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I decided to run some Monarch steel through my FNX-9 about a month ago (everyone was out of ammo post-Christmas and that was about all I could find).  Don't make the same mistake!  Through 300 rounds, I had at least ten failures to extract, two failures to fire, the slide never locked to the rear on the last round, and the accuracy was h-o-r-r-i-b-l-e.  The accuracy was so bad, I thought I was doing something wrong.  So, I benched the pistol, and proceeded to shoot about a 12" group of five at ten yards.

I swtiched back over to Wal Mart Federal brass and everything went back to normal.

I have less than 500 rounds of Wolf black box through my Glock 19, the remaining 1000 or so being Federal brass, and it seems to run fine.  I'll have an occasional failure to extract, but certainly not as bad as the Monarch.

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More and more ranges are not allowing it because the jacket material has a high steel alloy content. It will actually spark when it hits the backstop in indoor ranges.

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Wait a minute...I've been rolling my own and haven't bought (or shopped for, looked at, researched, etc.) any factory loaded ammo in quite a while now, but they're making bullet jackets with steel in them?  I know all about steel casings, but bullets too?

Originally Posted in Ammo Forum FAQ:

Jackets: Most Wolf .223 has been made with copper/gilding metal jackets, just like US ammo. Some 7.62x39 ammo also had all-copper jackets, and were sold in the usual black box but with a yellow band in one corner advertising it as copper-jacketed. Barring these exceptions, jackets are MILD steel with a thick copper plating. For this reason alone - if the only qualifying test is to use a magnet - virtually all combloc ammo will "fail". While Wolf .223 has been an exception, the latest production material is steel jacketed also: "None of our ammunition is steel cored, it is illegal to have any steel cored ammunition imported, and we have all our ammunition imported. All our ammunition has lead cores, and does not spark! Probably the only reason they think this is from a magnet test which shows the magnet sticks to the bullet, not because of a steel core like assumed, but because the jacket is a copper/steel mix, (one layer of copper on top of one layer of steel), which is why it's called a bi-metal jacket. If the magnet didn't stick to some calibers it's only because the jacket was all copper instead of bi-metal. We are phasing out the all copper jackets and having only bi-metal because it's more cost efficient."

Steel jackets usually mean poor terminal performance. They will not fragment and behave like a true FMJ. Even SP bullets usually do not perform as well as SP bullets made with traditional gilding metal. There are some exceptions to this. The 7.62x39 HP made by Ulyanovsk (Wolf Military Classic), the Silver Bear 62gr HP, and the Winchester M80 ball make with a steel jacket all seem to fragment and produce good terminal performance. For more information about Russian caliber terminal performance, please refer to this post.

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Yes, but it does not function in any way to improve penetration/terminal performance. It is called a "bi-metal" jacket, meaning that the steel is basically sandwiched by copper.

From the Ammo Forum FAQ section on the jackets:




Link Here

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so all wolf .223 is that bi-metal shit? and now they're phasing it into every caliber? so now technically all wolf ammo can be said to have a "steel jacket" despite the fact that it's a combo of both?

that's awesome considering this is a common range rule "Only authorized firearms and ammunition may be used. Steel core, steel jacketed, tracer, and incendiary rounds are strictly prohibited"

I'm curious as to whether the ammo I ordered is currently this new bi-metal and whether or not the range would care if I used it.

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well the large quantity I bought was 9mm, so I'm curious as to whether or not it has undergone this change

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If it has, it will say "bi-metal jacket" on the boxes.