User Panel
Posted: 1/10/2008 4:09:18 PM EDT
[Last Edit: Zhukov]
The previous post has been archived - if you've already voted, please don't vote again!
Results of previous poll: 392 responses 285 with no problems 42 with minor problems 65 with major problems Please add your personal experience with Silver Bear ammo. When you do, please give information about: 1) Bullet type/weight/loading 2) Firearm used in 3) Approximate number of rounds fired. I am trying to solicit only information about your PERSONAL experience with this ammunition. If you haven't used it, then please don't clutter up the thread. Information about proper functioning (or lack thereof) is obviously the most important, but factors such as the accuracy or other peculiarities you've noticed are informative also. If you have had problems with this ammo which were severe enough to cause you to stop using this ammo, then please describe them. And one more minor request: keep your reviews objective. If you are voting that you had problems with this ammo, PLEASE give your feedback below and tell everyone what those problems were. If you don't, you're not being very helpful to those who are basing their purchasing decision on this thread. Silver/Gold Bear are made by Barnaul in Russia. Silver Bear uses zinc plated steel cases, and Gold Bear uses brass plated steel cases. |
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Daddy loves you. Now go away.
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From the archive, here are the summarized responses:
Happyshooter Many on the board have discussed Silver Bear, I have shot it with okay results. The accuracy isn't all that (1-1/2 to 2" in my very accurate AR), but it seemed like good blasting ammo. I was somewhat happy that it worked in my AR (My AR will not fire wolf ammo, my wife's AR does well with wolf). My wife and I took two boxes of Silver Bear 62gr HP .223 to the last fun shoot in Michigan at the pit. Two boxes is 1,000 rounds. The rounds had the red sealer on both the bullets and primers. My rifle, the one that does not like wolf, had two failure to feed jams. My wife's rifle, however, had 8 failure to feed jams, and one very serious problem. A round of Silver Bear chambered and fired, but became stuck in the chamber with the bolt being unable to extract the case. We had to disasemble the rifle, lever the bolt and carrier back, and rod out the case. The rear of the case and primer was very flat. The case was not over long in a wilson guage. For a total price of $120 per thousand at the fun show this is not worth the cost savings over Q3131A during an internet sale. Not_A_Llama 1) 55 gr. FMJ 2) J&T Distributing unchromed 16" postban kit 3) 500 rounds Worked perfectly, no failures. Seems very devestating on milkjugs and popcans. I'll keep buying it, and other Russian ammunition - it works perfectly, and the cost savings is fantastic. smoken44 62gr HP 223 Barnaul mfg No problems through a 20" 1-7 FN barrel. 2 @100 yds. A couple hundred rounds fired. The 7.62 HP ammo is the most accurate of the Russian surplus in my KTR. 2" are the norm. Plan on buying more. ]=) DaPhotoGuy 1) Ammunition used: 62 grain HP & 62 grain SP 2) Fireare used: DPMS Lo-Pro Classic, 16" non chromed 3) Approximate number of rounds fired: 500. After about 30 rounds I had problems with cases sticking in the chamber. Discovered this was due to the red sealant. Since I have 3000 rounds of the stuff I came up with a way to remove the sealant and now it works fin. Monroe Fired 240 rounds in Armalite with no problems what so ever. This is the only steel cased I will shoot. I rarely shoot this ammo as prefer PMC for low cost and can buy it resonable enough to make steel cased not that big a bargain for blasting ammo. We did have a guy shoot the 69 gr Silver Bear once at a DCM match-200yards reduced. He got like a 390 and usually shoots 370-400. ChadInOKC I have a DPMS A-15. I bought one box of 55gr, JHP just to test it out. I had 2 FTE's out of 20 rounds. The extractor just ripped right through the rim and left the empty in the chamber. Only problems I have had to date are with this ammo and the Spanish SS109 battlepacks. (Doing the same thing.) Zhukov I shot 500 round with one FTE (extractor tore the rim off of the case head). It was definitely NOT due to sealant, as the gun was squeaky clean on the 22nd round of the day. Unfortunately, I forgot a cleaning rod. Any which way - it tapped out easily and all the other rounds were fine. It's got a surprising kick. There's no difference in felt recoil between it and Q3131A. Olympic is noticeably weaker. RussB seems to confirm that Silver Bear is loaded up to pretty good velocities - look up his numbers in my initial post. I've got a case of Wolf I'll try next. If that works fine, I'll probably buy two flavors of ammo: 1) Wolf or whatever runs about $100/1000 for plinking 2) M193 for all other purposes. Got ~2K stashed away currently, but there's always room for more. Mr986 Fired about 50 rounds of this through a 20" BM at a local plate shoot with good results; shot to the apparent POA as wolf 62 gr but definately moved the plates with more gusto. By comparison, the large plates shot with Winchester white box through my 16" RR ET tipped over ever so slowly; through a 20" barrel the SB put them down in a hurry. Just wished they'd get rid of the red stuff. YMMV. MitchG I fired 300 rounds of the 62gr HP the other day in my Frankford Arsenal M-16. Most all was in full auto with only a few failures to feed that was due to a faulty magazine, not the ammo. Took that magazine out of service and no more problems. I would rather run this through my M-16 than Wolf. I haven't tried it in my 3 AR-15's yet. 1GUN 62 gr HP 20" Bushmaster Ammo is very nice, no FTanything, quite accurate. Cleans up nice. BB4XL I have fired over 2500 rounds of the 62grhps.I have 2 colts. A 20" pre ban HBAR and a 16"LTW and have had no problems.I use a number of different mags, all the 30 have the black followers.I sand bagged both and a 100yards Group are from the size of a 1" to 3". I never had any problems with Wolf, but I have only used around 500 rds. The groups are larger out of my guns with the Wolf. I will keep using the Silver Bear for blasting steel plates. yasenovo Dear AR15.com members: I have been refraining for a while about commenting one way or another about this Russian ammo with the thought