The Wolf of Truth





In this article, we’ll be taking a look at the actual level of accuracy (technically precision) that is consistently achievable with the ubiquitous Wolf Performance Ammunition when fired from a chrome-lined, NATO chambered, semi-automatic AR-15.  The “Performance Ammunition” evaluated for this article is loaded in polymer-coated steel cases and uses full metal jacket bullets with “bimetal” jackets; a three-layered affair consisting of a very thin outer layer of copper, a thick middle layer of steel and another thin layer of copper forming the inside of the jacket.



The "bimetal" jacket.




This accuracy evaluation used statistically significant shot-group sizes and every single shot in a fired group was included in the measurements.  There was absolutely no use of any Group Reduction Techniques (e.g. fliers, target movement, Butterfly Shots).  The shooting set-up will be described in detail below.  As many of the significant variables as was practicable were controlled for.   Also, "control groups" were fired from the barrels used in the evaluation using match-grade hand-loaded ammunition; in order to demonstrate the capability of each barrel.  Pictures of the fired shot-groups will be posted for documentation.

All shooting was conducted from a concrete bench-rest from a distance of 100 yards (confirmed with a laser rangefinder.)  The barrels used in the evaluation were free-floated.  The free-float handguards of the rifles rested in a Sinclair Windage Benchrest, while the stock of the rifles rested in a Protektor bunny-ear rear bag.  Sighting was accomplished via a Leupold VARI-X III set at 25X magnification and adjusted to be parallax-free at 100 yards. A mirage shade was attached to the objective-bell of the scope.  Wind conditions on the shooting range were continuously monitored using a Wind Probe.  The set-up was very similar to that pictured below.






The Wind Probe.





The first Wolf Performance load evaluated was the 55 grain FMJ version.  The test vehicle was a 20” Colt HBAR with a 1:7” twist, chrome-lining and a NATO chamber.  A 10-shot control load was fired from this barrel at 100 yards using hand-loaded Sierra MatchKings.  The extreme spread of that group was 1.03”.










Four 10-shot groups of the 55 grain FMJ Wolf ammunition were fired in a row from 100 yards with the resulting extreme spreads:

4.22”
3.73”
3.34”
4.31”

for a 10-shot group average extreme spread of 3.9”.  All four of the 10-shot groups were over-layed on each other using RSI Shooting Lab to form a 40-shot composite group.  The mean radius for the composite group was 1.16”.


The “smallest” 10-shot group.






The 40-shot composite group.





Knowing that the Internet Commando would feel that the above evaluation was unfair, due to his false belief that a 1:7” twist barrel “over-stabilizes” 55 grain bullets, I repeated the entire evaluation using a 1:9” twist barrel.  The results were nearly identical.

The new test vehicle was a 16” Colt HBAR with chrome lining, a NATO chamber and of course the 1:9” twist.  This is the barrel found on the Colt 6721 carbine.  This barrel was also free-floated.  The exact same lot of Wolf 55 grain FMJ ammunition was used for this repeated evaluation.  All other aspects of the evaluation were exactly as described above for the previous evaluation.





A 10-shot control group fired from the 16” Colt HBAR from 100 yards using the same match-grade hand-load of Sierra 55 grain BlitzKings had an extreme spread of 0.89”.

Just as before, four 10-shot groups of the 55 grain FMJ Wolf ammunition were fired in a row from 100 yards.  The extreme spread of those groups measured:

4.30”
3.62”
4.04”
3.99”

for a 10-shot group average extreme spread of 4.0”.  As before, all four of the 10-shot groups were over-layed on each other using RSI Shooting Lab to form a 40-shot composite group.  This composite group had a mean radius of 1.21”.



The “smallest” group from the 1:9” twist barrel.






The 40-shot composite group from the 1:9” twist barrel.




Here are both of the 40-shot composite groups side by side for comparison.  So much for the “overstabilization” nonsense.






Wolf also markets a 62 grain FMJ version of the steel case, bimetal jacket Performance Ammunition.  An accuracy evaluation of this load was conducted exactly as described above using the same 1:9” twist, 16” Colt HBAR.  Four 10-shot groups of the 62 grain FMJ load were fired from the bench-rest set-up at 100 yards.  The extreme spreads of those groups measured:

4.23”
4.29”
3.68”
4.41”

for a 10-shot group average extreme spread of 4.15”.  These four 10-shot groups were over-layed on each other using RSI Shooting Lab to form a 40-shot composite group which had a mean radius of 1.22”.


