I have always been an advocate of shooting Wolf ammo thru all my guns.  I put over 2K thru my .45 autos, 5K+ thru my AR15's, and a couple of thousand thru my DSA  and CAI FN's, let alone bolt rifles.  Last weekend I was out shooting my DSA and I had a big puff of smoke get my attention when I pulled the trigger.  The round ejected OK, but I decided to find it and pick it up.  It looked like it had the makings of a blown case.  I thought this was a rarity until 8 rounds later, a bigger puff of smoke, and the bottom and spring blew out of the magazine and a few loose rounds hit the table.  I found the other case too and here are pictures of both.  They are not real good, but you can see that they have been blown out.  I don't think it is the extractor ripping the heads off, I think the cases were weak and the gasses cut thru the case. Both are from the same box, lot number J016-05.





I am reluctant to use this ammo again in these expensive rifles. (or any other of my rifles).  Luckily, I only have a few boxes left.

You need to let Wolf know this. Quality aside they have pretty good customer service, send them pics of the mag too. From every report Ive seen they will take care of you.

Do you have headspace gauges?  Something doesn't seem right and it could either be the rifle or ammo.

No doubt something isn't right.  I wouldn't expect this to be normal.

yes, I have headspace gages.  The gun is fine and within spec.   The chamber is not ringed, scratched or flawed in any way, and it was nicely cleaned with a brush before I went to the range.  I didn't even have the first magzine thru it before the problem occured.   It is not worn out, less than 2,000 thru it.  The gas was set on 5.5  

I will contact Wolf if I can find a web site and phone for them.  I don't know that they will do anything because there was no damage to anything other than some sheet metal bending of the magazine.  But they should know they sold some defective ammo.

I suspect this is a problem with the case rather than with the extractor/gun.  See how the hole in the case is jagged.  It's like the gas jet cut its way out from the inside rather than the extractor yanking it out.  The one case also has a defect like that on the side of the case away from the extractor.



thanks...

I am still thinking extractor...here is why...

On a brass case, if you have too much pressure from a wrong setting on your gas block, you will notice the lips deforming where the extractor is trying to rip the head off.

On a steel case, the rim is stronger so the weak spot will now be the beginning of the case web. My FAL is pretty sensitive to different loads, of course I run the gammut on my loads.

Adjust your gas setting and see. I wonder also about the ripping opposite the extractor..

Keep us informed either way

I don't think it's ripping, I think it is gas jet cutting.  I used to work for a defense dept contractor on some military weapons large and small.  I have fired very high overpressure rounds and very far underloaded ammo in testing prodedures.  I also worked in manufacturing for 20+ years. I recognise gas jet cutting.  It is different than pulling metal apart (shear).  I have not had to change the gas setting on this gun in shooting several hundred rounds of Wolf.  It may be that there was a flaw in the case head area, or that there was an anomoly in the powder charge.  A strong OR weak load can result in strange behaviours.  
 

I found Wolf's web site and sent them an e-mail.  We'll see what they have to say.

thanks guys

Well, Wolf emailed me that they will send labels for the remaing ammo.  If I return it, they will refund or replace.  So I am awaiting labels. They want to test the ammo.   I will keep you up to speed on this...thanks

Thanks for posting the info, greco.  Looking forward to hearing the follow-up report.

I thought I might add that I am not trying to bust Wolf's chops.  I have issues with ammo from lots of makers.   I have had a bunch of Rem .308 with cracked case necks, some Wichester white box that would not fire, and Federal that would not fit in the chamber.  It happens to all companies, especially when they put out millions of rounds each year.

This is not the first time I've seen pics like that involving WOLF ammo fired in a FAL.

Greco, can you email me the full-size pics?

What do you think? Headspace issue? Sticking case?

Yes, I'll  email the pix to you.

I just want to say that I am not close minded about this thing.  

Well. my rifle has +- 2,000 rounds thru it.  When I run good mil-spec or commercial ammo thru it, it just humms along with no incident.  It is reliable and almost boring if you just feed it, and continue to pull the trigger.  Now when an outside force acts on it, like an improperly sized case, or an improper charge of powder, then we have an incident.  

So my gun is just humming along.  Then we have a failure with the Wolf cases.  Then I shoot another 60 rounds of mil-spec ammo thru it with out a hitch.  It is at that point that I suspect the ammo, and not the gun since all the parts are functioning to design intent.

I can think of nothing in regard to the GUN as described that would cause this.
This is a classic case head rupture (not head separation!).

I say its bad ammo - plain and simple.

defintly an issue with those rounds but i have seen far more brass ammo have simalar issues

Yes, I agree.  Also, when I used to shoot on some leagues, some of the guys would reload their cases so many times the would rupture from the case web being streched too thin.  I think brass cases may may rupture more easily because of thier low tensile strength as compared to steel...even new ones if the head space is bad, or pressures off the curve.  On the other hand, I didn't see much steel case ammo on the market until Wolf came along a decade ago.  Before that, it was all brass, so that's all you saw.

Well, today I recieved a small check from the Wolf Performance ammo folks.  I had sent the ammo and damaged cases in to them about 3 weeks ago.  They covered my damaged mag and a box of  ammo.  I hope the unfired rounds I sent them will be of value in evaluating the problem with the ammunition that was defective.  I will continue to shoot their ammo in other caliber since I never had problems in 5.56, 9mm, 45.  My hats off to them for acknowleding my contact.  I have had other companies ignore my letters.  That did not make me happy with their attitude.

Glad to hear they stepped up and took care of you, about par for them.