that some may feel that I am trying to bend their views of Russian ammunition and skew opinions to one side or the other. That I will not do. However, for the last three years I have been working with a company to help import Silver Bear and Brown Bear ammunition from the various Russian plants that we have been working with. We do pay attention to what is said on the boards and we do take the ‘constructive criticism’ and try to genuinely improve on the quality and workmanship of the Silver Bear and Brown Bear ammunition. I really appreciate the poll taken Zhukov. What I think that it shows is that the ammunition is not bad but definitely could be improved upon. I communicate daily with the plants in Russia that produce the .223 Silver Bear and .223 Brown Bear ammunition and pass these as well as with the importer to help improve the quality of the product. I was in Russia about 12 days ago and we discussed in detail most of the issues that you all have discussed her. I have copied your posts into a document and again will forward it again as further proof of the importance of addressing these issues. I can tell you that the main issue for them, the Russian manufacturers, is test weapons. There are two factories manufacturing Silver Bear and Brown Bear ammunition... one of the factories used an HK SL8 while the other factory has ancient M-16 with curious three prong flash hiders... I can only guess where they came from. Also, allot of the testing is done with the assistance of Viyatskie Polyarni “Molot” plant that makes the ‘Vepr’ rifles. If any of you have questions about this ammunition or any other Russian ammunition... I will be happy to try to address it. However, I will say this here that I will not get into any mudslinging with or about Wolf ammunition. I hope to be able to engage in ‘constructive’ conversations with all regarding Russian ammunition. Sincerely, Yasenovo mm38 yasenovo, I think everyone here would appreciate your participation, developing a better product at a reasonable price benefits everyone. I do have a couple of questions. Is the jacket on the 55 grn fmj, in the 580 rd metal cans, a bi-metal or a copper jacket? Also, has the manufacturer considered different packaging? I know they probably have mountains of the cans available so they use them. The South African ammunition that was available was not only popular because of the price but the packaging, a 300 rd PVC package with a handle made it very convenient to carry and store. There might be a chance that a 200-300 rd PVC pack similar to what South African and now Santa Barbara use would prove to be very popular at the normal retail and gun show prices that Silver Bear is selling at. mm yasenovo It’s Bi-Metal...not copper. Not yet anyway. We’re working to get them to switch to copper... at least in the .223 and .308. Other calibers will come later. The commodity market is interesting to say the least. While the worldwide cost of copper may be $1.06 per lb, in Russia there is a captured market and it can be...and often is higher. So, the factories stick to using what they have at their disposal...bi-metal alloys. About packaging: Russians do things by habit. We have spoken to them about the heavy bags that the South Africans, Spanish and Portuguese have used and are currently using. However, they, only a few short years ago started to commercially package their ammunition. It took a while of explaining to get them to package the cases in boxes that would be acceptable for UPS shipping here in the US. Also, it took a while to get bar codes put on the cases and the individual boxes. The Russian military is only interested in packaging in the metal cans and have no interest whatsoever to package in the heavy bags at this time nor any time in the future. Putting the ammo in heavy bags would be a cool idea...but as far as shipping the ammo, we also felt that it would add an extra expense to the seller...one they would be reluctant to incur at the current price point of the product. So, for the foreseeable future the packaging will not change dramatically... Thank you for your questions. YBH jbarclark Myself and a circle of friends compete monthly in action rifle shoot and almost all of us use the 62gr HP Silver Bear. Between us I would guess we have consumed about 10K rounds and in fact I am expecting a group buy to be delievered tomorrow with 12K more. In other words, it is good stuff for shooting fast. I wouldn't call it ideal for tack driving. I have found that spraying the chamber with Break Free before the match keeps everything running smoothly and prevents any rounds that have a little nickle coating from getting hung up in the chamber. The targets we shoot for the matches are IPSC cardboard and steel plates varying in size from 8" pie plates to 18" squares at ranges from point blank to 200 meters. Bottom line, it is good stuff if used for what bulk, right priced, ammo is intended. Gary-G23 500 rounds of 62SP through a Bushmaster carbine. Two cases stuck in chamber. DPeacher Silver Bear 55gn FMJ Rifle 1: Armalite M15A4 20" Rifle 2: RR lower with entry length ACE stock and a Model 1 16" upper (non-chrome). 560 rounds with no failures of any kind. No groups on paper, but was able to keep all rounds on a 16" steel plate out to 400 yards with both rifles. Great plinking ammo! ColSanders My RRA shorty has chewed through about 120 rounds without a hiccup at all. My buddies model1sales kit had a few issues with about 100 rounds. Not sure if it was his gun or the ammo. His gun has also had problems with other ammo that mine had none with trunkz My RRA shorty has chewed through about 120 rounds without a hiccup at all. My buddies model1sales kit had a few issues with about 100 rounds. Not sure if it was his gun or the ammo. His gun has also had problems with other ammo that mine had none with. jason_h Have shot off 500 rnds in both BM and Colt carbines. Didn't have any problems with the red sealant and I even made sure to get the chamber hot and then let it cool with a round in the chamber. Still, for plinking ammo, it would be nice to get rid of the sealant around the case neck, just to be on the safe side. The only problem I did have was with the tip of the hollow points hanging up on the receiver, right below the feed ramps on the BM. Didn't have this problem with the Colt since it has extended feed ramps, however, I did notice