Polymer coated steel cartridges?

[CathyInBlue]

Shopping for bulk ammo on Cabela's, and I come across this brand of ammo called Herter's. It comes in polymer coated steel (PCS) cases. What's their story?

Apparently, they buy Russian ammo in bulk and then repackage it for the American domestic market. I would imagine PCS "brass" would be impossible to reload, which would make the ammo next to worthless to me. Nevermind how steel cartridges react in the chamber of a .45ACP when fired.

Anyone else have an opinion on this stuff?

[theicemanmpls]

Shopping for bulk ammo on Cabela's, and I come across this brand of ammo called Herter's. It comes in polymer coated steel (PCS) cases. What's their story?

Apparently, they buy Russian ammo in bulk and then repackage it for the American domestic market. I would imagine PCS "brass" would be impossible to reload, which would make the ammo next to worthless to me. Nevermind how steel cartridges react in the chamber of a .45ACP when fired.

Anyone else have an opinion on this stuff?

I purchased a few boxes of the stuff in 9mm during the weekend the ammo companies and big box retailers determined the so called Obama Scare was over. (I call it an opurtunity) It works just great for what I want. Destroying empty cans.
I didn't bother running though a pair of chrony screens. Nor did I fire the rounds over 25 yards. They go boom, and cycle each and every time. No adverse effects seen on the firearm(s).

If I recall, this stuff is unloadable. Psst, it's made by WOLF.

There is a rumor going around the net, that wolf ammo will gum up your firearm. I have never had a problem with it. Truthfully, the ammo, that has caused me the most grief, is the WWB. (Winchester White Box for you noobs)

Reviews:
9mm Herter's Ammo from Cabela's Review - Maryland Shooters

Herter's Ammo from Cabela's - Northwest Firearms Community

YouTube - Herter's Ammo 9MM for The Springfield XDM 9MM

[Retired Grunt]

The Wolf ammo consistently fails to extract/eject from my Bushmaster. No rumor Fact!

[ronwill]

Wolf brand ammo comes in a variety of rounds. They used to have lacquer coated ammo and had some problems with it sticking. They then went to polymer coated rounds. While these rounds can be reloaded a few times they are not their highest quality rounds. I have used Wolf ammo with no problems other than it being slightly more dirty firing. This is nothing that an after fire cleaning can't take care of though. For their propaganda you can see the following:

WOLF Performance Ammunition - Product Line

[Retired Grunt]

Wolf brand ammo comes in a variety of rounds. They used to have lacquer coated ammo and had some problems with it sticking. They then went to polymer coated rounds. While these rounds can be reloaded a few times they are not their highest quality rounds. I have used Wolf ammo with no problems other than it being slightly more dirty firing. This is nothing that an after fire cleaning can't take care of though. For their propaganda you can see the following:

WOLF Performance Ammunition - Product Line

You are correct it is the lacquer round that are a HUGE problem. Sadly these are the ones that are really affordable. My advice, if you must buy the wolf ammo buy it in in small ammounts until you are sure it will function in your weapon!

[Hamilton Felix]

Let's see what I can recall about Wolf and the horror stories of the lacquered ammo sticking:

Wolf used to sell a bunch of ammo with lacquer sealer. Some folks would run a bunch of rounds though an AR15 fast, then stop shooting with a round in the chamber. Once the gun sat for a bit, that round was "thermal glued" into the chamber. From what I can gather, AK variants didn't much care; they will digest anything.

My guess is that only certain AR's had the problem. Chamber dimensions vary; one guy has a tight match chamber and another has a loose mil-spec chamber.

But Wolf got the message and switched away from that red laquer we used to see; they started producing "slippery" polymer coated ammo.

If any ammo, Wolf or other, is not extracting from your gun, it's time to change brands, change loads, find out for sure if it's the ammo.

But in general, and certainly for my pistols, I think Wolf ammo is fine for practicing. It goes bang.

[Rocketgeezer]

Guys I have shot a lot of steel cased rds, Wolf, Herters, and some other stuff with a name I can't pronounce, in 380, 9mm, 45, and a shitpot full of 223 out of the AR, never had a problem, stick, jam, stovepipe, FTF, or FTE, only thing is the dudes at the range that reload get pissed when picking up the brass and find the steelys, and they have gone thru, my Ruger, Taurus's, and all the Glocks, and no I do not work for Herters or Wolf, I just shoot whats cheap

[SpaceFrank]

My Mini-14 will eat lacquered steel rounds all day. My dad's Bushmaster has no problem with it either. Obviously, neither of these are match-grade weapons. You just have to clean your gun a bit more carefully afterwards.

[chino7018]

ive bought and shot well over 500 rounds through my xd 9 and havent had a single problem. and my xd shows no unusual build up or damage . its cheap ammo to shoot on a buget