Tulammo russian ammunition

P

proxpilot

New member
Local gun range has a sign up banning the use of all Russian like Wolf and Tulammo, probably for Brass collection reason. but it also says it destroys your barrel. is this true? it's hard to beat that $9 Walmart price.
 
I don't know of any reason for it to damage a barrel. The case can't be reloaded and this is the reason many ranges don't allow their use. They recycle brass in one form or another and make most of their money from it. It is sometimes a pain to have to clear out all the non-brass case and is time consuming. This means they loose money in the effort. I don't fault them at all. I am lucky that the range I normally go to doesn't seem to care if you use these rounds. They just don't want them used in their range pistols. They don't allow reloads in the range pistols either. Since it is their pistols you just go by their rules. Seems easy enough to me.

My only problem with Wolf and other former iron curtain country ammo is the smell when shot. You notice these things more at an indoor range.
 
It's a widely held (and equally widely debated) belief that steel-cased ammo may wear an extractor more quickly than brass, either way that has no bearing on your bore. They're probably just trying to scare you into compliance with their rule. Maybe they figure... if the rule is just "no steel casings" people will figure well that rule exists to benefit the range, if they say your barrel gets destroyed, then they make it seem like it is in your best interest to avoid steel-cased ammo as well. However, it is their range and their rules so if you wanna keep going there, continue playing by their rules, but yeah, don't worry about damaging your barrel if you go elsewhere to shoot Russian ammo.
 
with the money you save on non brass cased, you could just buy a brand new extractor. you would have to go through alot of boxes too. just dont buy ammo brands you never heard of.

im sticking to brown bear.
 
The Russian ammo will not hurt your barrel. The steel case can be a issue concerning the chamber, feeding and extraction.

But,,,, there is a list of real and imagined reasons why some ranges don't allow the stuff.

And most manufactures really don't like you using steel cased ammo in there fine firearms,,,, so to speak. :)

But the range folks and there insurance company's have some reasons along with the basic brass issue. A lot of Russian Ammo has been shown to have steel core bullets. I have some new Tula, Wolf and Silver Bear that all have a few steel core bullets per 20 pack in 7.62x39. As well as some surp 7.62x25 for my CZ-52. Then there is the surplus Russian Tula and others I have in 7.62x54r. Darn stuff can be steel core to other purpose built flaming killer rounds. The hellish Ins. Co's. and the owner of such range does not want any ammo like that close to there range.

I still by surplus and new production comblock ammo. But only shoot it out of my comblock weapons. No steel case ammo is ever shot out of my current production modern arms.
 
It's dirty and will fowl semi-autos and some revolvers will have extraction problems, and the steel casing wear more in the chamber and extraction process. But the powder won't hurt your barrel as long as you clean it afterwards - but it is more corrosive and if you leave your piece uncleaned, especially an older model, you might see some corrosion (easily avoided by cleaning, of course). I have tremendous jamming problems with Russian rounds and find the gun to be horribly dirty after shooting so I've given up on the stuff, figuring the dollar or two saved v. performance of my far more valuable handgun was not a fair trade-off.

I'm not sure I buy the brass collection issue, though. Plenty of other manufacturers use non-brass rounds (e.g., Blazer uses aluminum as do CCI shot shells) and your range isn't banning them. So there's more to the story. The fact that the burt powder smells terrible means there are different chemicals in the mix and, given the source, those could be about anything.
 
I have some new Tula, Wolf and Silver Bear that all have a few steel core bullets per 20 pack in 7.62x39. As well as some surp 7.62x25 for my CZ-52. Then there is the surplus Russian Tula and others I have in 7.62x54r. Darn stuff can be steel core to other purpose built flaming killer rounds.
Click to expand...

No kidding! I had never run a magnet past any to see.
 
I shoot a lot of Wolf Military classic in my P-64 9mm Makarov. I have for about a year now without problems. It cost about half of what the brass cased stuff does around here. I carry it loaded with Wolf as my back up gun.
I personaly do not see as to why an indoor range would ban steel cased ammo. If it gets into the brass bucket an old stero speaker magnet on a string will pick them up. I have done this with the range bucket at the range I am a member of many times. Note it will not pick up the zinc cased, or aluminum cased rounds. The indoor range I used to go to had a no aluminum cased ammo rule due to the fact that it could not be removed from the bucket with a magnet.
 
No kidding! I had never run a magnet past any to see.
Click to expand...

Running a magnet over the stuff won't tell you anything. They use "bi-metal" jackets for the bullets, consisting of a steel jacket and copper wash. Unless you X-ray or dissect your bullets, you'll never know if the magnet is picking up on more than the jacket.
 
My local indoor range hasn't banned Russian ammo as such, but if you walk in with a rifle that shoots the stuff, they will want to inspect your ammo. They do not allow steel core ammo to be used on their range. In the past the range supposedly sustained damage from the stuff, (I can niether confirm nor deny the truth of this.) I ordered some Softpoint stuff and will use that, if need be.
I can't see an issue at an outdoor facility. Aside from complicating the brass recycling side business. In which case, would they have a problem with Blazers?
 
Last edited:
Happily, our indoor range doesn't have any restrictions on using Wolf ammo. As for brass, it's all put into a big barrel and members regularly sift through it looking for re-loadable brass.
 
my rifle range is weird. they allow any type of ammo, don't sell ammo at the range nor do they rent any guns out. they also only sweep up the brass if its on the concrete, if it's on the grass it will stay there until it decomposes.
 
I have tremendous jamming problems with Russian rounds and find the gun to be horribly dirty after shooting so I've given up on the stuff, figuring the dollar or two saved v. performance of my far more valuable handgun was not a fair trade-off.
Click to expand...

Some would argue your handgun is the problem.
 
When I bought a neighbors Mini 14 he gave me two 500+ round sealed tins of Silver Bear 223 ammo. I opened one to see what the ammo looked like and took a very strong small magnet and found the zink plated cases and the copper jacketed bullets were over steel. This ammo will only be used as SHTF supply as one of our local stores has very good prices on Federal, Winchester and UMC economy ammo that has brass cases and just plain copper FMJ that I can use for target practice. I'm going to run a 20 round box of Silver Bear through the Mini 14 just to see how well it functions and how much powder residue is left. When I bought the stainless steel Mini its gas port system was filthy, just breaking the weapon down my hands were black and this was from handloaded ammo that either he or the previous owner had used. As far as I know no Russian ammo has been fired in this weapon.
 
My Glocks eat Tula and every other brand of Russian ammo like candy! Wal Mart is selling Tula by the tons now. Tula is coming out of the same factory as Wolf. When ranges start loosing business they will smarten up.
 
When ranges start loosing business they will smarten up.
Click to expand...
Is that before or after they have to pay for repairs following a fire?

The steel jacket is enough to cause sparks if it hits cement or steel. I've seen it with the RWS stuff, which also uses copper-washed steel jackets.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top