copper marks on the extended ramps. My range mags have been used quite a bit, so this problem may just be due to weak mag springs. As for other issues, I don't have a problem with it being packaged in cans, actually think it is a pretty good thing for long term storage. The way the rounds are packaged in the boxes is sort of annoying since you have to rip through the inside paper packing and creates wasted space in the box. This makes the box bigger than it needs to be, requiring a larger storage container to hold the same number of rounds of ammo. It would be better if the rounds were packed in the box like Q3131A, Spanish SB, or even South African. That all said, it's really not that big of an issue and wouldn't keep me from buying this ammo. The bi-metal jacket doesn't bother me since both my rifles have a chrome lined bores, and I would not pay more for full copper jacketed bullets. Really, the only things I would change, is to get rid of the sealant around the case necks, load the ammo hot (as hot as mil-spec), and crimp the primers. darksquid I was about 300 rounds into a case of SB when the corner of one of the cartridges sheared off and resulted in a live round jammed up behind the unextracted cartridge in a HOT gun. Bummer. I'll shoot the rest of it and report back. DaPhotoGuy Yea, you're getting extraction problems probably caused by the red sealant around the neck. To verify. Use a chamber brush and acetone to clean out your chamber. Finish up cleaning as normal. Try to fire some more silver bear. More than likely, the first 30 or so rounds will be fine but as the sealant flakes off in the neck area of the chamber the rounds will start sticking and your problem will come back. My solution was to clean off all the sealant from the rounds (hey, I had the rounds already). darksquid Yeah, you were right PhotoGuy. I gave her a good cleaning, shot about 200 rounds of PMC without issue, then tried a mag of SB. Got thru about 20 rounds and had an identical problem -- when I took a look at the cartridge, the rim was torn off just like the other one I posted earlier. Gave the remaning 4 boxes to the range guy; this was the last SB I'll be buying. Texasman71 I have found some silver bear at a gun show.I shot 500 rounds no problems.The price aint bad either good ammo... Also I feed my guns the high dollar stuff winchester white box...And a few other high dollar ammo companies.. I have ran about 90% of all ammo companies thru my guns..Plural 2 pre bans 1 post ban and 2 no bans.. I haven't had any problems...Its ok for me... Zhukov Since the original post is now archived, I figured I'd add the pictures from last year directly to this thread for the benefit of those who haven't seen them. The first pic is a bisected 62gr HP: The next picture is a comparison of the 62gr HP with a M193 bullet (LC '82): I performed fragmentation experiments on two occasions. The first time was with some milk jugs lined up. The round fragmented, but there were some questions as to the validity of using milk jugs. The second time around I used a plastic trashcan filled full of water and shot straight down into the water. The round fragmented again, as did the trashcan. And yes, my wife was mad. Here are the pictures from that experiment: As you can see, the casing clearly fragmented, as the tip is still intact. This one is from my second shot: Rob877 Today at the Range I shot 580 Rounds of silver Bear ammo Light Rain 36f 16 inch barrel 1/7 twist (new Barrel) Ammo: .223 Rem 55gr FMJ Silver Bear I had 1 FTF and one stuck Case out of 580 rounds had to use a cleaning rod to remove case with force. My personal opinion is I think they should get rid of the steel case & zinc coating and go with a brass case. I think the combination of rain & Zinc coating caused my FTF and the stuck case. If you feel the cases they are not really that smooth because of the zinc coating kallnojoy Just finished off a can totaling 580rds of Silver Bear in a stock BM 14.5" M4A3 Zero malfs of any kind.... other than the smell of ammonia in the air... Granted, this is a sample size of 1 (well 1x580) Ramennoodlesoup After giving my RRA Entry Tactical a quick clean the night before, I took 300 rounds of Silver Bear 62gr hollow points to the range for a couple of hours of shooting. It's loaded a bit hotter than Wolf. Group sizes at 100 yards were around 3-4 inches using a rifle rest. Still made the milk jugs fly, though. All 300 rounds performed without failure of any kind - I even rapid fired a few times. CFII I shoot the 62 gr HP SB ammo. I have fired about 300 rounds of it in various ar builds. I like it so far. I have never had any issues with any kind of SB ammo. It cycles smoothly in my AR, and seems accurate enough for plinking. I will continue to use it in the future. Grunteled 62gr HP DPMS Postban with 16" bull barrel RRA-based Homebulit with 16" Bushmaster chrome barrel. 450 rounds fired thus far. I've had numerous stuck cases in both of my rifles. One was locked in the chamber so tight I could not break it loose by hand. I needed a hammer and rod. Kinda ruins a nice day at the range. I've had only 1 problem with Wolf so far, and I'll be going back to that for practice ammo. 1 FTFire (Primer looked gooey and had strong FP mark on it) 4 FTE All in one case of 900rnds. I'll shoot what I have left then I'm done. P-245 55gr HP Stag lower w/LMT upper, chrome-moly heavy, 16" barrel (new, had it <3 months) fired ~300 out of 1,000 purchased I have had 2 FTEx/stuck cases in <300 rounds in two separate shooting sessions. Extractor pulled off the rim in both cases. Both were stuck so tight I had to pound them out with a cleaning rod once I got them home. Each time happend with less than 100 rounds fired in that particular shooting session and the AR was cleaned prior to shooting. Like Gruntled, I will shoot the remainder and never go back to SB .223 ammo. 101ABN327 Bought a case at a gunshow Saturday, went to the range Sunday and had cases stick in the chamber about 20% of the time (1 of 5). This is shit ammo and will not buy it again! tacjac I tried the 223 Silver Bear in an AK101 built by Chris of AKUSA. Out of the 500 rounds that I purchased to try, I had at least 15 or 20 that jammed in the gun and the bolt would not close so luckily the gun would not fire. I had to use a screwdriver to remove the round. This AK had previously ate Wolf like it was