Hey guys

Whats good Ammo to use in a 7.62x39 AR in steel case.
I hear lacquer based is a No go.
I picked up some Silver Bear to break in my new build, what else should I look for
and what type of issues besides Mag problems will come up.
I have a ASC 20 round and a C products 30 round  Mag.

Thanks for any feed back.
Sandstorm

MFS and Colt zinc coated are the same as Silver Bear.  I buy MFS because I can get some locally.  

Haven't needed to use the extended firing pin, o-ring or any different extractor, spring or buffer other than 'commercial' for both carbine and rifle stocks.

Mags make all the difference -

Good = rounds are well captured in the magazine
Bad = rounds 'fish' around in the magazine

There's nothing wrong with lacquered ammo, stories about lacquor melting is BS, and the best quality steel ammo I run (Golden Tiger & Brown Bear) is lacquored. Some prefer to run zinc plated as it's supposed to be smoother, neither of my ARs, my AK or VZ really care. The 7.62x39 is a tapered cartridge, the only time I've had problems with sticking is starting with steel cased and finishing with brass cased, steel case will allow the chamber to get dirtier than brass since it doesn't expand as easily then the brass may 'stick' in a dirty chamber.

In terms of accuracy Golden Tiger is the best but good luck getting any. SGAmmo is the only source and they're selling out if not sold out. Any ammo from the Barnaul plant (usually Brown Bear & Monarch) is very good. Any ammo that's good for AKs is good for ARs, although I've heard that some undergassed ARs don't allway run reliably with Tula.

Wolf comes from multiple sources, so it really depends upon which factory it came out of. Kind of a grab bag but Wolf & Tula will always be your cheapest options.

Silver Bear would probably be a good place to start, keep in mind zinc plated ammo is more rust prone than poly coated or lacquored so store it properly.

I shoot Tula.  Why???  It's cheap and it shoots about 3 to 4" groups for me at 100 yds with a 4 MOA Vortex Strikefire unmagnified.  Granted that takes a lot of effort and a good shooter could probably do a helluva lot better. And that's good enough for me. I use my AR-47 as a cheap blaster. Minute of clay pigeon is all I need.  Also haven't had any issues with stuck cases with it.

Brown bear or silver bear will work just fine, lacquered or not doesn't matter.

I shoot a lot of brown bear sold as Monarch via Academy Sports, shoots consistent and not too dirty, can't complain.

Thanks guys.
Gonna go see how she runs in the morning.
I got a Old cheap red dot on it and If I can hit what Im aimin for ill call it good.
And some backup Magpulls if the dot takes a dump.
If it cycles well out of the bag Ill be happy.
Its a Radical 16 inch Upper on a Old Andrson Lower thats never been put together before yesterday.
I did use a ALG trigger, just cause all my guns have them. Think there awesome as far as mil spec triggers go,
and I shoot better with the same trigger in all my AR.s ( Consistent that way )

Appreciate the feedback as always.
You guys Rock.

Since all the Yugo surplus isn't cheap any more, I shoot mostly Brown Bear (lacquered.)


The only problem I've ever had with ammo was a brass case after steel. The brass case was lodged and my extractor broke.

Brass expands more than steel during firing. This creates a seal in the chamber keeping more carbon out. Carbon will build faster in the chamber shooting steel. Brass cases can get stuck when they expand in a dirty chamber.

http://www.theboxotruth.com/educational-zone-18-shooting-wolf-steel-cased-ammo-in-an-ar15/

Only stoppage I ever experienced in my AK was by shooting brass cased Yugo thru a dirty chamber, so I think there's truth to this.
Now I only take either steel or brass out to the range, no mix n match. And scrub the chamber during a cleaning. Otis makes a nice 7.62 chamber brush.

I've wanted to try Golden Bear (steel cased brass coated) 7.62x39 just to see how it runs. But I don't know of a source right now. Sgammo lists it but has been out of stock for a while. All my local indoor ranges have a 'no steel ammo' rule so the steel only goes to the outdoor range, and I dip in to my Yugo m67 stash in the winter. But I need to find an economical alternative, most brass cased 7.62x39 starts around 50 cents a round.

This will tell you all you need to know. Make sure you run it wet. I do and have not had any problems the past couple of times I have gone out and I just built mine a week ago. Keep an eye on your bolt. Most likely the biggest weak spot in the 39 ar. I have a tactical ambush and will get an LMT or Cason for the back up which after looking at other threads won't be all that long before I need one of them.

Went to the Range this morning ( 30 miles out in the desert range ) and Shot 20 rounds of Tulla and
another 60 rounds of Silver Bear with out a single FTF or FTF or Eject.
ASC and C-Products mags work well it seems. ( No problems what so ever and I ran it real wet to boot )
Im going to take it to a 100yd range next and test accuracy with a 1.4x24 Optic and see what
kind of numbers ill get.

Seems real accurate with a cheap red dot. lol
Shooting soda cans at the 50 to 60 yd range with one shot.
Thanks again fellas and happy shooting on the cheap.

Golden Tiger, hands down. in my 7.62 x39 AR. with it's ARD 16 inch barrel, i am getting .8 to 1.5 inch groups at 100 yds consistently

I shoot whatever is cheapest.  Normally that's Tulammo.