Review: Wolf MILITARY CLASSIC in 62 gr

[Erick]

This review is specifically about Wolf Military Classic in 62 gr

Other Wolf like PolyPerformance is specifically not included as it is made elsewhere.
But all or much of this review may apply to Colt Zinc 62 grain and Brown Bear/Silver Bear in 62 gr as they are made in the same factory Barnaul using the same bullets (all are available in HP or FMJ)

I been recommending this Ammo to my frinds for a while now.
Mostly based on price and the fact that it ran trouble free in my rifles despite being “evil” steel case.

So I think now is the time for a more thorough review;

Reliability: fired approx 3000-3500 rds thru my LWRC M6A2 and my SIG 516 w/o a single failure of any kind! :good:

No failures to feed, fire, eject or fully cycle the bolt!

Based on anecdotal evidence I always felt the 62 gr loaded russian rounds were loaded a bit hotter than their 55gr brethen.

(I can speculate that maybe this is so because for 55 gr they did not feel the need to use extra powder vs the 5.45mm , 53 and 50 gr fill they usually produce? .. but this is pure speculation…)

A 223 Tula in 55gr or a PMC Bronze in 55gr might occasionally result in a failure to fully cycle my SIG 516 with the gas selector set to “normal”.
No such problems with Wolf Military Classic in 62 gr however.

Also I finally had the chance to check accuracy on this round.

I always expected this round to be ok in accuracy since the 62 gr is an ok fit to my 1 in 7 barrels and the lack of a penetrator vs M855 makes for a round thats easier to make properly, at a given price point.

This weekend I was going through some courses of fire which, while fast, at the end had a “capstone target”.

This was a 4 inch diameter metal plate at 100 yards.

I would usually be able to hit it on the first shot sometimes on the 2nd (we arrived at final target out of breath and even though while prone it was unsupported)

Being able to hit this 100 m target consistently means that the Point of Impact was not more than 2 MOA away from my point of AIM.

Which i think is pretty darn good for an economy round!!
The much more expensive brass XM855 often shoots worse than this

The Wolf Military Classic in 62 gr is not the cheapest of the steel case ammo (that’s Tula in 55gr) but it is only 2-3 cents more per round and WELL WORTH the extra IMO especially since its still 9-10 cents a round cheaper than the cheapest brass cased ammo (which are 55gr remans and remans often have problems of their own, brass or no brass)

In summary I highly recommend this round for economical yet reeasonably accurate shooting in training and consider it reliable enough to stash as a SHTF round.

[Erick]

The Lucky Gunner tests were brought up here in a thread.
This is one of the most misinterpreted tests on the interwebs where everyone takes it to mean the opposite that the data indicates.

The Lucky Gunner test results in fact resoundingly validate the use of steel case and bi metal ammo.
Why?
Even with the EXTREME accelerated wear caused by their constant mag dumping (which lowered the ammo cost/used up barrel number).. steel case was still hugely more economical.

In the end what ever extra wear the bi metal bullets cause its too small a cost to be significant.

Lets say they dindt do magdumps.

I dont think anyone here doubts those barrels would last twice as long w/o the magdumps…(I would not be surprised if the bushy’s they had used may only be 4140 steel barrels too ..BM is now 4150 steel but that is a recent thing…)

W/o magdumps I think we can safely double the barrel life listed.
So we are looking at 12,000 to 20,000 rds barrel life .
How many people here will fire 20,000 rounds IN THEIR LIFETIME?

So what costs more... 8000+ rds of ammo ( the likely difference at anything of a reasonable firing schedule or a new barrel) or a new barrrel?

10-12 cents savings per round we are looking at  a savings of nearly $1000.

How many spare barrels can you buy for that?

If you are running a CHF barrel the longevity is likely longer and therefore the longevity difference too.

And  most of us own more than 1 gun ?
Now some of us may have a change a barrel maybe after 6 years instead of ten (high volume shooters)

Thats a trivial expense.
In the meantime the 35% less cost per round buys the extra ammo you NEED to train in a serious manner.

I dont make bad money but if all the ammo i shot in the last 18 months was premium brass case I dont think I would have been able to sustain that training tempo.

And if someone says “well i just go w/ brass reloads” and the price difference will be much smaller .. yes.. maybe it will…but I had problems whit factory reloaded brass before (will not name company since i am not sure which one it was)… I think the factory new steel case is likely at least as reliable as reloaded brass.

Of the 9000 rds I have thru my LWRC in the last 18 months , 7000 rds were steel and I never had a problem until that one time when I was firing 55gr black box wolf.
Once I didnt clean my rifle for 2000 rds of steel and it still worked fine (mostly on colt zinc plated and military classic 62gr)

And thats 25 cents a round right now…

[thatGuy]

I would be interested to see what the bore of your rifle looks like.. I assume it is chrome lined.

I'm also interested to know if you run steel in it exclusively or if you've ever gone back to brass and noticed any issue.

[Erick]

I would be interested to see what the bore of your rifle looks like.. I assume it is chrome lined.

I'm also interested to know if you run steel in it exclusively or if you've ever gone back to brass and noticed any issue.