candy. However, all I use now is Barnaul. It is more accurate, runs 100%, and cleaner that all other imported ammo. Now, for my AR's I use my handloads that are accurate and run 100% of the time. Rhainan Several years ago I tried to run Silver Bear in my only AR at the time, RRA 16" mid with .223 chamber. Frequent FTE. I learned real fast to always have a rod in the truck and always shoot nice brass. Anyway, fast forward to today.... A co-worker has a Bushmaster 20" that had run Wolf and Silver Bear previously with no problems. He had me order him some new Silver Bear from AIM. It came in different packaging than previous orders (20 rd. box with plastic divider vs. older 30rd. box with brown stapled paper). He had major problems. FTE every third or fourth round. He gave me 60 rounds to try in my guns. Both my 20" and 16" 5.56 chambered rifles choked every four to five rounds as well. FTE that required some pounding with the rod. I hop YMMV, but I have yet to find an AR that consistently runs WOLF, BEAR or OLYMPIC. None of my six AR's will do it. hatebreed I tried 400 rounds in several different AR's. Each one had cases stick in the chamber about every fifth round. I actually threw the last 120 rounds away. First time I've ever found ammo so worthless I put it in a trashcan. I couldn't even get anybody at the range to take it, after they saw the problems I had. Definitely wouldn't buy more. rob78 62 gr. hp Bought 4 20rd boxes of it from the local gunshop/hardware store due to the low price. fired 30 rounds through Armalite A2 gov. profile barrel and had problems about every fourth round. Numerous FTEs often with the case lodged in the upper. Had to lock the bolt back and shake out the empty case. fired 20 rounds through a rock river upper and lower w/ BM 1/7 chrome lined barrel. Had 1 stuck case and 3 FTEs. The case came out with a shove from my cleaning rod. I've had an unopened box for 6 months now and will not be using it again. I've used Wolf Ammo without problems yet....just so you know I'm not an ammo snob. Praetorian55 First, here's some background - I've been using quality brass ammunition in my AR's mixed with plenty of Wolf (new polymer) and have had absolutely no problems whatsoever. I then started reading about how silver bear may be more accurate and hotter than wolf, as well as that it sucked, jammed everything, etc. Since Wolf prices have been rising, I decided to give silver bear a try. 200+ rounds out of 3 different ARs (RRA middy chromelined, 2 sabre chromlined middies) with absolutely NO problems. decent accuracy, and is it MUCH hotter than wolf. It feels like M193 in the recoil and noise department, which may be good to simulate real conditions for less money. I bought mine from AIM and will buy more. the_end I'm on my second ~400 round order of this stuff now. Fired through a 16" 1:9 Armalite M15A4 I just bought less than two months ago. No problems at all with the ammo. At first I had major problems with a bad magazine, then with a loose carrier key. I, of course, quickly blamed the "junk russian ammo" but after I ditched the cheapo mag and tightened up the allen head bolts and staked them, the stuff runs flawlessly. ETA: This is an even mix of 62gr HP and 62gr SP TahoeShooter Silver Bear 62gr. HP, Bushy xm15 20" barrel Marine Corps clean after every outing. I have run approximately 5000 rounds of this stuff with a few problems. When the rifle gets hot and I let a round sit in the chamber too long, it will fail to extract. Once a case was stuck beyond my ability to remove it with a rod...No amount of hammering, penetrating oil, freezing, heating, pulling, pushing or swearing would get that case out. An armorer finally did it for me for a price. I still use Silver Bear due to price, but I never let a round sit in a hot chamber...Empty the magazine! After about 90 rds I clean the chamber before shooting some more. DO NOT rely on this stuff for defense. Use it for practice only. dkhntr04 Haven't had experience with the .556 yet since my AR is still in the build stage. I have hower shot a few hundred rounds of 7.63x39 through my Mini-30 and had absolutly no problems. Happens to be the only ammo I shoot in that rifle. For a gun not known for accuracy, the Silver Bear 125gr SP in my Mini groups about 2" at 100 yards. Not bad for a Mini and $2.70 a box. aaronstaple After about 300 rounds of this stuff, I had a misfire with .223 55gr FMJ Silver Bear in my Bushmaster XM15-E2S 16" M4. The primer was dimpled, a lot more than when chambering a round, but less than a normal dimple. The primer looks different from most other primers in the pack, and it appears to be seated very slightly too low. Nothing else seems unusual. GKW Model 1 Sales 20" non-chrome M&A 16" non-chrome Ruger KAC556 18" I purchased 500 rds about a year ago. Constant failures to extract/stuck cases. Inspected the ammo closely and found the exterior very rough. Lightly sanded and Remoiled exterior of cases. Still get constant failures to extract/stuck cases in all three guns. I have 400+ rounds left that I can see nothing else to do with but throw in the trash can. iceweazel 20" SS Wilson match HBAR Rock River CMP postban. Wylde chamber. ~350 rnds VERY VERY dirty ammo. Worse than Wolf and Barnaul. Fed well until the chamber began to get dirty. Then these zinc coated steel cases started to have major FTE problems. Tore the rim edge off a couple, and then had a major case seperation. No other ammo has had this problem in this firearm. TigerStripe I bought three boxes to test it out. Fired thru a POF 16" 1:8 barrel. It is loaded hot, much hotter than expected. Accuracy wasn't bad. I had one FTEx. I may or may not buy more... Chainsaw1 I've run about 120 rounds of the 5.56 62gr sp. In that I had about a dozen FTF (dimpled primers). All fired the second time around. This was shot through a custom AR I built. I will hit the range again and try it through different rifle and see if there is a difference. PanzerMK7 In almost every case, I have found that it is a reflection on the rifle if it won't shoot wolf/silver bear/olympic (take your pick). I have seen franken builds that ran fine on american stuff, but not on the other above ammo, but in every quality built rifle i've ever seen or owned the stuff has been pretty much flawless. If I had a rifle that I couldn't get to run with silver bear/olympic/wolf, I'd sell it and get myself a