Bulk Ammo Options

[Wm Cook]

Before this week the last factory ammunition I bought (other than rimfire) was over 25 years ago. For those 25 years I’ve been hand loading something like 20+ different cartridges. In the past few weeks I’ve been adjusting my firearm inventory to fill some gaps in defense. Thus I made a bulk purchase of Wolf 123 grain FMJ in 7.62x39.

Sorting on line through the 7.62 and the 9mm was somewhat daunting. There are soooo many manufacturers. I picked Wolf because I had heard of it before.

Most everything I saw was sold out (FMJ, hollow point and soft point) except for the Wolf FMJ 123’s. So that was my choice because there was little to nothing else to choose from.


So how in the heck are you supposed to know what’s ok to buy and what not. The site happened to be Sports Shooting.

And it looks like the only 9mm is FMJ? And when in the world did they start using aluminum cases?

The firearms I’m buying for are the Ruger Mini 30 and the 9mm Ruger PC Carbine. Sure hope they both digest steel cases.

Any words of advice would be appreciated.

 

[Zero333]

I've shot a few boxes of Wolf 9mm Para. in my pistols and it worked fine. But it was brass cased re-manufactured ammo. Each box had 3 or 4 or 5 different headstamps. Accuracy was good enough. Most accurate 9mm Factory ammo I've every shot was Federal's American Eagle 147 gr FN.

I've shot tons of steel cased 308win and 7.62x39 in different rifles and it always went boom.
I have tons of surplus 7.62x39 from China, Romania, Czechoslovakia. Most accurate 7.62x39 Surplus I have is 1974' China.

Most accurate Factory 7.62x39 I've shot is Hornady's steel cased SST hunting ammo. I'm not sure if they make it anymore, but it was more accurate then the rifles I put it through. I even hunted deer with it in an 1954' Simonov Izhevsk SKS. It's my favorite close range brush rifle. Confident to take deer out to 200 yards 100% of the time if I have a steady rested position. But I swapped the rear notch for a peep sight that retains the same style of rear stair type elevation adjustment.

 

[Daddymac]

My first choice is always brass re-loadable case, boxer primed with no crimp, after that, I just have to deal with it.

Steel case ammo has been around for a while, but I am old school and just can't get on board with it, I'm sure it functions fine, and I have to admit, any ammo is way better than no ammo. I would think long term storage may need some special considerations, even though they are coated, I just don't know how well it will hold up to being stored in a garage or damp basement.

For me, I guess the best thing about steel cased ammo would be, because it's not re-loadable, when I got through shooting and can't find all of the empties, I won't spend 30 minutes looking for those last three pieces.

 

[hoz53]

Before this week the last factory ammunition I bought (other than rimfire) was over 25 years ago. For those 25 years I’ve been hand loading something like 20+ different cartridges. In the past few weeks I’ve been adjusting my firearm inventory to fill some gaps in defense. Thus I made a bulk purchase of Wolf 123 grain FMJ in 7.62x39.

Sorting on line through the 7.62 and the 9mm was somewhat daunting. There are soooo many manufacturers. I picked Wolf because I had heard of it before.

Most everything I saw was sold out (FMJ, hollow point and soft point) except for the Wolf FMJ 123’s. So that was my choice because there was little to nothing else to choose from.


So how in the heck are you supposed to know what’s ok to buy and what not. The site happened to be Sports Shooting.

And it looks like the only 9mm is FMJ? And when in the world did they start using aluminum cases?

The firearms I’m buying for are the Ruger Mini 30 and the 9mm Ruger PC Carbine. Sure hope they both digest steel cases.

Any words of advice would be appreciated.

Aluminum case Blazer 45 acp has been around a long time. I’ve always considered the cases throw always and don’t even pick them up. I think they warn you not to reload them. I think I only ever bought 1 box of them anyhow

 

[modernbeat]

The Mini-30 rifles are a mixed lot. Some will eat steel cased cheapo surplus all day, and others won't.
I've got a later 582 serial numbered rifle and it will fire the Wolf and Tula without issue.
But, how do you know if it will? You don't. You have to buy a few different 20 round boxes to test it out. Once you know it works, then you buy the 1000 round cases.

 

[Siko12]

I buy through pretty much any online retailer including those already listed. Usually buying 1000's at a time will help with shipping. I just bought 2k of 5.56 a week ago from the armory, 1k rounds of 147gr Speer lawman from target sports, and 1k rounds of 300blk from ozark. Ozark is a little slow on the shipping but the other two arrived around 1-1.5 weeks after I ordered it. Ordered 1000's of self defense rounds from sga and ammotogo in the past with zero issues

Only ammo I had issues with was freedom munitions reloads, 115 oal was all over the place with some rounds set in way too deep that I wouldn't try to shoot. And 147 gr that won't cycle my ar.