Wolf 45 ACP Ammo
I was told by a dealer that the steel casings in Wolf ammo will dammage my fire arm, is that true?
thanks
thanks
0
-
Eventually if you shoot enough of it.. I would go another route and stay clear of it . 0 -
Steel cased ammo is harder than it's brass counterpart, which if used extensively will cause increased wear on your guns extractor, unless your gun was designed for steel cased ammo(like the AK47). It is also likely to cause poor extraction(jams) due to a build up of the lacquer coating from the ammo in the chamber. The Wolf polyperformance ammo was a halfhearted attempt to correct the fouling problems encountered with using steel cased ammo in guns that were not designed to shoot it. 0 -
Gunslinger has given some very good advice .FWIW I for one agree with him 100%. 0 -
The steel used in Wolf ammo (and in steel cased ammo in general) is a mild steel that should be much softer than the steel used in your gun's barrel or chamber.
Using it should NOT damage the chamber of your gun.
The problem with steel cased ammo is that it tends to "stick" inside of chambers. This is for a number of reasons:
a. Steel is less elastic than brass, so the cases don't stretch quite as much from firing. Conversely, they also don't return to size quite as well after firing, potentially meaning a tighter fit in the chamber.
b. Less elasticity also means a poorer seal around the neck of the cartridge during firing and therefore more dirt/carbon can accumulate in the chamber, leading to a tighter fit.
Dirtier chambers, by the way, also mean a less reliable gun and more work on your part to clean the chambers after firing. Firing NON-steel cases after firing steel cases can be problematic because of dirt/carbon buildup. .
c. There *might* be buildup of lacquer from cases in the chamber. This is actually a bit controversial, and I believe less of a problem than many think, but no matter.
Regardless of the specific reasons, stickier steel cases are harder to extract from the guns chamber. This leads to more wear and tear on your guns EXTRACTOR, which actually probably IS more likely to break using steel cased ammo, depending on the gun in question.
Whether or not you want to take the chance is up to you.
Some people are willing to take the chance on a broken extractor, figuring that the cost savings in steel cased ammo will more than make up for the cost/hassle of replacing a failed extractor, or the increased cleaning they'll have to do.
If its a gun you aren't trusting your life to, I can see doing that. For example, an AR-15 extractor only runs around $20, and these are relatively easy to drop in. An ordinary 1911 extractor doesn't cost much more, though these aren't trivial to install correctly as they may require fitting/tuning for reliable operation.
Personally, I try to avoid using steel cased ammo in any gun not designed to use it (eg like Commie bloc rifles such as the AK and SKS). Not worth the potential hassle to me.
EDIT: FWIW, "increased wear" does not mean "instant failure". Far from it. I have run a box of Wolf .45 ACP though my 1911. It ran 100%, and several dozen boxes of ordinary brass ammo later, the gun still works fine. Just because this MIGHT cause a problem, doesn't mean it necessarily will. Again, its going to depend on how much you shoot, how meticulously clean you keep the gun, and the particular design of your gun.
EDIT #2 (addressing Tailgunner, below): Don't forget that due to copper shortages even PENNIES were made of steel at one point during WWII!
The point is good, but just because the US military used steel-cased ammo in 1911s due to wartime shortages, doesn't mean that said ammo won't/can't increase wear and tear on guns.
In the grand scheme of things, pistols are relatively minor weapons in wartime, and unlike the case with rifles, most of the soldiers carrying them will only put through relatively few rounds in combat. If its wartime and you've only got so much copper to go around for munitions and you have to scrimp somewhere, doing so with pistol ammo isn't a bad place to do it.
Put differently, if steel case ammo were otherwise equivalent to brass, yet cheaper, then why did the US military switch BACK to brass case ammo after WWII? Why don't current American arms use steel case ammo?
I've heard enough stories about broken extractors in 1911s and other guns after using steel cased ammo enough times to be cautious about it. Remember, unlike more modern guns, the classical 1911 extractor is not spring-loaded for tension, but is instead made of spring steel that flexes under normal use. I think this design may make it more prone to wear in general.
Again, none of this means that steel cased ammo is unsafe or will definitely wear out your gun. I think the truth is far from that. I just personally don't want to take chances with broken extractors in my guns, that's all. I think if you were to keep your gun meticulously cleaned and lubed, and you didn't run zillions of rounds through it, you might never have a problem. If you did, so long as it didn't happen during actual combat, the cost of fixing it would be relatively small compared to the money saved on the ammo.
In terms of actual failure, short of chipping an extractor (which is another problem I've heard of), metal fatigue wouldn't be easily observable with the naked eye. So assuming it did happen, I doubt you'd actually notice any problem with your gun until the moment the extractor actually failed.
Edit #3:
Partisan: Yeah, I have noticed that its pretty dirty. Its not just the chamber that gets dirty, but the powder seems to burn dirty, leaving a sort of dark sooty smoke. So you clean your gun. . .
Tailgunner, good point on the Thompsons. And I do generally agree. . .steel case ammo won't wreck your gun. At worst you may have to swap your extractor a bit sooner than you otherwise would have. But again, if there were no difference between brass and steel, then why does anyone EVER use brass cased ammo?
One other real-world downside not mentioned at all in this thread is that steel cased ammo is significantly more prone to corrosion. The lacquer helps, but you do have to be careful about suboptimal storage.0 -
Yep, steel case ammo is so bad that the US military only had billions of rounds made with steel cases. So much in fact that they canceled their 45ACP contract a year before WW-2 was over as they realized they had a 2+ year combat supply already on hand.
BTS
The 1911 wasn't the only thing we used 45ACP ammo in, there were a lot of SMG's fielded by the US, and those were fired a lot more than the 1911 was.0 -
quote:Originally posted by beantownshootah
EDIT: FWIW, "increased wear" does not mean "instant failure". Far from it. I have run a box of Wolf .45 ACP though my 1911. It ran 100%, and several dozen boxes of ordinary brass ammo later, the gun still works fine. Just because this MIGHT cause a problem, doesn't mean it necessarily will. Again, its going to depend on how much you shoot, how meticulously clean you keep the gun, and the particular design of your gun.
I've run two mags of Wolf through each of my 1911s to verify function. (Wolf is the only .45 ACP you can get in a spam can.)
Not a smith, but a close inspection after firing revealed nothing other than a dirtier chamber than one would normally expect.0 -
I use wolf ammo for practice in all my guns, and have never had a problem. Granted, I don't shoot 1000+ rounds/month, so I can't speak to that. But, for general practice in moderate amounts, I have never had a problem. 0 -
quote:Originally posted by getsmart_86
I was told by a dealer that the steel casings in Wolf ammo will dammage my fire arm, is that true?
thanks
Your dealer is either under the same false impression as many , or he is just out right telling you stories.
If your extractor does break while firing steel cased ammo ....... it was bound to break anyhow0 -
+1 on Beantownshootah. Don't worry about Wolf ammo. There is one thing bad about Wolf, and that is it dirty! 0
Please sign in to leave a comment.
Comments
9 comments