different gun. But that's just me. Only bought/fired 20 rounds of this, since I didn't recognize the brand when I bought it at the gun shop. It was the first mag through my AR as well at the range, so the gun was clean at the time. Didn't have any problems, but obviously didn't try much of it. I've been "lurking" on the forum for a couple of years. Can't resist chiming in on SB. Bought 500 rounds at local show. Worst ammo ever purchased (I guess you really do get what you pay for). FTE from hell. Zinc casing was really rough and failed to extract about 1 in 5. Seemed to get worse when hot. Same problem in 3 different ARs and numerous mags. All other ammo (even Wolf) shot fine. Worst box = 8 FTE out of 20. Extractors tore the rims off the cases. Had to bang out with cleaning rod. Switched to Wolf = 80 rounds without a hick-up. My opinion: stay away from Silver Bear at all costs. So far I have been through 2k of the Silver Bear 62 Grain SP's no problems,purchased it at a local sporting good's store and very happy I did,later all and have a good one A buddy picked up 500 rounds a while back when AIM had some in stock. It was the 62 gr hp. I shot about 200 rounds of the silver bear with only one failure to feed. The failure happened early. Maybe my second or third mag. Followed up with about 150 rounds of Remington 55 gr fmj while my buddy shot up the rest of the silver bear (300 or so) and he did not have any stoppages. Check both rifles after we were done and his was not much dirtier than mine. We shot at 50 yards and it was fairly accurate at that range. Much better than I had expected. Would definitely buy again for plinking ammo. Bought four sealed from a friend ball park of a year ago. I've fired around 75 rounds through my Armalite M15A4. That gun has all kinds of issues with this ammo, all eject problems. I've found for whatever reason that this gun is only reliable with M855, Q3131, and XM193. With those rounds it cycles flawlessly. My 20" colt on the other hand seems to love the SB, it's digested around 400 rounds without incident. So far with M855, various wolf, Q3131, XM193, SB, and ADCOM get a warm fuzzy meat and great with this gun. xmikex I ordered and shot a case in 2006 and had a terrible time with it. It has been the worst ammo I've ever run through my AR (16' LMT - chrome-lined barrel, M4 feed ramps, 5.56 chamber). Stuck cases, doublefeeds, FTE - it got to the point that I just kept my cleaning rod next to me to pop out the cases and made sure no children were around as I was swearing every 2-3 rounds trying to clear the damn thing. Everything else (wolf included) runs fine in my guns. Just took a 5-day class and 1 guy was using it. His rifle became a club during nearly EVERY drill. Best luck with it - hopefully it'll run in your guns but I will never buy it again. Frag I've gone through over 300 rounds of the Silver Bear 62gr SP I got from AIM. Did not have any problems what so ever. Used two ARs and one AK all chrome lined, two of the barrels are 1:7" and one is 1:9" all 16" in length. This batch of Silver Bear does NOT have the red bullet sealant and seems to perform great. Accuracy was well above average and consistency was superb. It was easy to shoot groups on paper due to the consistency of the loads. The 6" steel gongs at 150, 200, 300 and 400 yards were a pleasure to shoot. At 500 yards it got a bit harder, not sure if it’s the ammo or the wind picking up. In this crazy market it's hard to find consistent cheap plinking ammo, with these silver bear rounds you get more than any other brand/batch IMO. I am very pleased with this ammo and wish I bought more. JoddyG I have tried this stuff through 3 diff AR's 2 16" DPMS and 1 20" BM I had constant FTE and the next round getting jammed up into the back of the previous case. This would occur about every 3rd round. I would initially get through about 5 rounds then FTE every other or every 3rd after that. This however is still the stuff with the red band around the top of the case/bullet. I still have about 400 rds of this crap taking up space in the safe. Have thought about buying a bolt action 223 as a excuse to be able to shot it up LOL. Unless someone can tell me that they have changed something and resolved these issues with FTE I wont be buying SB again. The batch i have was a total waste of money. |
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Daddy loves you. Now go away.
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55gr FMJ, 200 rounds, Mini-14. Ran without problems. Was as acurate as the Mini-14 and old eyes allowed. Am planning to get 1k of soft points to put back. I prefer new to surplus. Ken
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I too have run about 200 rounds of Silver Bear .223 ammo through my Stag Model 2 with no problems. However, I was told by my indoor range that they only allow brass, so I can only use the Silver Bear on an outdoor range (because of its steel casing).
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I just thought I'd point out that I picked up 200 rounds of Silver Bear today at the fun show and it no longer has the red sealant around the case neck that was causing extraction problems. This seemed to be one of the bigger complaints with this ammo and now that its taken care of this stuff should be pretty good. I got the 62 gr. JHP stuff which I haven't shot before but I'll find out soon how my AR likes it. Considering the outrageous price of domestic .223 this stuff is priced reasonably, doesn't have lacquer case issues and is supposedly loaded hot enough to keep up with the good stuff. We shall see. If my AR like it, I'll probably get a case at the next gun show.
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i ran 500 rounds out of my POF with a Bushmaster 14.5" upper 1/7 twist. no problems at all ran good, had average groups out to 100 yards. great plinking ammo.
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2000 rounds of 55grain FMJ through 11 AR's in various configurations. Not one problem.
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100 rounds of new Barnaul 62gr HPs with the zinc coating. Shot them in a 20in Colt 1/7 Gov't profile barrel. No problems- slight shift in impact and slightly less accurate than PRVI M193. Good cheap ammo- will be buying some of the cheaper Brown Bear/Barnaul to try and see if the zinc coating really does help.
