How's the "Bear" ammo?

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Young.Gun.612

New member
Just went online and bought some silver and golden bear .223 for dirt cheap.

Anyone have any experience this stuff?
Intending to be shot through a 5.56/.223 ar-15 m4
 
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Mosinka

New member
Of the non-corrosive Russian ammo, Silver Bear and Golden Bear are the most reliable hands down in my Ruger Mini-30, which is a fussy eater. Tula ammo, for example, has had many FTF's. I'm very happy with both Silver and Golden Bear. They feed better than Brown Bear or WPA (though these fire okay, but don't feed as reliably. Still, I'd stick with the Silver and Golden Bear, which are not any more costly, and have proven far more reliable to me. You should be fine with them.
 
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T. A. Corvus

New member
I've used Bear ammo almost exclusively in my Yugo SKS 59/66 (7.62x39). I have never once had an ammo problem. I have experienced some jamming on the ejection, but it was due to a nicked gas tube piston, not the ammo. A very small nick, I might add. It's amazing how such a tiny flaw has such huge potential to put your a#@ in a sling.
 
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wnycollector

New member
I used to shoot lots of silver bear .223 ammo. It was very reliable and reasonably accurate (4" at 100 yards) in all of my AR-15's. I stopped using it when their price hit $5/20. For a an extra $.50/20 I could shoot brass case ammo.
 
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Jo6pak

New member
Steel cased commie spray and prey ammo.
Click to expand...

Not from what I have seen. My DR200 loves the stuff, eats it up fine and holds to around 2-3 MOA, which is nearly the same as other brass cased fodder out of the same gun.

I haven't seen many issues with guys shooting the Silver Bear in any caliber. The Brown Bear is a different story tho.

Yes, it's not quite as consistent as match ammo, or as clean as other stuff, but for the price it works just fine for 99% of any applications.

But, it's not "spray and pray ammo" by far.
 
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okiewita40

New member
I have shot the silver bear but not any of the others. I have yet to have an ammo related problem at all. Plus I am getting 2 moa out of my sks using it. So I am a happy camper.
 
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Mike38

New member
I would compare Brown Bear to Wolf and Tulammo. It works, but noting to brag about. Silver Bear is a huge jump in my experiences. Golden Bear a slight improvement over Silver. This is shooting from a Saiga 223.
 
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Young.Gun.612

New member
Ok, good to hear. Thanks guys!

Less than $80 with shipping I picked up a .30 cal USGI ammo can, 100 55 gr. Silver Bear and 100 gr. Golden Bear.
 
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tahunua001

New member
my only experience with bear has been shooting brown bear out of a few range rentals. both guns were AK variants so I really dont know if it would feed reliably out of an AR or not. golden bear is brass and silver bear is nickel so I would say you shouldn't have much issue with it.
 
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jhenry

New member
Silver Bear does in fact use a zinc plated case. My Finn M39 shoots the Silver Bear 203 grain 7.62x54R quite well, as good as match fodder.
 
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Mrgunsngear

New member
I fire almost exclusively silver bear through my ARs; never an issue at all (PSAs and M&Ps FWIW...). I've ran soft point brown bear through them for varmit shooting as well with no issues either. That said, I meticulously clean my rifles and get the laquer out if there is any after shooting. I also run brown bear in my AKs and have never had a failure in any of them with the ammo. For practice; it's tough to go wrong.

I also shoot tons of 9mm silver bear ammo in my wonder 9s. $84 on militaryshooters.com is tough to pass up. It seems every bit as good as federal/blazer/wwb ammo to me.

I'd like to see some ballistics testing of the silver/brown/golden bear SP and HP ammo in gel to see what kind of terminal ballistics they produce but I haven't found that resource yet...
 
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DaveWUSAF

New member
I have 3 rifles with 5.56 chambers that shoot silver bear and wolf just fine. 1 Bushmaster with a chrome lined barrel and 2 DSA with the nitride treatment. My older PWA with the .223 chamber will choke on it all the time. It is not chrome lined either so that may make a difference.
Dave
 
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chewie146

New member
I've had good luck with it. I've used 9mm, 7.62X39, .223, and I think that's it. The .223 and 7.62 were in AR-15s, and it fed and fired just fine. The 9mm was in a Glock and a S&W M&P and fed and fired just fine. I shot the 9mm in IDPA. It seems to be better than the other Russian stuff.
 
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Sinlessorrow

New member
It works.

Few thigs to know.

Steel doesnt expand as much as brass, this causes more foulin in the chamber than brass, so dont mix and match the ammo.

The rumors about the coating melting are false, this has been proven on box o' truth.

The steel is much softer than the steel in your gun so ignore crap about it damagig the rifle

Its not that accurate maybe 3-5moa using mehanical rest at 100yrds.

Clean your chamber every 500rnds or after every session. Like i said steel doesnt expand as well as brass so the chamber gets dirtier much faster.

Keep those in mind and your good to go
 
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Dave R

New member
In all my .223 rifles, it is the least accurate I have tried.

Some FTE issues in my AR with a tight chamber.
 
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