MilitaryArms
Master
- Apr 19, 2008
- 2,751
- 48
First, how "filthy" Wolf ammo might I've found to be generally over exaggerated by those who dislike it and typically don't use it. It generates no more carbon than competing ammo, it just lets more of it past the case upon firing. The M16/AR15 throws carbon and gas throughout its system due to the direct impingement gas system, so saying it makes a dirty system a little more dirty is kind of silly, IMHO.
Here's a shot of my M16's bolt and chamber. I've fired about 300 rounds of Wolf since its last cleaning.
Dirty? Of course, but nothing to be concerned with and certainly not much worse than if I had been firing mil-surp or even American Eagle ammo. I regularly go 1,000+ rounds between cleanings on my M16 and I shoot nothing but Wolf through it.
How about that extractor? That extractor on my M16 has gone through about 20k rounds or more. It's never been replaced and I've never used one of those special springs to increase tension. It doesn't look too bad to me.
Let's look at the SCAR 16. This rifle has had about 600 rounds of Wolf through it without any cleaning, and a few rounds of IMI 855 (60 rounds).
Not so bad.
Others like to practice (thousands of rounds) for competitions. Others just like to go out and make some noise (bump fire). Why in the world would you use more expensive ammo for such activities?
If you fire 40 rounds every time you go to the range trying to make tiny groups, no Wolf isn't for you. I've already said this.
If you shoot hundreds or even a thousand rounds on a weekend and 2" smaller groups aren't your primary concern, Wolf is a great alternative... one that hundreds of thousands of shooters take advantage of without any issues what-so-ever every day.
...and I'm not alone.
If you run a punch through your bore every other range session, it takes all of about 15 minutes including getting everything out and putting it away. Regular maintenance is just part of being a gun owner, regardless of the ammo you shoot.
Most AR's out there being shot aren't Les Baers. Many, if not most, are M4geries or military spec type arrangements. Yes, the AR is capable in most cases of fine accuracy, especially if it's configured for that role. But most of the people I know that use them, use them for things other than bench rest shooting... the same is true of AR15.com based upon looking at the picture threads... most folks seem to like red dot sights and flash lights over bench rest rifles.
That leaves a big market for Wolf.
Here's a shot of my M16's bolt and chamber. I've fired about 300 rounds of Wolf since its last cleaning.
Dirty? Of course, but nothing to be concerned with and certainly not much worse than if I had been firing mil-surp or even American Eagle ammo. I regularly go 1,000+ rounds between cleanings on my M16 and I shoot nothing but Wolf through it.
How about that extractor? That extractor on my M16 has gone through about 20k rounds or more. It's never been replaced and I've never used one of those special springs to increase tension. It doesn't look too bad to me.
Let's look at the SCAR 16. This rifle has had about 600 rounds of Wolf through it without any cleaning, and a few rounds of IMI 855 (60 rounds).
Not so bad.
That's you. Not everyone is you, or shares your desire to sit at a bench and fire slow fire strings to see if they can't get a 1" group at 100 yards with a rifle designed to fight wars. Just as many people like to go out to a remote area, set up an old television and blast away using their non-match AR's in the popular M4gery configuration.
Others like to practice (thousands of rounds) for competitions. Others just like to go out and make some noise (bump fire). Why in the world would you use more expensive ammo for such activities?
If you fire 40 rounds every time you go to the range trying to make tiny groups, no Wolf isn't for you. I've already said this.
If you shoot hundreds or even a thousand rounds on a weekend and 2" smaller groups aren't your primary concern, Wolf is a great alternative... one that hundreds of thousands of shooters take advantage of without any issues what-so-ever every day.
So have I, the only difference was that it was brass cases that caused the broken extractors. In the Marines we would regularly see M16's break things like extractors. It's a weak link in the M16 design, and if your rifle isn't running with proper timing, brass or steel cases are irrelevant, you're going to break them. Again, this isn't an issue with the ammo as much as it is with the gun that's firing it.
I see "horror stories" about all sorts of stuff on the Internet. When these "horror stories" conflict with my actual experience, I tend to go with my own experiences. If we were to believe every horror story written on the internet, there wouldn't be a single product worth buying.
If you don't see the savings in $100 per 1000 rounds for people that do things other than bench rest shooting... there's not much else I can say I suppose.
And conversely most everyone I know that shoots black rifles doesn't reload their rifle ammo. Why would I reload high quality ammo that isn't much cheaper than Wolf only to run 500 rounds through my M16 on full-auto? If your time is worth so much money (cleaning rifles), if you apply the same hourly rate you have in your head to the time spent reloading, then couple that with the cost of consumables, then go out and blast off 500 rounds in 2 hours shooting at random things... and where is your savings?
I'm willing to bet I shoot as much or more than the majority of these people you've ran into at your local gun club and guess what? I've never once broken an extractor on any of my rifles. If I were to take your comments at face value, it would stand to reason I should have replaced oodles of extractors in my rifles given how much I shoot them. But alas, I've never replaced even one.
...and I'm not alone.
We agree it seems.
See above. If his rifle were such a complete mess, he would have had to of fired thousands of rounds to get it into such a state without cleaning. That's no fault of the ammo. The M16/AR15 is a filthy rifle, period. If you have an aversion to filth and your time is so valuable, perhaps direct impingement isn't for you.
If you run a punch through your bore every other range session, it takes all of about 15 minutes including getting everything out and putting it away. Regular maintenance is just part of being a gun owner, regardless of the ammo you shoot.
If you're buying a Les Baer, no, you wouldn't be too interested in Wolf ammo. I think we've already covered this.
Most AR's out there being shot aren't Les Baers. Many, if not most, are M4geries or military spec type arrangements. Yes, the AR is capable in most cases of fine accuracy, especially if it's configured for that role. But most of the people I know that use them, use them for things other than bench rest shooting... the same is true of AR15.com based upon looking at the picture threads... most folks seem to like red dot sights and flash lights over bench rest rifles.
That leaves a big market for Wolf.
Of course it has limitations, and it's not for everyone. I use it as cheap training ammo and practice ammo. I keep stocks of things like M855 military for "SHTF" hording.