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Appx 500rds of the zinc 62gr HP through my new STG-556. Had two case rims rip off requiring a rod to tap out the casings (the 2nd time right after the chamber had been cleaned). Occasional FTF's through new mags (could be the mags since they're brand new and not worn in yet) but changing the gas regulator to adverse seems to have helped quite a bit as well as a thorough cleaning of the chamber after each outing. Once the rifle & mags have worn-in I'll see if I continue to have occasional problems w/the Silver Bear 62gr. At this time it's accurate & reliable enough for casual range use and gives me the opportunity to do occasional malfunction drills but I wouldn't use it in a formal training class or competition (this could change if it proves more reliable as my rifle & mags wear-in, YMMV).
Tomac |
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I love this ammo. I've shot roughly 500 rounds of it in the last 3-4 months. No issues. A couple months ago, I made an honest 1.5" group off the bench with a free floated RRA 14.5 barreled AR with a SS 10X40 on top. I was pretty happy with that.
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I owned a Colt a for a month...and now I'm stuck with the name...
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Ran 100 trouble free rounds thru my A1 upper recently. This was 2008 production 55 grain fmj silver bear without neck sealant. Averaged around 3-4 moa. Good bang for the buck.
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<Ammo reviews only, please - Z>
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The 55 gr. fmj runs 100% in my carbines. The 55 gr. hp has feeding problems in my Stag with no M4 feedramps, but none in my CMMG that has M4 feedramps. I prefer this ammo to Wolf.
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55 grn FMJ. Seemed really hot, especially next to Wolf. 2 spam cans through an Olympic Arms carbine (16" 1:9) with no problems. Better groupings than wolf. Awesome plinking ammo.
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Get the bottle of Jack and the bullwhip... its time for a shindig! - L.E. |
62 gr. HP Silver Bear, 100 rounds each thru:
Model 1 20" politically correct upper Del-Ton 16" lightweight upper This is apparenty recent ammo that doesn't have the red gunk at the neck. No failures from either gun. Will most likely buy more. |
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I shot 120 rounds of the 62gr SP out of my Sig 556. No problems. Accuracy @ 200 yards with an EOTech was about 7 inches shooting from the prone. Good stuff for the money. Gunked up the bore and bolt face pretty bad though.
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<Ammo reviews only please - Z>
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Worked ok until mt barrel got hot then jam, jam, jam
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500 rds through a virgin RRA upper/lower,BM 16" HBAR 1:9 twist. 62 gr. hp only red gunk on the primers.All mags were either steel w/Magpul followers, Magpul or Thermold. Ran rifle slow,rapid fire and left a round or two in the hot chamber(having not read about some people having problems with this). Nice solid punch when the trigger was squeezed shot were I pointed it at and dug a nice hole into the dirt berm backstop at the range. Not one problem.Curious if the current situation with Russia will affect price and availability.
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Shot about 300rounds of 62gr HP Silver bear .223 in my STG-556, and a few of my AR15's.
Shoots reliably but has noticeably less recoil than M193 or blackhills redbox that I usually shoot, Accuracy is acceptable for plinking and sub 100yard shots. Out of my ultralight 16" (1/9twist) AR15, at 50yards it grouped bout twice the size of M193. |
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Shot 400 rounds of 62gr HP Silver bear .223 in two AR-15's.
200 rounds out of a CMMG 1/7 twist 14.5" M4 chrome-lined AR. No problems. 200 rounds out of a CMMG 1/9 twist 16" M4. No problems. More than acceptable accuracy for practice and plinking.. Maybe 25% larger groups than M193. Less recoil, but not much. I liked it enough to buy two more cases of it and a half-case of brown bear. All 62gr HP. |
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I use alot of the silver bear and have absolutely no problems with it. My only gripe is the burned powder has a very foul odor and makes my sinuses burn a bit. I found not shooting into the wind helps alleviate this problem.
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About 400 rounds now with no problems through a Stag Model 1. Same note as above with a bit of a funny smell. Not that dirty either. Sparks like bitch at an indoor range
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<font color=blue><font size=2>That little guy? Don't worry about that little guy.....</font id=s2></font id=blue>
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Runs great in my 1:7 twist FS2000 and my 20" 1:7 twist CMMG light barrel AR.
Both rifles seem to be more accurate with this stuff (and Wolf MC) than copper jacketed 55gr, which is odd, but it's probably easier to make a concentric bullet with a bimetal jacket and lead core that's stable at high rpms. |
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DPMS AP-4 16" BBL SILVER BEAR 62GR HP
Due to lack of ammo these days the indoor range I shoot at requires that I purchase from them. No problems at all, have to shoot slow fire at range so the bbl didn't get very hot. I'll get 5000 rds of this for the price until sanity gets back on the ammo market. Hotter than PMC but not as hot as Federal 193, PMC & Federal group better but the Silver Bear is good enough for the range. |
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Just finished 500 rounds of Silver bear 55gr hollowpoint. Accuracy was fine for reduced course shooting and carbine plinking. Function was great.
I did have one malfunction, but it was actually not Silver Bear. It was the first round of Prvi brass case 55gr- stovepipe. The case came out black. I associate this with the Silver bear, as the steel cases may not have obdurated the chamber properly, allowing fouling to build up over the course of 400 silver bear (shot in two days at an Appleseed) since the last chamber cleaning. That one Prvi round was the only malfunction on my AR to date. Now, I do not mix brass and steel. |
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More on my use - I shot about 1800 on a carbine course last weekend, and it worked fine until the rifle got really, really dirty, like 500 or 600 rounds in a few hours. Hose down BCG and Bolt with oil, hose out upper with oil, and it kept going.
