Does anyone have any good recommendations for quality commercial 5.45? I’ve been shooting 7N6 for the past 6 years and fortunately I stocked up when 7N6 could be bought by the crate for just over $300, but I just finished off a spam can of it and realized I only have 3 crates left.
Anyone have any luck with any of the commercial offerings currently available?
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It’s been a while since I’ve gotten out of 5.45, but back when I did shoot it, my choice was Golden Tiger 5.45 and Silver Bear.
The GT has been gone for a while, but it looks like it made a come back just recently. I see SGAmmo also caries Wolf Lacquered 5.45 now too.
I have used the same Wolf in 7.62, and it was about just as good as Bear and Tiger.
SGAmmo has them right now I believe.
FYI, these are steel cased economically priced options. They’re reasonably clean and accurate, but I would not consider these to be the best defensive or match ammo out there.
Considering you mentioned 7n6, I have seen it mentioned that Golden Tiger is close to the real military stuff. So you can give that a try.
There’s more options on the website. These are just some examples.
I have found wolf milspec lacquered to be excellent.
I’m just looking for a good all around training round with reasonable accuracy and performance, in other words something to replace 7N6 as my primary range round. That being said, the V-max is a bit overkill for what I’m looking for.
Thanks for the suggestions. I researched some more and found that the Golden Tiger is generally considered a decent round, closer to “mil spec” than most other commercial 5.45 loads. That being said I ordered a case of Golden Tiger as well as a case of Wolf lacquered mil spec from SGAmmo to compare in my rifle.
I also ordered a few boxes of Silver Bear, Red Army Standard, Wolf Military classic, Tulammo, and Wolf performance just to get a point of reference and see how they shoot.
No problem.
And you’ll be happy with the Wolf Lacquered and GT. There’s been a revival of decent 5.45 and 7.62 ammo thru SGAmmo lately. Hopefully it’ll keep coming in. I know that Sam managed to get some Tula 8m3 clones brought in. It could be possible that he gets a 7n6 clone for the 5.45 users soon too.
I’m also a big SGammo fan. Good prices and great service. I have had really good luck with the IMI 5.56 55 gr ammo I bought through them as well as some German MEN 5.56 ammo. If you buy a few thousand at a time the shipping is pretty reasonable.
Darn shame Lapua isn’t loading it. I’ll also be interested in any definitive answers here. I found the 7N6 to be more accurate than the commercial loadings. Too bad it turned out to be evil. I have some of the Hornady but have not tried it (like only a box or two). One would guess it would be accurate but I imagine it’s a far cry from 7N6 'good old days" prices.
I don’t have any experience with the Hornady 5.45, so I can’t comment on the accuracy. I wouldn’t doubt that it’s accurate, but yeah it’s pretty far from the old 7n6 prices.
Well late to the party again.
I have ran tons of Silver Bear, 100%.
Stay away from Red Army, that stuff is crap. Finially made it through 2 mags, at best had 50% failure rate, probably more like 60.
Very large dents on the primers, no fire. Still have a few hundred rounds that I am just going to throw away, it is that much of a pain to deal with.
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Strange.
I’ve run several hundred rounds of Cabela’s purchased Red Army through my Nodak/Bulgy/Century build. Every round went bang, every round fed and every round ejected, even out of my Tapco mags I was sure to give me trouble.
Old post I know, but I thought that I’d provide an update. The new Red Army Standard 5.45x39 that Century is importing is now made in the Russian Vympel factory. Previous Red Army Standard 5.45x39 was made elsewhere. It’s as good as it gets when it comes to 5.45x39 and is the same as Golden Tiger.
https://www.sgammo.com/product/red-army-standard-ammo-sale/temporary-sale-1000-round-case-red-army-standard-545x39mm-59-gra
https://www.sgammo.com/product/golden-tiger/1000-round-case-545x39-fmj-59-grain-golden-tiger-ammunition-non-corrosive-new-p
I was happy with Red Army Standard 69gr when it was readily available. No stoppages in a Saiga 74 conversion, and shot close ‘nuff to POA. I did not do any velocity or dispersion testing. I still have some in my orphaned cartridge collection.
Despite internet lore, this is not tracer jackets. I pulled down some 7n6 and some 69gr. I found them indistinguishable to the eye or caliper in any way. Identical form factor. One is heavier, and the other has less lead/more steel. Similarly, a SS109 form factor makes a ~ 69 gr projectile with all lead in the core.
Its sad that 5.45 seems to be dying here. Its the only AK caliber that doesn’t suck.
Same. I have a few thousand left but I’m trying not to shoot it as much