Brown Vs SIlver.
This may be a stupid question but I would like to know the differences between Brown Bear and Silver Bear ammo. I know the cases are different looking but is the extra cost (1 dollar per box of 50) worth it or not?
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Hello royc38,
As I recall, Brown Bear have lacquered steel cases, and Silver Bear have zinc plated steel cases. For best reliability under all conditions, the zinc-plated cases would be preferred, as the lacquering would tend to soften as the chamber heated up. They also are more expensive, but are also available with expanding bullets (JSP?_Ts? JHP?_Ts? Sorry, working from memory here). I believe the Brown Bears are only available with FMJ bullets, which would be fine for casual shooting.0 -
Brown bear has lacquered steel cases. Silver bear has nickle plated steel cases.
One more time: Lacquer DOES NOT melt in a rifle's chamber. [:(!] The steel case does not expand and seal the chamber as well as a brass case. This allows carbon to possibly build up in the chamber. If a shooter uses brass cased ammo after shooting steel cased ammo without cleaning the chamber, the brass cases can stick.
The lacquer has NOTHING to do with it.
I've never had any trouble with Brown Bear or Silver Bear.0 -
Answer, as mentioned, is that the "silver" bear uses zinc (not nickel) plated steel cases, while the "brown" bear uses either lacquered or polymer-coated steel cases.
Its harder to find, but there is also actually a "golden" bear that uses brass plated steel cases. I don't buy the claim that this brass-coated ammo is functionally identical to solid brass cases, since the cases aren't reloadable, nor is the steel used as elastic as brass. So while all else being equal, I'd pick the "golden" bear over the other two, I wouldn't pay more for it.
Here are some images I lifted off the web that may help (or may confuse you further!):
Golden Bear FMJ:
Brown bear hollow point with lacquered case:
Brown bear FMJ with polymer coating (not lacquer; don't know if this is widely available or not):
Silver bear soft point:
Silver bear hollow point:
Silver bear FMJ (This image is 5.45x39 ammo):
Note that lacquer-coated steel case ammo was (and for all I know still is) military standard issue for all the Commie-bloc countries for decades. While for the same money, I'd prefer one of the plated rounds or a polymer coating, I wouldn't avoid this ammo.
It runs fine in guns DESIGNED to use it, which would include the typical Communist bloc weapons like Kalashnikov pattern rifles, SKS rifles, Mosin-Nagant rifles, etc.
Also, for what its worth, my experience has been that the Barnaul manufactured "bear" ammo is slightly more accurate than the typical Wolf ammo (which used to be made by Ulyanovsk, and might still be). Then again, none of these Russian steel case rounds approach what you might call "match" quality!
For hunting, I'd go for the silver-bear "soft point" ammo. (Or even better yet, one of the American made brass case ammos with good hunting bullets).
The hollow point Brown/Silver bear rounds have little tiny nose cavities and don't really expand. They *may* be more accurate than typical FMJ ammo, but they also may cause misfeeds (ie jams) in AKs and such. I think the main point of this ammo is basically just to have a cheap nominal "sporting"/hollowpoint ammo for hunting in areas that ban FMJ ammo for that use.
Edit: If you want to know more about the types of "bear" ammo available, here is the importer's website: http://www.dkgtrading.com/bearammo/
Checking quickly, the "Golden bear" is only currently available in .30-06. The Brown and Silver are available in different bullet configurations, including Brown bear blanks!0 -
Thanks to all of you for your helpful information. I have recently ordered some samples of each to try out. These will be used in such weapons as my SKS rifles and my Bulgarian Makarov. I feel that these are built more or less to handle steel case ammo. I wanted to see the difference s between similar calibers and the reason for the additional cost versus the other.
Beantownshooter:
Thank you sir for the extra effort by providing visual examples and how they compare. I was pretty sure by the previous comments but you erased any doubt.0 -
quote:Originally posted by royc38
Thanks to all of you for your helpful information. I have recently ordered some samples of each to try out. These will be used in such weapons as my SKS rifles and my Bulgarian Makarov. I feel that these are built more or less to handle steel case ammo. I wanted to see the difference s between similar calibers and the reason for the additional cost versus the other.
Beantownshooter:
Thank you sir for the extra effort by providing visual examples and how they compare. I was pretty sure by the previous comments but you erased any doubt.
You're welcome.
Steel case ammo should run fine in your Makarov pistol.
I doubt you'll notice much performance difference between the different "bears" using similar bullet types. They're all loaded at the same factory, and I'd assume the only difference between otherwise similar loads is how the cases are coated (ie they probably share the same primers, powder, underlying cases, and bullets).
You're more likely to see differences between different types of ammo from the different Russian factories (ie Vympel, Tula, Barnaul, Ulyanovsk, etc).0
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