In the AR15 thread you linked to they appear to be looking at FMJ rounds, so you know those aren't going to be the 8m3 as that would be a hollow point.

My understanding is that the 8m3 is 124 grain, which would be the first thing to look for. When I compared an old Wolf Military Classic with the new 124 grain hollow point they appeared to be identical and the big difference between them and other cheap hollow points was that the opening was much larger. Most cheap 7.62x39mm hollow points look like someone came along and just removed the tip of an FMJ round.

The best way to tell is to take a pin and put the tip of the pin into the opening of the hollow point and fell around on the inside of the jacket. When I compared the new Wolf Military Classic and the new Tula 124 grain hollow point, I couldn't feel any notches on the new wolf, but I could feel them on the new TULA 124 grain FMJ. There was a thread where we discussed this a few months ago.

In my opinion the Tula 124 grain hollow point is what you are looking for.

Update –– I got an email from the head of Tulammo about the Tula 124 gr. HPs:

"I wanted to respond to your email, but I was waiting to receive a definitive response from Ulyanovsk before I replied. The Tulammo HP bullet you refer to below is the only bullet currently being imported into the U.S. from the Ulyanovsk factory in Russia. The “T” in Tulammo stands for The Tula Cartridge Company. The “UL” stands for The Ulyanovsk Cartridge Company. Until you asked the question, I was under the assumption that all of the 124 GR. HP bullets had the necessary cuts inside the bullet to provide a similar effect as the 8M3. I was informed today, that under their manufacturing guidelines, roughly 10% of the production could have bullets that might not have as detailed cuts as the 8M3. For your information, this is the exact same guideline that has been in place since the first Ulyanovsk production was imported into the U.S. Nothing has changed at the Ulyanovsk factory concerning this over the past twenty years of Russian imports into the U.S. I have only been involved with the two Russian factories since November of 2009. Prior to that, I owned Sellier & Bellot, USA. If I had known of the discrepancy, I would have informed Ulyanovsk that 100% of the bullets (no manufacturing process for bullets will always guarantee 100%) need to meet the criteria. Even though Ulyanovsk cannot specifically tell us the exact production requirements of the military 8M3 bullet, I was assured today that they will take the necessary steps to implement the production of any future Tulammo 124 GR. HP bullets as closely as possible to the 8M3.

Best regards,

Ed Grasso
President"



Apparently, I got some of the 10% of non-8M3 type bullets in my batch –– every box I've opened of my order was non 8M3. So, hopefully, Uly will up their QC and make sure we get all 8M3 type bullets in the future.

ETA: I'm not sure why Uly would not be open about the production requirements of the 8M3 bullet (didn't know the military used HPs under the Geneva Convention, etc.), or what the difference is between an 8M3 and an "8M3-type" bullet. It seem to me that if the 8M3 is as good as people say, Uly would be marketing the hell out of it as a superior stopper.

Excellent info here.Glad i checked this thread out,will come in handy.
Thanks,much appreciated

Use your dental pick to feel around the inner edges of the tip. Here is what the prefail cuts look like and what you are feeling for. Since Wolf went to the new WPA designation after all that hubbub, all the 7.62x39 ammo is made at a different plant and shouldn't have the 8m3 bullets. I forget if someone from Wolf confirmed this but that seems to be the general consensus:

Thanks for the input. I didn't find any cuts or anything. Just an empty cavity. I knew the 7.62x39 HP is not like pistol hollowpoints. I have other rounds, ie V-Max (Z-Max) and soft points, that do a better job.

I got the box of WPA MC HP just to have a box. If I plan on getting any specialty rounds in bulk, I'd go with commercial or surplus soft points and SSTs/V-Maxs.

Went digging through my ammo stash and found i have @ 300 rounds of the 8M3 in plain white boxes that say hunting rounds made in Russia.Checked and they have the notch inside.
Didnt even know i had them.

Thats funny i have mine under a bunch of Uly and WPA boxes.
Too bad i think i blasted through a couple hundred rounds of this without knowing it a few years ago

Yes, they do have what feels like pre-fail cuts on the inside. I can't say with certainty that makes them 8M3's, but it is one of the good indicators. AFAIK, there's no markings on the box to validate if they are 8M3's, nor do I have a puller to verify 100%. My next chance to shoot outdoors won't be until October, but I do plan on testing the performance of the Tula's then.

That was a great reply from the guy at Tula. I contacted Wolf and they were about as helpful as me asking the box it's self. I wish Tula would import the old style cases with the laquar on them and not the polymer junk. They also need to seal the primer pocket and where the bullet goes into the case. Still I have been shooting there .45 ammo for a while now and have been very very pleased.

Thanks,
Glenn

TAGGED!! Great thread, thanks!

Wasn't 1 of the articles in the "Book of the AK-47" on defensive ammo and they said that pretty much any of the SP in the 124gr flavor were GTG? I think he specifically mentioned Brown Bear in the article)