Russian .223 Ammo

[JonJ]

I bought 2 boxes of Russian .223 today to try out. I've heard good and bad reports but it was time for me to see for myself. It's JSC Barnaul 62gr. I loaded 2 of my 10rd mags and proceeded to fire it out of my Bushmaster DCM.
First mag, first 8 rounds fed and fired without a hitch. It was smokey and smelled funky. 8th and 9th rounds failed to feed and jammed in the action.
Second mag, first round fired and every single round and I mean every round, failed to feed, again jamming.
Loaded a third mag and same problem, every round.
I guess they're steel cased and look to be lacquer coated.
Went back to some Federal ammo I had and didn't have a single miss feed.

I haven't cleaned the rifle yet but I'm sure it's pretty filthy after seeing all the smoke. Kind of reminded me of when we were kids and put powder in our air rifles to make 'em puff.
I've put this on the NEVER BUY AGAIN list.
Here's a picture

 

[Admin]

Thanks for the warning Jon.

 

[Len-2A Training]

If you have a "military chamber" on your .223, fire away all the cheap Russian stuff (steel case).

If you have a "target chamber" on your .223, STAY AWAY FROM the cheap Russian stuff! [These chambers are designed to tighter tolerances.]

I've fired a couple thousand rounds of Wolf (lacquer coated, steel case) .223 in my two "military chamber" AR15s as well as two of Tweak's CAR15s (ARFCOM Mod who worked for Olympic Arms-hates them BTW). Never a misfeed or a problem with the Wolf ammo. I have some of the same JSC Barnaul that you have, haven't fired it yet but it will probably be fine in my guns.

 

[Nickle]

We've sold a bunch of the stuff, mostly the newer "Blue Box". I guess I'll have to get some out and try it.

Make sure you clean your chamber after using any lacquer coated 5.56 ammo. The stuff builds up bad. AK's were "designed" to shoot the stuff, so they don't bother.

 

[JonJ]

If you have a "military chamber" on your .223, fire away all the cheap Russian stuff (steel case).

If you have a "target chamber" on your .223, STAY AWAY FROM the cheap Russian stuff! [These chambers are designed to tighter tolerances.]

I've fired a couple thousand rounds of Wolf (lacquer coated, steel case) .223 in my two "military chamber" AR15s as well as two of Tweak's CAR15s (ARFCOM Mod who worked for Olympic Arms-hates them BTW). Never a misfeed or a problem with the Wolf ammo. I have some of the same JSC Barnaul that you have, haven't fired it yet but it will probably be fine in my guns.

It is the DCM model which I believe is not "military". That was probably the problem. That would explain why the first 7 or 8 rounds fired fine. After a bit of lacquer build up it just got even tighter. I still think it's crappy stuff. But hey, cheap is cheap, right?

 

[Hawgleg44]

I posted in another thread, but I'll post here again:

I did buy a few hundred rounds of Wolf .223 recently. I took it, and my Colt SP-1 to the range. I had the new Wolf without the laquer coating. My friend was shooting his AR with a RRA M4 upper and the older Wolf.

After shooting a few mags full, he got a case stuck in the chamber. All I though was that he had a tight chamber. Then, a few mags later, I got one stuck. Now remember, this is BOTH types of Wolf ammo in two completely different AR's! When we got home, we had to drive cleaning rods down the barrels to get the cases out. I don't mean a tap or anything, I mean really beating on them. We inspected the cases and found that the extractor had ripped a piece off the rim of both the cartridges.

I'm glad all I have is a few boxes of the stuff left. If anyone wants it, it will be at the bottom of the CT river.