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Re: steel cased Wolf ammo??

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19 August 2004, 06:03
Ricochet
Re: steel cased Wolf ammo??
That doesn't happen, anyway. I've shot semiautos (Mini-14 and SKS) till the oil was smoking off the barrel many times with lacquered steel ammo. Never saw any sign of lacquer in the chambers or any sign of lacquer melting on the cases (where you'd see it first.) This has been well investigated and reported over on the milsurp discussion boards (milsurpshooter.com, gunboards.com, surplusrifle.com) where it's recognized as a myth. If you take a lacquered steel case and hold a direct flame on it the lacquer doesn't melt. It'll eventually char. The stuff in chamber walls that causes case sticking is old varnished cosmoline.


14 August 2004, 15:51
Cold Bore
Quote:

Typically the steel cased ammo is coated with a lacquer, so it is not a steel-on-steel situation. Saves on the rust problem too!





The problem with the lacquer coating is if you get the chamber very hot. It will tend to "melt" and build up, and is a royal pain to remove once it rehardens (which it will definitely do before you can clean it out).



As long as you aren't doing mag dumps back-to-back from an AR-15, SKS, or AK-type rifle, and abusing your rifle/barrel, you should be fine.
14 August 2004, 14:03
Pecos41
LeftO - Care to share your load with the cast bullet? And what did you size them to?
14 August 2004, 12:01
Pecos41
Thanks again, Ric.......I'm not looking for one hole accuracy. 1.5 - 2" at 100 with my little rifle is good enough for the work I do.

However, I did break down and order the dies for my 7.62x39 today, which is probably silly since I can shoot the Rusky stuff cheaper than I can build a bullet. But it will be interesting to see if a homebrew bullet shoots any better than the Wolf ammo.
14 August 2004, 12:32
Leftoverdj
A pile of matches were won in the 60's and 70's with Norma steel jacketed bullets, and Norma did not even copper plate them, just applied a clear lacquer.



Pecos, I did not have any trouble at all beating Barnaul accuracy with cast. Lee 312-155-2R shoots in 7.62x39 rifles like it was made for them (which it was.) Never tried any Wolf, though. My cast loads also beat UMC FMJ.
14 August 2004, 09:59
Ricochet
I imagine they kept doing it for the sporting ammo because they were already geared up to make military bullets that way and it would've cost a LOT to gear up with new jacket metal, dies and such. I've shot lots of the Russian hollowpoint 7.62x39mm and .223, but never done any real bullet testing. They blow up water jugs well.