I just built a 7.62x39 10.5" AR pistol. I am a little bored with 5.56, I want something in 30cal to host my 30 cal can and I want it to be cheap to shoot. The pistol is complete and I have tested it with it surpassing my expectations. I want MORE! I haven't had much experience with Russian ammo, especially 7.62x39.

What is the differences between wolf military classic, wolf polyformance, wolf black box, wolf camo box, golden tiger, brown bear, silver bear, etc. Not a fan of Tula 223 so, I wont shoot 7.62x39 Tula in this gun either.

I would prefer a variety that I don't have to clean my AR with hot water or whatever. So I guess that means no corrosive or lacquered.

Golden tiger use to be the best about five years ago. I'm not sure now, haven't kept up with it.

sellier & ballot is a good choice just as winchester and remington make offerings too

What is the differences between wolf military classic, wolf polyformance, wolf black box, wolf camo box, golden tiger, brown bear, silver bear, etc. Not a fan of Tula 223 so, I wont shoot 7.62x39 Tula in this gun either.

They can be broken up by manufacturers

Vympel
-golden tiger. Pretty decent mil spec type stuff. Lacquered and sealed. Guys like this a lot for storage, and is mostly what I buy for stacking. I haven’t seen it in anything but FMJ

Barnaul- makes the bears and wolf. Comes in FMJ, HP, and SP. their HP’s tend to act like FMJ
Brown bear- lacquered steel
Silver bear- zinc coated steel, kind of “dusty” to the touch. I like it in SP for shooting vermin
Golden bear- copper coated steel
Wolf camo box/ military classic- polymer coated steel. It’s okay but won’t resist moisture as well
Wolf black box- old school wolf with lacquer coating/sealed

Tula- makes Tula. It’s really not that bad for AK’s, and their 8M3 load is supposed to be a decent defensive round. It is all polymer coated steel

Red Army Standard- used to be made in ukraine but they got blown up or equipment stolen in the current war. I used it some but it wasn’t spectacular. I’ve seen it around recently and think it’s made somewhere in Russia now

Some of this stuff is made to spec.  SGammo has some tula 8m3 ammo that he had made for him.  A lot of folks liked the old 8m3 ammo and have bought this new stuff, run searches to see what others think of it and youtube it as well.

I would do that with most anything bullet wise.

If you have a box of each in front of you from what you are asking you can see differences.

I just run on price usually and buy a case here or there to stock up.

Want to get worried, run some searches on the potential russian sanctions that would stop imports of russian steel case.  While some might still trickle in enough would be cut back that it would cause an increase in price.  We have a thread in general discussion on it but I don't have the link handy.

Google search arfcom and russian sanctions and see if it comes up.

Wolf is just an importer like Red Army Stamdard, they don’t make ammo.
The best steel case ammo IMHO comes from Vympel(Golden Tiger and some RAS) and Barnaul. Then Ulyanovsk with Tula at the bottom. Although I do shoot Tula 154 gr., no one else makes that.

The Wolf Premium in the green box and Golden Tiger is the best steel case.

I used to buy Wolf Military Classic as that came from Barnaul but I don’t think that’s the case anymore.Brown Bear is from Barnaul.

SGAmmo is the best source for 7.62x39 and is the only source for GT, Wolf Premium and Tula 8m3.

The Tula 7.62x39 I've shot has all been pretty good stuff.

Both AR-47 (7.62x39 AR) and AK-47s it has been very accurate and clean burning with 100% BANG! rate.

I've also shot Brown Bear and Wolf Classic with good results.

Red Army Standard I'm staying away from...

I've been all over the Golden Tiger, but it has "gone away."  Now looking at the same manufacturer, Vympel, in what seems to be a different label. RAS.  This is what I am looking at as a replacement for GT.
Generally speaking, in 7.62x39 look at the manufacturer rather than the brand.

And the better ammo sites like SGAmmo will usually tell you what plant it came from.

BTW Tula's OK, for me it's not loaded as consistently as the Barnaul stuff but seems to chrono a bit faster out of 16" barrels than other flavors, been told it's due to the slower burning powder they use.
Most of my AKs group everything else better than Tula but my WASR isn't a tight shooter and doesn't seem to care, and shoots the 154 gr Tula better than GT.

When I buy steel case I like the lacquer finish (shiney) and preferably sealed at the primer & neck for best long term storage. Most of the poly coated finish (dull) isn't sealed and doesn't seem to be as weather resistant.

The absolute worst weather resistant finish is the zinc plated Silver Bear, but it's also the slickest finish and feeds better than anything else. Barnaul made so it's consistent. As long as it's stored properly (ammo cans & dessicant) you're fine.

I am a big fan of Golden Tiger and I have fired thousands of rounds through my AK’s.   But the OP built an “AR” pistol.   I have had issues with Golden Tiger in 7.62x39 not ignite primers in AR’s.   I believe that this is because of the “mil-spec primers” used in the Golden Tiger ammunition are harder than the AR is intended for.

2Hut8

My 7.62x39 AR has the RedXarms enhanced firing pin. It strikes the primers pretty damn hard.

pretty sure it was sgammo who had the paragraph with their golden tiger saying to modify the ar 7.62x39 stuff with enhanced firing pin to ensure reliable ignition.

Not that hard to do and if I had an ar in 7.62x39 I would probably do the mod anyway.

In moving some stuff around I have a whole lot of variety in my steel case 7.62x39 ammo.

To be completely honest, every single one of those and several more including Tula will all hit an 8" gong at 200 yards every single time from every rifle and pistol I own in that caliber, don't have complete info yet at 300 yards and up, but so far the same. Offhand. Couldn't tell ya what they bench because I only bench to sight-in a new rifle/optic.

And every one of them go bang every time I pull the trigger.

Not sure what more anyone could want from good inexpensive ammo.

I pretty much buy whatever is the cheapest.

I'm looking to do pretty much the same thing to feed my old Chinese SKS. It came with a sealed tin of Chinese steel-core ammo on stripper-clips, but it's staying unopened for the time being.

My AR in 762x39  loves Tula, My favorite , more accurate than me  and it's cheap, thousands of rounds never had any failures

Golden tiger your going to need a trigger that can whack a hard strike.

I love Golden Tiger just for the fact that it has an air space in the nose to speed up yawing. The other ammo listed may have an air space but I am unsure.

I've shot everything from Tula steel cased to S&B brass through my PWS 7.62x39 with no problems.  Enhanced firing pin installed.