A while back I bought a case of 62gr Wolf polymer coated .223 FMJ ammo (Black Box, Tula arsenal) for use in my AR.
I have had generally good results from this ammo. Groupings are under 3" using irons at 100yds - except when they spontaneously start flying elsewhere - or even seem to group tightly in a new spot.
Now I'm not saying operator error is not to blame what so ever but while I was loading a mag the other day I loaded 4 cartridges in a row and noticed that each one was significantly different.
Here is a picture of that box showing at least 4 different head stamps. Some read ".223 Rem", others ".223 REM". Some versions of ".223 Rem" look to have been struck in a different font and a few rounds have a Pepsi-like symbol instead of "Wolf". Some of the cases have different rim shapes and few bullets are visually different.
All the boxes in my case were from the same "lot" and most show some degree of the same cartridge variation. The majority of cartridges have a bold .223 Rem stamp. While it could be that Tula simply runs their assembly line using a mix of parts (bad enough), I think the more likely scenario is that Tula or Wolf simply fill their boxes from bins of ammo of indeterminate age.
I'm not a Wolf basher and for the price paid this has worked well as plinking ammo. Overall accuracy has been better than a few other brands I've shot but as explained, sometimes those groups just go out the window. I wonder if this sort packaging inconsistency is common and if it's the cause of a lot of Wolf gripes?
I have had generally good results from this ammo. Groupings are under 3" using irons at 100yds - except when they spontaneously start flying elsewhere - or even seem to group tightly in a new spot.
Now I'm not saying operator error is not to blame what so ever but while I was loading a mag the other day I loaded 4 cartridges in a row and noticed that each one was significantly different.
Here is a picture of that box showing at least 4 different head stamps. Some read ".223 Rem", others ".223 REM". Some versions of ".223 Rem" look to have been struck in a different font and a few rounds have a Pepsi-like symbol instead of "Wolf". Some of the cases have different rim shapes and few bullets are visually different.
All the boxes in my case were from the same "lot" and most show some degree of the same cartridge variation. The majority of cartridges have a bold .223 Rem stamp. While it could be that Tula simply runs their assembly line using a mix of parts (bad enough), I think the more likely scenario is that Tula or Wolf simply fill their boxes from bins of ammo of indeterminate age.
I'm not a Wolf basher and for the price paid this has worked well as plinking ammo. Overall accuracy has been better than a few other brands I've shot but as explained, sometimes those groups just go out the window. I wonder if this sort packaging inconsistency is common and if it's the cause of a lot of Wolf gripes?
