PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS REVIEW IS FOR BRASS-CASED M193-spec AMMO PRODUCED FOR WOLF BY PRVI-PARTIZAN, NOT FOR ANY OTHER KIND OF WOLF AMMO



Please add your personal experience with Wolf/Prvi Partizan M193 ammunition to this thread. When you do, please give information about:

1) Firearm used in

2) 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 vote that you've had problems with the ammo, then please be so kind to let us know what those problems were. Simply voting negative will not help anyone.


 

For reference, I am going to quote FALARAK's excellent review:

A member here sent me a box of this stuff to inspect.  This is *imported* by Wolf but the ammo is produced by Prvi Partizan in Serbia / Montenegro.  They have a very good reputation in rifle ammunition.

The ammunition is sold boxed, 20 rounds per box.  Some vendors have it in sealed battlepacks, 200 rounds per battlepack.  Other vendors have it in 20 round boxes, overboxed, no battlepack.  It is selling for around $209/K plus shipping, or $0.21 per round.






The ammunition is bright, shiny, and clean.  No evidence of dings or dents.  The case neck is obviously annealed.  The bullets are all crimped into the cannelure as expected.  The cases are boxer primed, and crimped.





I measured the weights of 20 loaded cartridges.  They spread from 178.5gr to 180.2gr.  Average was 179.5gr.

Bullets were pulled from the heaviest and lightest loaded rounds, to see if the difference was in case, bullet, or powder:

The 178.5gr cartridge was composed of a 97.6gr primed case, a 54.9gr bullet, and 26.0gr of powder.
The 180.2gr cartridge was composed of a 99.8gr primed case, a 54.5gr bullet, and 25.8gr of powder.

This was the largest spread.  Not very consistent, especially in the bullet.  However, this is NOT match ammunition either.


The powder was examined.  Suprisingly, it is a stick/extruded variety.... with odd/random shaping:



A typical Q3131A round from a 2004 lot, contained 27.8gr of a flattened ball powder.  Quite a difference.




The bullet and case were examined.  The bullet is a 55gr FMJ projectile, with boat tail, and an open base.  This is consistent with other M193.  The cannellure is sharp and well defined.  The bullet was sealed with the typical black tar neck sealant, consistent with other military loads.  The projectile was tested with a strong magnet, and as expected, no magnetic material is present.  This is not steel core or jacket.





The bullet was then compared to known M193, from a pulled round of Winchester Q3131A, made by IMI in Israel.




Note the open base of IMI M193 is larger.  The jacket appears thicker on the Wolf, but it could simply be a difference of bullet construction, with the bottom of the jacket being rolled in.



Therefore - a cross sectional cut was made just after the cannelure on both bullets:



Note - the jacket thickness appears identical to IMI M193.


The loads were chronographed in two different barrels:  A 20" chrome lined Bushmaster, and a 16" Chrome lined Bushmaster, both having NATO chrome lined chambers.  (gratuitous weapon porn included:)




Results:  60 degrees, sunny, mild breeze.

20" barrel
3247*
3347*
3249
3223*
3295*
AVG: 3272
ES: 124
SD: 49.3

16" barrel
3153
3161
3117
3116
3112
AVG: 3131
ES: 49
SD: 23.2

I also measured several other rounds, as a control... Q3131A gave an avg. velocity of 3343 from the 20" barrel.  Black Hills gave an avg. velocity of 3056.  BOTH had MUCH lower (better) ES and SD results.

The conclusion on velocity:  This is within the expected velocity of M193, to be 3250fps at the muzzle from a 20" barrel.  However, it was not as consistent as other rounds tested at the same time, or as fast as my lot of Q3131A.

I must note the "*".  4 out of the 5 rounds fired from the 20" barrel short stroked.  All rounds were test fired in a EXTREMELY dirty and dry 20" Bushmaster.  I wanted to perform this test - because this weapon is notroious for choking on lower powered ammunition, when it is dry and dirty, yet will run 100% on Q3131A even under the same conditions.  Q3131A produced NO short strokes of any kind.  As I stated, this Wolf short stroked 4 out of 5 times, even though it is only running about 71fps slower than Q3131A.  I also tested Wolf polymer 55HP, which short stroked on every round, as expected.  But it gets worse... in addition, I tested Federal AE223, which yeilded an avg velocity of 3157fps..... a full 115fps slower than the Wolf M193.  However - NONE of the AE rounds short stroked.  Now, this isnt a fully scientific test, so dont draw too much information from this.... but it must be noted, this ammo, in a weapon under less than desireable conditions, underperformed other choices... even lower velocity ammunition.  I expect this has something to do with the burn rate of the stick powder chosen.  

I experienced zero failures on the 16" weapon, which was cleaned and lubed properly before firing.

Please keep in mind - I only fired 5 rounds in a finicky, neglected weapon, to evaluate failures.  5 rounds is NOT enough to make a full reliability determination.  This is JUST my observation.... use the information as you will.



Lastly, I tested fragmentation.  A box was constructed to contain a large plastic tub, with plastic bags filled with water.  I fired into this box from a distance of 25yds.  The results?




Basically, I blew the shit out of my box.    The hydraulic pressure blew the tub to bits, and blew out the bottom of the box with such force, it splintered the wood base.  In addition, the force of the wood was so great it shattered by plastic sawhorse stand.  

All was not lost, however - I was able to recover a few fragments:




The bullet did fragment in water.  It did not violently fragment, but did shear at the cannelure, shed the copper jacket, and deform greatly.  I dont know if this is consistent with gel, so my plan was to fire a round of Q3131A into the box and compare.  However, the damage was done.... so I will need to redesign the box if I want to try that again.



Conclusion:

This is JUST my opinion based on this evaluation.  

The bullet is M193.  The velocity is in spec.  However, given the fact that it short stroked in my finicky, neglected weapon, when Q3131A and AE223 did not, makes this less desireable ammunition, to me.  Also, the ES/SD was worse than Q3131A, but not as bad as AE223.   I didnt see any other glaring issues with it.

At the current price, I will not buy any.  There are still too many other options out there that appear to be better, or at least as good of choices.  If this drops in price, in comparison to other available ammunition, I will consider it.