The “smallest” 10-shot group of the 62 grain load.






The 40-shot composite group of the 62 grain load.





To summarize the above accuracy evaluations of the Wolf, steel case, bimetal jacket ammunition; a combined total of twelve, 10-shot groups fired from two different barrels using two different lots/weights of the Wolf ammunition had a grand average extreme spread of 4.02” at 100 yards.








Last, but not least, here’s a picture of the only group that the Internet Commando would have posted after firing the Wolf, steel case, bimetal jacket ammunition.  It’s a sub-MOA group fired from 100 yards using the Wolf 62 grain FMJ load; a cherry-picked, 3-shot group, that is.













Wolf 75 grain HP:  Lot - B





As I’m sure you all know, Wolf is now distributing a 223 Remington, 75 grain hollow point version of their metal cased, “bi-metal” jacketed bullet ammunition.  While the 75 grain bullet does indeed have an open tip at the meplat, it is not exactly a typical hollow point design as the base of the bullet is also open, with exposed lead, as in the configuration of a full metal jacketed bullet.







I purchased a new lot of the Wolf 75 grain hollow point Performance Ammunition and performed an accuracy (technically precision) evaluation of it in the same manner as described above.  For this evaluation I used the same  20” Colt HBAR described above.  The rest of the set-up was basically identical in capability to that described previously, including front and rear rests and a Leupold VARI-X III set at 25X magnification.  As always, the wind conditions were monitored using a Wind Probe.





Five 10-shot groups of the Wolf 75 grain HP load were fired in a row from the bench at a distance of 100 yards.  The extreme spreads for those five groups measured:

3.41”
6.09”
3.59”
5.43”
4.63”

for a 10-shot group average extreme spread of 4.63”.  Over-laying all five groups on each other using RSI Shooting Lab produced a 50-shot composite group with a mean radius of 1.24”.



The “smallest” 10-shot group.







The 50-shot composite group.

Thanks for the great work man!

I'd love to see a Silver Bear 62gr HP thread like this....

Thanks again for another outstanding review.
Just goes to show (again)............you get what you pay for.

I appreciate your contributions very much.





Thanks,
Bill

excellent read id like to see the same with silver and brown bear if you can.

so what you are saying is "sighting in on a 25 yard target with wolf is pointless" . (no actually i couldnt get ANYthing like a decent group out of it and using internet commando photos i just reasoned that i was a bad shot(still a bad shot but not THAT bad)

I can shoot sub MOA with Wolf all day long.

So the result of your testing is that the 55gr Wolf is the "match" ammo, and the 62gr stuff is the plinking ammo?

You should do some of the offerings from Brown bear next molon. Good post too

You didn't shoot the extreme performance 62gr load from the 1/7 barrel?!!!?
Now that's where you f-cked up, it would have been sub MOA for sure!!!!
I don't get it Molon, all this testing and you skipped the obvious superior combination!  LOL

Hell, I'd be happy if I got 4 MOA from Wolf with my shooting

Excellent report, Molon.

great work sir.. so what i am  getting  is you will most  likely hit what you are aiming at with wolf and it will hurt

Nicely done.  You have demonstrated that Wolf generally goes somewhere close to where you point it and doesn't care whether it gets there through a 1:7 or 1:9 twist barrel.  I assume that your dog is still in good health as well.

It would be interesting to see what sort of numbers that ammo chrono'd at.  Some of the target impacts being far enough away from the rest of the bunch make it look like velocities weren't particularly consistent.

Again, great work.

You get out of here with your testing. We have too many people on the internet with guns that shoot Wolf into an inch ALL DAY LONG!!!  They said so. J/K and thanks for the test. Confirms my results. We need a sticky on combloc .223 that says "Expect 4-5 MOA. Period." And that's been my experience with Silver Bear, too.

I'll second the "where is the 62 in the 1/7?"

I find wolf to be slighty more precise but brown bear 62 gr hp\sp is around 4 moa ammo too.