When doing a complete cleaning afterwards, there was this gummy residue in the firing pin channel, which I presume is the primer sealant. Not a lot, and probably not a problem until you go past 2500 rounds or so I'd guess. It was also around the breech face of the barrel. 20" .625 1:7 twist CMMG upper. Also shot some through a FS2000. |
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55gr Silver Bear. Tried in two separate AR with the same issue. Works fine when shooting slowly. If you speed up your shooting and leave a live round in a hot chamber, the metal case must expand enough to loosen the crimp pressure on the bullet leaving it stuck in the barrel. This happened in a multiple times in a carbine class, and last weekend on the bench.
Clearing of course requires a light tapping with a cleaning rod to free the bullet. Also ejecting usually requires mortaring the firearm. I bought Silver Bear because I read it was slightly better than Wolf. I never had this problem with Wolf. Carbine Class was 16" middy 1-8 twist CLE barrel. 750 rounds Bench was 14.5: middle 1-7 twist Adco barrel. 230 rounds |
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Proud member "Ranstad's Militia"
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Used 300 of 62 grain Golden Bear last friday on my 16" Bushmaster. No problems at all. Fairly clean compared to Wolf. Cleaning afterwards wasn't an ordeal. Will be ordering more for plinking.
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Lurker here :)
I've put thousands of rounds of Silver Bear through my AR's with few problems. One FTF, three FTE, out of probably 3-4k rounds. AR's used are Bushmaster 20" HBAR 1/9, self built 16" midlength 1/7, and 20" gov't profile 1/9. Silver Bear used was 62gr HP. Accuracy was acceptable, 2-3" at 100 yards on average. Ammo seemed fairly clean, and felt like it was loaded hot. |
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Put 500 rounds of 62gr through a Spikes 16" melonited upper / RRA lower yesterday lubed by Mobil-1 5w30 synthetic.
Accurate enough out to 50yds that it hit within 4" of where I thought the reddot on my Aimpoint was as I double tapped... I'd be guessing the lack of accuracy was me. Only failure was a known bad USGI mag a friends XCR couldn't run at all from.... failure wasn't ammo related, but mag follower/spring related. Tried the mag in my rifle and 2 failures to feed in 30 rnds. Running out of Magpul 20s and 30s, flawless. I'd say GTG for the price. |
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I tried out 100 rds each of 62 BTHP Golden and Brown Bear yesterday. Both rounds were fired through a Colt 6920, a 14.5" LMT, and my match gun which is a 14.5" LMT w/ FSC556 comp on a lower w/a fixed A1 stock and JP reduced power trigger springs. The carbines have H2 buffers. None of the guns were clean and were run wet.
I fired 5 rd groups from 100 yards with each round/gun. Both rounds fired to the same POA/POI and grouped 3-4 inches. The Colt is zeroed with 75 TAP, the LMTs are both zeroed with XM-193. The Bear ammo was close enough for practice. I then fired 1-5 drills to get the guns hot fast. I fired the drills back to back, 2 mags through each gun. I had one double feed (mag issue) and 1 light primer strike FTF with the Brown Bear. Both malfunctions happened while shooting the match LMT with comp, rifle buffer, and JP springs (probable cause of the light primer strike). This round was ejected, inspected, placed back in rotation and fired the second time. No issues with the Golden Bear. I didn't notice any difference between the ammo other than the medium used to coat the steel case and the red primer sealant used on the Brown Bear. The ammo "felt" like 5.56 and was much more powerful, cleaner, and accurate than Wolf. At 25 cents a round Brown Bear will be replacing XM-193 as my practice/3-gun ammo. |
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I ordered 100rds. of Golden Bear brass plated steel case ammo from ATG. Received ammo last week and went to the range the following day. Golden Bear showed good/decent accuracy and most important, my rifle functioned properly, with no hangups. If I can find more of this ammo, it will replace the Centurion all brass ammo I use for plinking.
http://i30.tinypic.com/mcugxw.jpg http://i32.tinypic.com/2uhr1cp.jpg http://i25.tinypic.com/ju7hxl.jpg |
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I run 500 rds of the 62 hp through my colt and my bushmaster with no issues at all. Compared to the wolf, I would take this instead.
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I shot about 105 rounds (including a lot of rapid fire) of Silver Bear 55 grain hollow point today. The boxes indicated June 2009 production. The primer was sealed, the bullet was not. Every round was sure fire and felt "more powerful" than commercial .223 ammo. In fact, it even felt like it had more oomph than some mil-surp ammo that I have shot. The 100 yard targets I shot at were all reactive, so I can't comment on the accuracy yet. I can say that I was hitting at least as easily (I felt like I was hitting better than with) the PMC 223A that usually shoot.
My rifle is a RRA LAR-15 lower with a rifle buffer and an A1 stock with a ban configuration 20" A4 Bushmaster upper (target crown, non-Colt semi-auto type BCG). I was using a 30 round PMAG (loaded to 30), CPRODUCTS and USGI (Center) 30 RD Aluminum loaded to capacity, and a Colt early USAF contract 20 and USGI Sanchez 30 loaded to 15 each for another stage. |
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I put about 200rds of the 62gr soft point through my RRA Coyote Rifle this weekend at a practical rifle match. No malfunctions. Magazine where combination of C-Product and NHMTG 30rd. All the targets were close so accuracy was not really tested. Rate of fire was moderately high 35-50rds in 30-60secs per stage.
