wolf 5.56 FTE

[PeaShooter]

I bought a case of wolf 5.56 steel cased ammo about a year ago. I was at the range yesterday and was shooting the last few boxes in my AR's. I got 2 failure to extracts. I really had to smack the end of the cleaning rod to dislodge them from the chamber. The failures also happened on different AR's. To make matters worse, I broke open the new case of wolf 62gr 5.56 I got at the last 1500 and one of those had a failure to extract also. This one was so bad that I broke my buddies cleaning rod trying to get the stuck case out.

So now I am thinking that it is a cleaning problem, and not a wolf ammo problem. Any other ideas?

 

[jblomenberg16]

In general steel cased ammo tends to be more prone to cleaning related FTE's than brass. Some of it is due to the coating on the cases. Is this the polymer (grey/green) or lacquer (olive green) coated ammo? The latter can lead to an accumulation of lacquer in the chamber that can eventually lock the rounds up tight.

 

[MRP2003]

It was recommended to me not to shoot steel case out of my AR but rather only shoot brass, as long as it is possible

 

[PeaShooter]

is the lacquer hoppes #9 soluble? or do i have to do some other type of cleaning to remove it?

 

[jblomenberg16]

is the lacquer hoppes #9 soluble? or do i have to do some other type of cleaning to remove it?

I'd say Hoppes #9 and a good scrubbing with a 5.56 chamber brush should do the trick on it. Seems like that stuff will take off just about anything!!

 

[loony1]

I shoot all types of 5.56 out of mine, meh to the ones who do not. Anyway, steel case tends to expand a little more than brass does and because of this it can expand and stick inside your barrel extension.

 

[remauto1187]

Clean the chamber more thoroughly and often and you wont have any problems.

 

[DSmith78]

It was recommended to me not to shoot steel case out of my AR but rather only shoot brass, as long as it is possible

you got bad advice. thats all i shoot out of my ar, no issues at all. if the gun isnt tough enough to handle steel casings then it isnt worth having

 

[mvician]

The LACQUER does not melt.
CARBON builds up because the steel case doesn't expand as well as brass.


Get an AR15 chamber brush and scrub the chamber with it.

M16 & AR-15 CHAMBER BRUSHES - Brownells

 

[gunrunner0]

The LACQUER does not melt.
CARBON builds up because the steel case doesn't expand as well as brass.


Get an AR15 chamber brush and scrub the chamber with it.

M16 & AR-15 CHAMBER BRUSHES - Brownells

+1, Steel not expanding as much has always been my understanding. I shoot mostly wolf steel cased through mine and if I run it for a few hundred rounds, sometimes I start getting FTEs. As mentioned above, a good cleaning with a chamber brush clears it right up. I've read on the interweb that following up your steel cased with a few brass cased rds will also help clean up your chamber as the brass expands enough to pull some of the build up out, but I've never really tried it.

 

[spyder]

With AR's and steel cased ammo, there are tons of different things that can happen. Everything depends on the chamber of your AR. Is it polished, does it have some kind of factory coating...? I know my ACR absolutely hated steel ammo, almost every other round got stuck. The chamber had the melonite treatment done to it and that **** stuck like crazy. I took the barrel off, stuck it in my lathe, and polished the inside. I never had another problem with wolf ever again. Anyway, check the chamber of your rifle, check to make sure it is clean, and if it has any kind of coating on it, or if it is polished. Also, if you shoot a lot of dirty ammo, I would suggest getting a piston kit.

 

[Tydeeh22]

buy an AK.. end of story..

 

[rhslover]

If hoppes doesn't work try some montana xtreme 50bmg and clean the chamber. In my experiance wolf shot like crap out of my rock river.

 

[henschman]

Do you have a chrome lined barrel? They work better with steel cased ammo (which is why all eastern bloc weapons have them). The reason why is that they resist carbon buildup better. If you don't have chrome lining, you will just have to clean your chamber more often than you will with brass cased ammo.

 

[PeaShooter]

so much for the whole "bore snake is all you need" philosophy....

 

[SnoopLoggyDog]

Chamber brush with Slip 2000 Carbon Killer will remove the carbon fouling. Follow up with Sweets 7.62 Bore Cleaner to remove copper fouling in the bore.

 

[sig1473]

buy an AK.. end of story..

Or a Sig 556......mine eats steel casings like a champ. Never a hiccup Of course I got an early 4-screw top rail model with all Swiss internals

 

[Dead Duck]

Lake City Ammo

 

[Wysko]

Had the same problem with Wolf in my AR. Clean the chamber and then clean it again. Must be very clean as the lacquer is dirty & sticky. A chrome chamber will be less sticky. Some AR 15's just dont like Wolf. Mine will work with Wolf if I keep the chamber very clean. If I miss a cleaning I have often have problems.

Mike

 

[DSmith78]

thats weird. my stag ar eats wolf ammo as fast as i can feed it thru with no problems, but i do clean my gun regularly too.