And if Molon stands you up Bryan, I'm available

This Wolf stuff must be what they use in the movies  You just keep shooting until you hit your intended target.

  I thought you were shooting a wolf to test penetration. Glad I was wrong.

After this report, I'm certain not even Little Red Riding Hood would want to use Wolf.......

It won't matter for CQB.  

BTW, I've used Wolf boxer cases for reloads and they are pretty accurate.  It must be the projectile that is junky.

I still am not going to buy any of that wolf ammo.....

I'd like to see this test with the Silver Bear 62 gr. hollow points, please.

I wouldn't mind seeing how any of the Bear ammo compares to wolf. The bear has always been a better ammo for me, but its still blasting fodder. My M16 doesn't really care about MOA.

Great info.

Although it is interesting, I think the term 'Definitive' would be withheld until there is a double blind test completed.

Expectations of accuracy and operator knowledge of the ammo fired would still be a factor.

I could repeat the same test with any ammo and get the 'expected' results.

TRG

want some free 75gr wolf hp to test?

email me.

GREAT write ups molon.

Very cool. Thanks for doing this.



 

Great write-up Molon.  

I'll echo some of the other comments here and say that a Bear vs Wolf comparison would be truly epic.  

While I haven't performed any formal evaluations, the 62gr HP Silver Bear I've been using has been just as accurate as the Prvi M193 I have(although that isn't saying much....).

Excellent work Molon. Thank you for all the work you do. You have confirmed what I figured, Wolf is good for plinking and is minute of bad guy out to 200.

Excellent, informative post. This is extremely valuable information. Thank you for your efforts.

Just for grins......would there happen to be similar test data, using the same rifle, equipment, etc for OTHER commercial ammunition?
A scientific test would have fired control groups using other ammunition....and actually would have used several identically configured rifles.

Definitive test of Wolf?.....no.....but, this makes a good read and is better than average as far as test procedure....it indicates what one particular rilfe is capable of.

BTW, the rilfe and ammuntion performance from this test would meet basic Army performance requirements regarding accuracy.

Hotgun

Molon has done such tests for a multitude of commercial ammo with the same rifle.  



I know, its easier to just assume hes wrong and that Wolf is the greatness, and that there is no reason for 'good' ammo to be so expensive, but come on.



 

WTF is wrong with this site? Why so slow?

I've owned many AR15s since 1996 and the only time I've ever had a jam or stoppage was using wolf ammo. I would ask if you had any jams during the test but you're very busy.

Now there's a scary thought, Wolf out of a mini14. That just sounds more dangerous than Russian roulette.



Why is wolf so stupidly varied? Wolf gold 223 is a nice fun round. Wolf MT in 22LF is constantly at or near 1moa from my 10/22 (its pretty really far from stock), but most other wolf is so shitty that you may as well just throw it down range, you stand a greater chance of hitting something, anything.



I know wolf is repackaged from other manufactures, privi for the wolf gold, Lapua for wolf mt....

But you would think that they would actually try to show their entire line in a better light. Make some kind of a respectful name for themselves.



OK rant over.



As you were.



 

Because Wolf Gold is actually repacked Privi Partisan, Wolf match rimfire ammo is made in Germany, and Wolf steel cased centerfire ammo is made in Russia. It's not all made at the same place
by the same people.

All of those shots were done using a scope?  What should I expect using iron / red dot / Prismatic?

Thanks!

it's my 'spray and pray' load ... for when the 35,000 zombies come ambling down the street. and i don't really care which ones i hit. they do always go bang in my rifles - but where they end up is sometimes a mystery. that's why i handload. that and i'm not rich. and i like to hit what i aim at.

I've had zero problems with black box - never worried about the accuracy (shooting it out of my M4 at less then 200yds) but cammo box is the only ammo I've ever had stop up my rifle.

 

... And all this time I just thought I couldn't shoot a rifle worth a shit, chasing a zero all over the frigging target at 100 yards.



Thanks Molon.

Exactly, and now when any member here starts spouting such nonsense, you can link them directly to this thread.

Bryan,

Thank you kindly for your very gracious offer.  Unfortunately, I must decline.  It has been a long-standing policy of mine not to accept ammunition/products for testing from manufacturers/wholesalers/retailers, so that there can be absolutely no accusations of bias in my test results.

Thanks again,

Molon