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November 29th
Looks like I will be using this range ammo by the results in my 3 AR's. I tested 210 rounds today in each 1. All ran fine. Some rapid fire, some heat up & then cool down. It doesn't seem any more dirty or cleaner then wolf. It's a bit smoky though. I had puffs back in my face through the charging handle. I noticed it out of the barrel too. The cases were not tore up like wolf cases. Center hit primer strikes, it seemed constant. It's hotter then wolf for sure but not 5.56 hot. It was 55gr FMJ in a 700 round spam can. I also ran 180 rounds of federal black box XM193 right after the silver bear in each. Not cleaning or anything. 390 each mixed. My 3 AR's ran great. I Know my AR's can run wolf too but after 3 or so mags it becomes more of a headache. All have BCM BCG's with the o-ring installed. Bushmaster 20" DPMS Panther lite 16" (T2 buffer) BCM 14.5"/Colt lower build (T2 buffer) At 50 yards it was accurate enough for me. At 100 it wasn't too accurate, but again anything I hit would not be standing. December 6th: Ran another 210 rounds in my AR today. Zero malfunctions. I'm pleased with this ammo. |
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3k 62gr HP M16 with 10" barrel and can- no problems
1k 147gr 308 FMJ, through a HK21 in a few minutes- no problems. This beats wolf IMO, it is more dirty but it is more powerful |
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I use a flamethrower for home defense, it always beats the racking of the 870 and the "superior" wounding effects of the AR
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From today at the range.
platform: 20" A2 govt profile 1:7 twist. Iron sights ammo : 62gr. FMJ Golden Bear. Excellent for 25m battle sight zero and 25m target practice. All went bang, no FTF or FTE. Slight problem when moving to 100yd range. Once the barrel heated up , the groupings started getting bigger. Started out 1.0- 1.5 MOA then gradually went to 3.0-5.0 MOA. By comparison, Centurion 55gr stayed consistant at 1.0-1.5 MOA throughout. |
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Ran several hundred rounds of 62 gr Silver Bear through my Bushmaster, S&W MP 15 and build. No problems. OK accuracy for plinking. 55 gr Brown Bear seems more accurate but then again, I've only used 62 gr in Silver Bear so my M4's may just shoot better with 55 gr.
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Have shot about 400 rounds of SB, both 55 and 62 through an S&W M15T and Colt 6940 and zero malfunctons, no odor and seems not that dirty. 10/2009 date on boxes. Groups shot at 50 yards were OK, did not measure or chono yet.
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SouthPark
Carpe Diem |
Last weekend was my first experience shooting steel cased ammo with my new set-up or any of my guns, for that matter.
My new 16" middy BCM BFH upper has been running like a champ. The upper is mounted on a Spikes lower, which is fitted with a Geissele SSA trigger group. Last Sunday, I decided to run some 62 gr. HP Silver Bear through it (stamped 2009 - 07 on the inside of the box). I go to the range about 2 to 3 times a week and decided that more practical ammo was needed. I started out by shooting 50 rounds of PMC 55 gr. FMJ at 50 yards. An EOTech XPS2-0 and 3x magnifier combo was used. This was followed by 200 rounds of the 62 gr. Silver Bear HP (Blue box), which was followed up with another 50 rounds of the PMC. I never did shoot beyond 50 yards during this session. Comments: - The Silver Bear ammo ran without creating any mechanical issues with regard to firing, feeding or ejection. I was quite pleased with this result. - The SB is quite a bit dirtier than other ammo, which I have shot. However, it was be a simple matter to clean up. - I could not get the SB to group any tighter than 1-1/2" scattered groupings. The PMC has consistently yielded tight groups of 3/4" after my rig was initially sighted in, as it did today. I use 1-1/2" round self adhering target dots. So, grouping results are instant, as viewed through my spotting scope. At the current SB prices and based on the way it functioned, I purchased a 1K round case for simple plinking. |
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Fired 4000 rounds of Silver/Brown Bear ammo in Magpul Carbine 1 & 2 over a 6 days period. Had one round FTE due to a ripped lip and one of my 2 rifles failed to lock back on an empty mag a couple of times. This may or may not have been ammo related. The second gun functioned perfectly the last 3 days thru over 2K of the Bear ammo. The only maintenance done was a general wipedown of the grit in the upper and magwell and a good dose of Slip2000 lube each night. The chamber was extremely dirty at the end of the class, but the gun continued to perform 100% thru some pretty heavy shooting with a blazing hot chamber. Post with pictures is here...
http://www.ar15.com/forums/t_3_16/543748_6_Days_of_Magpul___4000_rounds_of_steel_ammo____.html |
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When people fear their government, there is tyrrany. When the government fears the people, there is liberty. ---- Thomas Jefferson
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RRA AR15, ran 5 mags of XM193 no probs, then 1 mag Silver Bear 55gr had 5 FTF, switched back to XM193, ran flawlessly.
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"Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."
- Benjamin Franklin |
My ST-15 digs Silver Bear. I alway shoot it after my brass. Not as much pop as other ammo, but it cycles the rifle well. I've shot about 200 round of the 62g SP. The SP don't catch on the feed ramps and are as accurate as I am at 25 yds. I just 500 rounds of the 62g HP. Looking forward to making it my go to range ammo.
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Ive used silver and brown bear, Brown bear in my AR has been flawless. I run silver bear in my PTR91 out of maybe 2K ive had one case failure, i ripped the case in half. whether its due to the ammo or a combo of the gun and the ammo i dont know. I still run it and resolved the issue and ran 200 more through it w/o any problems.
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Ive gone through about 2000rds over the years, and while its not the most accurate ammo, ive never had a failure; either slow fire or rapid fire mag dumps. I run a RRA 16" Mid-length with Wylde chamber
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I have always liked SB. Last week I shot some along with some xm193 and i could not tell the difference in recoil or report. Just the flash. I will chrono some soon.
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BRONZ
You never have trouble if you are prepared for it. T. Roosevelt |
Shot maybe 300 of the 500 rounds - S&W M&P15OR, 1:9 twist.
Accuracy is ... meh. About 6-8 inch spread at 100 yards. By comparison, in my rifle M193 and MK318 are both around 3-4 inch groups. Urea smell to the ammo, but whatever. Doesn't seem any dirtier than any other brass case I've seen. Goes bang every time, so far. Doens't load well in the SF 60 round mag that I have. |
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