[Nocturnal]

I've been looking to buy a case of ammo and noticed that Wolf is by far the cheapest (around 12cents per round @1000) but they use steel cases.

Looking at some expended Winchester .40 brass it seems the case bulges quite a bit during firing. Is this essential to seal the chamber and keep the gasses going the right direction? I imagine that a steel case doesn't deform like that.

One indoor range close by doesn't allow wolf and I assume it's because of the steel cases mixing with the brass. Silly as it's obviously trivial to pick all the steel cases out before recycling but whatever.

Thoughts?

 

[P88]

I haven't found any reason not to use it. The fact that the .40 brass buldges, is to me a defect. You don't see other brass like 9mm buldging. Brass is supposed to expand, but when it buldges in one spot on the brass, it could be a sign of an unsupported chamber. Glocks are infamous for this. The P99 still does it to a certain extent, but not as bad as a Glock. This is one of the reasons why you see so many Glocks kB! The other issue with .40 Glocks is that the Glock will release its striker even when the slide isn't in full battery. When you combine this with the lack of support in the chamber........BOOM!

Now another issue with Wolf is the old laquer coating. This coating use to come off in AR15's and plug up the chamber so the AR wouldn't function correctly. They have since changed this and started coating the steel some sort of polymer coating. If it is polymer coated, kindof a grey looking coating, then I would use it. If it is the laquer, kind of a brownish looking coating, then I would stay away.

I wouldn't worry about the steel not buldging as good as the brass.

If you try some, let us know how it works. I've used some of the .45 ACP Wolf ammo and it worked fine.

 

[Nocturnal]

I thought the brass expanced all the way around but I took a closer look and indeed it bulges over about 270 degrees of the case. Weird.

 

[BreakerDave]

This may be dated info, but one of the other reasons not to use Wolf Ammo is that they had poor QC.  In the past, they were known for inconsistent loads and their ammo blew up a lot of guns.  Additionally, they did not always use lead for the bullets.  Sometimes little bits of scrap iron was mixed in with the bullets.  Iron/Steel can produce excessive wear on the rifling and is not what the bullet traps at indoor ranges are designed to stop.

Again, this could be dated, but several years ago I used to go to a range where using Wolf Ammo was expressly forbidden.  They went so far as to keep a magnet by the register in order to test the bullets being brought in.  One of the guys snuck some Wolf in and had a case head separation while I was there.  -This was back in the day when Wolf was still using lacquer on its bullets.  It was a mess and he was kicked off the range.  His membership was terminated on the spot.

As one friend put it, "Do you really want to use ammo manufactured by people who are paid in Vodka?"

 

[Nocturnal]

Thanks BreakerDave. I'll call the range and see what their reasons are. Could well be that there's still some of that low-Q ammo being sold.

 

[cigarman]

Squib loads have been reported in the 9X18 mak ammo on the Makarov forum.  I don't know whether that is generalized to the other calibers or not.

I don't use it, there are too many better quality ammos that you can buy just as cheaply.  For example,
Dansammo.com has Fiocchi 9mm from 109-129 for 1000 rounds, depending on loads (that is 10.9 to 12.9 cents per round),  Sportsmansguide.com has many types of ammo for great prices also, with lots of surplus and US brands, including defensive ammo from time to time. Right now they have Olympic 9mm for 99 per 1000 (9.9 cents per round). If you belong to their club, the price is less.

 

[Nocturnal]

9mm Is not a problem, lots of surplus and new ammo too. .40 Is quite a bit more expensive. No surplus available either. Then again we're only talking about 12 to 14 cents a round for new brass rounds.

 

[p-99quality]

on other boards I have heard that it is rough on the inside of the chamber, leaving scratches.I don't know but I use only brass case,once fired ammo.I see no reason to put the lowest quality ammo in a high quality pistol.if ammo tears up your weapon would the ammo manufacturer pay to repair it? would wolf?would remington?I don't wanna find out, the few exra $$ is not worth it.

 

[Nocturnal]

You got good points P-99q. At the same time I'd consider it a waste to plink away ammo that doesn't provide any benefit while costing more so it was worth (to me) exploring. After reading responses I won't be buying Wolf ammo. I'm about to order a bunch of 50 round boxes of different brands of new brass before getting a case of one type. Don't want to be stuck with ammo that my gun doesn't like. I'll do the same with defensive ammo before getting a whole bunch to build confidence that it's compatible with my P99. It'll be expensive but fun!

 

[mako]

It also bangs the crap out of the extractor. Use to use it in my 1911 till I noticed it started cutting a groove in the extractor.

 

[Chris]

My friend shot 2 boxes in his baby eagle. looked like a muzzleloader, smoke everywhere and his gun took hours to clean