I freely mix in brass with seemingly no ill effect.

Mr barrel is CHF Ni-Corr in the LWRC and CHF chrome lined in the SIG516.
The Sig has only seen 1000 rds or so so it doesnt really count.

My firing cadence is usually fairly realistic to simulate skirmishes rather than dumping mags into a berm.
Gun has seen maybe 15-20 ish mag dumps ever in its life.

[thatGuy]

Let us know if you start getting failure to eject stoppages in the coming weeks and months. 

[Erick]

After 9000 rds of which 7000  were steel I am not longer worried.
 Also an extractor costs about the same as the money I saved on a single box of Ammo 

[Grudgie]

Let's not forget terminal ballistics. What does the bullet do once it hits flesh? Steel cased ammo is not usually loaded to 5.56 velocities and the bullet is steel. I have been trying to find some ballistic gel testing on youtube.

[Erick]

Hollow point .223 military classic are available in 62 gr.

[Erick]

Just got in 2 more cases

This Ammo seems more accurate than the vaunted XM855 in my rifles when I ran it in with accuracy in mind.. (which were my SIG516 and my LWRC M6A2)

[JohnyMac]

Great discussion you started Erick! Thanks 

[Erick]

I would be interested to see what the bore of your rifle looks like.. I assume it is chrome lined.

I'm also interested to know if you run steel in it exclusively or if you've ever gone back to brass and noticed any issue.

This is probably a good time to note that I just had ot replace my barrel at 10,000 rds well less than one would expect a CHF barrel to last.
BUT even if  a barrel lasts half as long with this ammo, I lose what 150 bucks (half the  CHF barrels value) .... in 10000 rds I will have saved 800 bucks in ammo cost

PS: Johnmac, Thanks

[thatGuy]

There is something to be said about being able to afford to shoot!

[CJS06]

Erick  great thread!  It is disappointing to hear that your barrel needed replacement at 10,000 rounds. I wouldnt expect that from a CHF chrome lined barrel.  I am at just under 20,000 rounds through my KAC with barely a perceptible opening up of my groups which were very good to start.  I have a good friend who shoot primarily steel case/bimetal and he got just under 20k out of his LMT SBR before his barrel was done. The only reason I dont shoot steel case as much is that much of it, even when marked is not loaded to 5.56, it is mostly .223 and often there is a fairly decent variation in loadings.  If shooting steel case gets someone shooting more then it is more than worth it.

BTW using brass case ammo isnt always a guarantee of good ammo. In late Nov I had a double charged round blow up in one of my ARs destroying the upper receiver, bolt, firing pin, and a magazine. This was not a reload, it was factory new from a major manufacturer.

[Grudgie]

I've been hearing good things about Wolf Gold. You can often find it as cheap as $ .28 per round.

[CJS06]

Grudgie

I ran about 3k Wolf Gold in a class not too long ago.  It was in general much more consistent than the steel case offering from Wolf. It also seemed to be loaded closer to 5.56 than .223.  A friend has a nice rifle that has a relatively small gas port and is set up to run very soft.  He has trouble cycling Wolf steel (and other .223) but ran 1k rounds with no issues with similar ejection pattern to M193 ( i have the brass burn scar to prove it :-) ). I personally dont like a rifle to be set up so that it wont run with anything that i can find, but that is his decision.

[Hondokov]

That's great that the 62 grain runs fine for you Erik. 
I used 1,500+ rounds of 55 gr Wolf MC poly inside two days and had numerous malfunctions (FTF,FTE).
I found the loading slow, dirty but accurate....
The polymer coated cases started to rust when they got wet between loadings (rainy wet muddy conditions).
The steel cleaning rod got a workout. I was not surprised, I was being cheap and bought Wolf and paid for it twice.
I was not alone, others that ran steel case had similar problems...

[Erick]

The 55gr is  a different round completely , I dont think it is even made in Barnaul.

Thats why my review made the point 5 times (in one way or another) of saying its only valid for the 62gr.

 less hotly loaded kinda like PMC Bronze of Tula 55gr results in frequent  short cycling in all my tighter guns for example.

But then again thta is not a function of the case but of the loaded as brass cased PMC Bronze 55 gr does the exact same thing..

I agree the polymer coating is not as effective as protecting agianst moisture as the lacquer which is the gold standard.

[Hondokov]

Erick,
Have you or anyone else for that matter run this 62 grain ammo through a chrono?
Curious to know the MV....
Thanks

[Erick]

Sorry I dont have a chrono am curious too.
Not claiming its a real hot round but it does not result in short cycling with me and the ejection patterns are standard

[Rhuiden]

Eric,   I would like to know where you are buying your Wolf Military Classic 62gr ammo at.  I see lots of 55gr but everywhere i look the 62 gr is sold out.

[Erick]

Eric,   I would like to know where you are buying your Wolf Military Classic 62gr ammo at.  I see lots of 55gr but everywhere i look the 62 gr is sold out.

The Armory
SG Ammo
Ammunition to go
militaryshooters

Those 4 have become my go-to places