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Silver Bear ammo

haroldchrismeyerharoldchrismeyer Member Posts: 2,213 ✭
edited March 2008 in Ask the Experts
Ok, I tried the wolf ammo question, and decided to go with yalls suggestions and not use it in a ar15, but what about this nickel plated Silver Bear? Sounds ok to me, anyone shot it in an ar15? The price sure is right.
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Comments

  • haroldchrismeyerharoldchrismeyer Member Posts: 2,213 ✭
    edited November -1
    Is Silver Bear ammo clean enough to use in an AR15?? It is sometimes available here for even less than Wolf brand. Previous experience showed me that it is cleaner, but is it good enough for casual shooting with friends at the range, usually pop bottles at a hundred yards, sometimes fifty?

    I am not too worried about extractor wear, since using a couple of hundred rounds of this instead of the brass case ammo would pay for a new bolt.
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  • haroldchrismeyerharoldchrismeyer Member Posts: 2,213 ✭
    edited November -1
    Silver Bear ammo, it's it any good? I should have asked this before but i just got a case of 1000 rounds. I gon't really want to shoot this stuff in my Bretta but i guess it's ok for a hi-point.

    I also got a case of brown bear ammo anyone use this stuff?


    "I have made it a rule never to smoke more than one cigar at a time."
    Mark Twain
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  • cpermdcpermd Member Posts: 5,273 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    It is fine blasting ammo. Seems about as clean as Wolf to me. It is Barnaul ammo.

    CP
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  • GrasshopperGrasshopper Member Posts: 17,046 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Sliver Bear pistol ammo is just junk,imo,,,it wouldn't cycle several 9mm I had and just didn't work. Rifle ammo, don't know, but thought I would throw my thoughts in on pistol...nambu
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  • 44caliberkid44caliberkid Member Posts: 925 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    I've only used Silver bear 7.62 X 39, but in an SKS that usually groups about 3 -4 inches at 50 yards, it looked like I was patterning a shotgun, 18 inch group.
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  • lrarmsxlrarmsx Member Posts: 791 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Having personally beaten spent Russian made rounds out of two different guys' AR's, I wouldn't use ANY Russian .223 in an AR. Several different manufacturers of AR's will tell you that your warranty is void if you use any steel cased ammo. The Silver Bear ammo is nickel finished, but it is still a steel case. And just for reference, the spent casings I had to literally "beat" out of the two chambers were both the "New" polymer cased Wolf .223, not the older lacquered cases, which were supposed to be the problem and the poly cases were supposed to be the fix.

    Again, I haven't encountered anyone having issues with the Silver Bear .223 specifically, but I really don't think using something until you have a problem just to save a few bucks is a good choice. I've known guys that were shooting various .223 Russian ammo in their AR's without any problems, right up to the point that they left the range with a spent round frozen in their chambers. Supposedly the problem is cumilitive, eventually the use of the steel cases can cause damage to your chamber.

    Believe me, I didn't used to believe this either. I experienced it myself twice in a week with 2 different rifles, with two different guys with a different numbers of rounds through each gun. Its not just a matter of the ammo being clean, it is the composition of the casing no matter what it is covered with, laquer, polymer, or nickel. I'm sure that there are guys out there that have shot thousands of steel cased rounds through their AR's without a problem. However I have to wonder how many of them will actually admit to being wrong when their rifle needs a new barrel and their factory maker tells them that they won't honor the warranty because of the ammo they were using (that they told them in the manual not to use in the first place). There's a reason why better ammo costs more.

    Don't get me wrong, I'm not down on Russian ammo in general, nor Silver bear specifically. I just don't recommend using Russian .223 (from any manufacturer) in any manufacturer's .223 AR.

    LRARMSX
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  • drobsdrobs Member Posts: 22,620 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    quote:Originally posted by mm8nambu
    Sliver Bear pistol ammo is just junk,imo,,,it wouldn't cycle several 9mm I had and just didn't work. Rifle ammo, don't know, but thought I would throw my thoughts in on pistol...nambu


    I've found the same to be true in Pistols and AR's. Silver Bear is the only ammo that ever got my Glocks to jam. It also jammed in my AR's.

    Personally I'd rather have the dirty laquered cased ammo than Silver Bear.
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  • Wolf.Wolf. Member Posts: 2,223 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    --
    So, you guys are saying that ANY steel-cased ammo, not just Russian steel-case, is detrimental to your (gun's) health?

    I always wondered why the cases were covered with laquer, polymer or zinc (galvanized). I thought it had to do with corrosion issues.

    I have wondered, however about a polymer coating, which I thought might have the propensity to melt and gunk up the gun.

    WHY does the steel case cause problems?
    Will it cause problems in a Ruger .223 Mini-14?
    Are there any articles anywhere regarding damage using steel-cased ammo?

    I imagine it works fine in (works fine in mine) Russian and other Eastern Bloc and Chinese military weapons, including the old CZ52 pistols, misc. subguns and other long guns and handguns. My guess is this is because of the looser tolerances inherent in a military weapon, but I don't know.

    Can anyone elaborate further?
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  • 5mmgunguy5mmgunguy Member Posts: 3,092 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    Steel cases are ok. It just that the Russian's and Chinese quality control leaves things to be desired.
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  • competentonecompetentone Member Posts: 4,696 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    quote:Originally posted by Wolf.

    WHY does the steel case cause problems?
    Will it cause problems in a Ruger .223 Mini-14?
    Are there any articles anywhere regarding damage using steel-cased ammo?

    I imagine it works fine in (works fine in mine) Russian and other Eastern Bloc and Chinese military weapons, including the old CZ52 pistols, misc. subguns and other long guns and handguns. My guess is this is because of the looser tolerances inherent in a military weapon, but I don't know.

    Can anyone elaborate further?


    The best explanation I read (maybe I have a link to it somewhere -- I think it was a post on an AR-15 forum) is that the steel-cased ammo does not expand enough when fired in certain firearms which results in "blow-back" and powder residue building up in the chamber, which can eventually lead to cases sticking in the chamber.

    The brass-cased ammo swells more effectively during the firing cycle and "seals itself" against the chamber walls preventing any significant amounts of powder residue from building up in the chamber.

    I don't have any direct experience with the situation in ARs, but the explanation made sense. I have seen, for example, how firing a relatively few 22 short rounds through a revolver will then result in the cases sticking if I switch to 22lr rounds. A small amount of powder residue in the wrong place can significantly affect performance.
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  • roscorosco Member Posts: 79 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    Read this post,went outside, 15 degrees out.Banged 300rds silver bear .223 out of a bushmaster ar15.Not the most acurate but that,s not why I buy it.
    Been shooting silver bear .223 for a while as it is economical.
    No problems.
    Never tried any thing they Manufacture for handguns.
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  • oldnbaldoldnbald Member Posts: 3,578
    edited November -1
    I used some Silver Bear .45 185 gr. hollow points for a while in my Llama Mini Max .45 and loved it. It shot really well, and I had no misfeeds, etc. I would love to shoot some more, but I can't find it any more. I believe the rounds I shot had chromed casings.
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