My review of Wolf Gold. Edit: Post 83 batch testing pics

General Firearms Reloading & Ammunition
1

I’ve sworn by Wolf Gold for almost 5 years. It’s been the exclusive round for SBRs at Swamp De Eurodriver for NV, long range, plinking, training, etc.

Recently, I got a new batch. I mix my ammo up so I cant tell lots without taking the actual boxes apart, but it coincided with a new BCM 16". I thought the rifle was broken, the groups were about 15" at 100 yards. It was terrible. But then I loaded a new mag (with a different box) and it shot acceptably. About 3" at 100 yards.

I made this thread a few weeks ago.
https://www.m4carbine.net/showthread.php?214973-All-anyone-needs-is-a-6920-(and-one-of-these)

In it I posted a 5 round group, and a video of me shooting steel at 200 & 300 yards.

Here it is again for post-whoring effect:

[video=youtube_share;7YatbNN2ru8]https://youtu.be/7YatbNN2ru8[/video]

As you can see, it shot pretty well. Afterward, I took it out to 600y and my buddy and I were shooting a full size steel silhouette with almost 100% reliability. Again, wolf gold.

Then, last weekend I brought that same rifle out with more wolf gold to do velocity testing with my Magnetospeed (will get the data up tonight. It’s on the memory card still)

I decided to shoot at 300y, and out of 10 rounds could not hit the steel once. I wasn’t barely missing. I was 2 feet off. It was bad. So I dragged my shit over to 100 and shot these groups. The pic is kind of hard to follow, as not all of those rounds are one shooter (I had 2 other known shooters give it a shot) and some of the rounds at target 6 actually were in the top right of the paper. Still, you can tell it isn’t very pretty.

I thought there was something wrong with the gun or optic. Then I thought back to this thread:

https://www.m4carbine.net/showthread.php?175095-Wolf-Gold-keyholing-in-Colt-M4/page2

So I went back to the range today with my Precision Rifle Handloads and shot 2 five round groups (it was pouring and the RSOs were rushing me to get done so they could close the range for lightning. I have no doubt these groups would shrink (they are 1.3 & 1.25 respectively) if I didn’t shoot all 10 rounds in less than 30 seconds in a howling storm. Even still, 1.25" at 100 yards is a marked improvement from the 8"-10" nonsense I was getting with Wolf Gold. For what its worth, I am not comparing handloads to wolf gold. I just wanted to shoot a proven load to verify that there was nothing wrong with the rifle.

My conclusion is as follows: Wolf Gold is shit. I will never buy it again, and the ammo I have on hand will be used solely for close range drills and plinking. Obviously there are batches out there that are well made, but if I can’t trust it I won’t use it. It makes no sense to have a $6,000 firearm and shoot ammo through it that may or may not fail you.

I am very curious if anyone else has experienced similar situations. I will from now on only be buying IMI or LC stamped 55gr ammo.

2

My experience mirrors your previous. It’s ok for the price. Nothing amazing but solid training ammo. However, I have a stash of it and was recently thinking about buying some more. I’ll probably still buy another case at least… maybe you got a bad batch? Either way, if I do, if you’re interested I can send a few boxes to see if you see any difference.

3

The biggest lesson here is to never, ever. ever doubt or question LMT again.

mfw I told you so

:stuck_out_tongue:

4

I’ve been having issues with my image hosting site lately. Perhaps it didn’t come through on your end. Did you see the picture of the 100yd target from a different batch of the 600yd ammo that was used? It is showing up my on screen.

What about the paragraph about 15” groups at 100 yards with a 16” BCM? Or where I said it’s been my go-to ammo for 5 years?

The implied point of the OP is that Wolf’s QC must have some issues. It’s treated me well for years but looking back I’ve had some puzzling experiences and I have finally isolated one variable - Wolf Gold.

I’ll buy the IMI for $0.008 per round shipped more and avoid such headaches.

5

I shoot a lot of WG, but use it 100 yds and in.
It’s reliable range ammo that’s good for drills IME.

6

That may not be the ammo.

7

Well in spite of you must being from Texas - with the whole God’s country thing - I think it very possible the ammo the OP had success with was a different batch than ammo that he had issues with. That’s not a hard stretch to get a bad batch. So if that’s the case, I don’t get the point of plinking with any ammo you can’t get consistent hits with. Makes training rather pointless, I don’t care how cheap the ammo is.

8

I am a Federal/AE ammo guy and have been shooting their XM193 exclusively for years and have been extremely happy with it. Recently, though, I picked up a case of Hornady Frontier 5.56 55 grain HP and have gone through 300 rounds and it has been reliable and accurate, though it seems a little hotter than the Federal.

9

I use it my plinking and “bay stages” match ammo. 62gr magtech is for midrange stages and shtf.

10

I may do this as well going forward. It is just too inconsistent. Unfortunate because when it works it really really works.

Amen. I feel stupid. But I am getting my LMT back fosho.

11

Did you pull any of the suspect ammo down? Measure the bullets or powder charges? I’ve shot about 4 or 5 cases of the stuff out of 3 rifles and have had zero probs. I find it very weird that you got such large groups yet none look like they keyholed.

12

Or can you tell us the lot # of the stuff that was shit?

I stockpiled four cases of Wolf Gold (in advance of California’s ban on online sales), because I’d had good experiences with it.

(Good for the price: It’s reliable and shoots 3-4" groups at 100yds.)

13

I did pull the bullets down but didn’t measure anything. Just looked for deformities. Didn’t see anything unusual.

The velocities I was getting with my Magnetospeed were

Avg: 2889
Max: 2927
Min: 2861
SD: 21.6

Nothing unusual there, and this was a “bad” batch that shot the 100yd target in the picture.

14

Any commercially manufactured ammo batch can suck, from any manufacturer. Obviously, it happens less with some, and is less common these days.

Did you consider contacting the company for a refund or some type of action to compensate you? That may ask you to send it back for replacement. Can’t hurt…

Take care,

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

15

So, ammo you’ve used for years, doesn’t shoot for shit out of a (one) brand new upper, and your conclusion is “Wolf Gold is shit”?:blink: :sarcastic:

16

Sounds like effed up bullets. Horrible jackets or something. I wouldn’t run that stuff through a suppressor, Rico Suave!

17

Why is it so hard? If anything lacks understanding it me trying to figure out why you’ve posted the same question twice and still haven’t figured it out.

What does the OP hope to get out of the discussion?
He wants to know if other shooters have experienced similar issues with Wolf Gold, which appears to be getting a bad batch of ammo that he can’t hit the broadside of a barn with.

Are you offended by his criticism of Wolf Gold?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

18

Shoot much?

19

Did you see the thread I posted about Colt keyholing with Wolf Gold? Did you pick up that I shot a BCM 16" and my 12.5" and they both shot the same batch poorly? I’ve made other threads that I didn’t allude to in the OP with other known-brand uppers shooting poorly (namely, LMT. Firefly posted about it in the 2nd reply) and they all have one variable in common - Wolf Gold.

How many shares of Wolf do you and Killick own? :sarcastic:

20

I have had crazy variability, but it is usually the mount / scope issues. I shot some 308 surplus that shot 6-8 inch groups with no idea the cause. I agree with no mas’ WG, “burn me once your fault, burn me twice my fault”.

PB