I got the 200 rounds of 62 gr HP .223 hollow point I ordered to test Silver Bear.

The test rifle was a non chrome Fulton that likes XM193 and Q3131A, in terms of function and accuracy, loves Black Hills, and really loves Ultramax match. I picked this rifle because, unlike my wife's RRA chrome upper, the Fulton has a 5.56 match chamber that dislikes wolf.

The round presents as a fairly good looking HP with a well formed looking hole and bullet jacket. The case is a slightly off looking silver, looking like it is coating a case, but without the nice look of a nickeled case. There is an odd line around the base of each case.

I gauged the rounds in a wilson .223 gage, and they were slightly loose, but just enough to feel.

Functioning was perfect. Smell was not bad, no where near as bad as wolf.

Accuracy was almost on par with what I get from XM193 and Q3131A. There was slightly bigger groups, and I mean slightly.

I rate this a 'must buy' at the prices it is selling for. I hope to have a case in time for the next Michigan pit shoot.

Where can you get it?

I have seen it a few places, I ordered from CTD for the test.

Nice report, thanks!

The dull silver appearance comes from the zinc plating applied to the cases in lieu of the lacquer.  Note that with time and a little humidity, the zinc plating will take on a white dusty look, and this is simply zinc oxide, a byproduct of the zinc doing its corrosion protection thing.

Noah

AIM surplus has it for $59.95/500.

I was curious as to how much the shipping charges are from aimsurplus??

Does anybody knows what this stuff chronos out to ?

Oh yeah - one other thing:

It's been a while since brouhaha and tatjana have blasted ballistic gelatin. Time to prep some more and consume large quatities of alcoloc bevarages while blasting blocks with various cheap ammo !!!!!

[:)]

I bought some to try in my Armalite and shot/functioned fine. My rifle doesnt like Wolf or Brown Bear. Plan to buy more-picked up 100 rounds test ammo at gun show.

www.aimsurplus.com
Silver Bear .223 Zinc Plated Hollow Point
New! Russian Commercial, Zinc plated steel case, Non-corrosive Rifle ammunition. 62grn, Hollow Point. 20rds to a box, 500rds to a case.
Sold Only as 500rd case.  Price:  $59.95

www.ammunitionstore.com
Mfg: Silver Bear, Russia
Date: 2002
Caliber: .223 Rem.
Bullet Type: 62 gr. Bimetal HP
Primer: Non-corrosive
Box Quan: 20 rounds
Case Quan: 500 rounds
Notes: Commercial ammo
Item # A019.6

500 rnds $59.95
2 or more $57.99 ea.

My gunshop in town got three cases of the stuff and I only got 10 boxes for test.  If the stuff works with my Colt then I'm going to buy a case!  Its cheap too, $3.85 a box or something.

If you are paying 3.85 a box that equals $192 per 1,000 rounds which is by no means a good deal.  You could buy XM193 or Q3131a for that price or less.  If you like the silver bear ammunition check out www.aimsurplus.com.

The Azalin

Sounds good!  Does anyone know what the average velocity is on this round?

Thanks for taking the time to share this info. Who has the best prices for silver bear ammo right now?

A guy at the last 2 Indy 1500 gunshows has been selling it for $110 a thousand. Guess I should have bought more than one case. Next show is next weekend. I'll check again.

An AR zeroed for XM193/55gr didn't have a problem with group size or spread with the 62gr Silver Bear?

TS

We got the silver bear from aim several weeks ago and just tried it out in
a mini-14 this morning. The goal was just to hit the gong a 100yards and put
holes in paper. Having sub 10.0 MOA is fine with me;) The other units eat
mostly the latest inexpensive stuff like Q3131A and XM193 instead]. The
Silver Bear did it's job. It was cheap and kind of dirty. The one neat part
how we could tell which hole was with Silver Bear and which was "other."
The Silver bear had noticeable black rings around the holes punched in the
paper while the others did not have any. What caused it? Is it the red
lacquer? The spent cases had red flakes around the primer after firing.

The stuff is only about $20/$25 less than the wholesale hunter's deal per
1000 shipped so who knows if more will be purchased. (maybe on days
where it's our turn to buy lunch!)

Thanks,

Pat.

Not really, it was down about 2-3 inches and right about the same.

I keep it zeroed for IMI M855....call me a traditionalist, but if TSHTF I want green tip.

Usually Q3131A hits just low enough you can tell, not enough to care.

Cool.  Thanks for the info...

TS