments

---------------------------

It won’t cause you any problems. I stock up on brass ammo for a rainy day but I almost always shoot Tula or wolf at the range. And have been doing so for for the past 15 years. I’ve never had a problem with it. Hell, the only stuck case I’ve ever had was with brass ammo in my X95 the first time I shot it. I chalked it up to being a new gun that needed breaking in.

Like others have already said, the Wolf Gold Brass .223 is very good. I've shot over 4000 rounds of it with no issue.

quote:

Originally posted by shoevb:
Like others have already said, the Wolf Gold Brass .223 is very good. I've shot over 4000 rounds of it with no issue.

And it's fairly cheap. These are $262.90 + $16 shipping:

https://www.sgammo.com/product...tic-wolf-gold-ar-15-

Wolf and Tula branded steel cased ammo are fine in most guns, but can be finicky with some. Here are my experiences.

I've shot over 4,000 rounds of Wolf steel cased ammo through my Rock River Arms AR-15 and about the same amount through my Glock 19. Both still function mostly as design with no apparent additional wear. The only things I've replaced on each gun are the recoil spring on the G19, and the buffer spring on the AR during this time.

One of the down sides to using the cheap steel cased ammo in the Glock is that the excess carbon fouling ends up in the magazine body which can cause the first 5 rounds of steel cased ammo to jam up inside. Also the steel cases generate more friction than brass case. None of my AR15s will strip and feed the first two rounds from a fully loaded 30 round mag with steel cased ammo, that is not a problem with brass cased ammo. The Wolf ammo that I shoot seems to be weaker than than brass cased ammo from the big companies. Also accuracy is lower with Wolf steel cased ammo, expect about a 4-5 inch group at 100 yards from an AR15 that otherwise would shoot 2-3 inch group with quality brass cased ammo.

My sole reason for using steel cased ammo is the difference in cost. Expect to pay about 7-9 cents less per round of .223, and about 5 cents less for 9 mm. For this difference in cost, I'm willing to deal with the downsides.

Not all steel cased ammo is the same though. I remember that Hornady made steel cased match ammo a few years ago, and I've found their .308 loading to be fairly precise, about 1.5" group of 5 at 100 from my SCAR 17s and a little better from a S&W M&P10.

RogueJSK's explanation of issues with steel case ammo was demonstrated on this blog post: https://www.theboxotruth.com/e...sed-ammo-in-an-ar15/

Wolf Gold is $269.50/case with free shipping:

https://www.targetsportsusa.co...db&mc_eid=ed943126ac

A buddy of mine shoots Wolf steel 9mm all the time. It's definitely smokier than other stuff, but I've never seen him have a failure in the hundreds of rounds I've seen him shoot with me in a variety of handgun brands.

I don't know where I picked them up, but I've reloaded a fair amount of 9mm on Tula 9mm brass cased. The cases are just fine as far as I can tell. Good primer pockets and they seem to size up better than either Federal or Winchester brass, IMO.

I also shoot a lot of Wolf Gold in my ARs and have never had a problem.

.45 ACP TULAMMO steel case runs flawlessly in my KRISS Vector smg. Also runs great in M1A1 tommy. Shoot em and leave em

Used to a long time ago I used to buy Wolf 7.62x39 as it was just about the only thing available in that caliber.
Now days no regular ammo but I use Tula/Wolf primers.
No problem at all with the primers.
YMMV