Recent Tulammo 223 problems

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MaterDei

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Was at the range a couple of days ago with my boys. Great day with one exception. Two of my ARs, a Stag and a Sig, both experienced failures to extract with Tulammo 223. I have never experienced a stoppage with either rifle before.

With a good yank on the charging handle, we broke the rim on both cases. Once home I used a cleaning rod and a hammer to extract both cases. Neither had split cases. I suspect it was just the enamel or whatever it is that coats the cases getting hot, melting and basically gluing them in the chamber.

Thoughts on this? Any similar experiences out there?

Thanks
 
No, it's not the coating.

Most plausible explanation I've heard is that the steel doesn't seal as well as brass, making for more chamber fouling which causes the failures to extract.

The Tula works fine in my AR, as long as the temp is above about 40F. Below that I get short stroking. Never had a stuck case myself, which I attribute to chromed chamber and using the chamber brush. I've even fired 2 or 3 mags of steel case and then reloaded immediately with brass case, but I still haven't got a stuck case.

BSW
 
steel expands and seals, but doesnt contract as well, leading to a higher likeliness of extraction difficulties when the rifle gets dirty, one of the reason 7.62x39 has such a tapered case

at least, thats my understanding of it
 
Ive cleaned the hell out of my ar... which has a voodoo barrel, taken exceptional care of the chamber, and this still happens with tula ammo enough where i need to bring a cleaning rod to the range. Brass no issues.
 
Short answer would be to sell off the Tula and shoot something better.

M
 
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I suppose a dirty chamber is plausable. However, while I don't clean my rifles like I once did (I'm not in the Army anymore!), I do clean them with bore snakes and lube them after each firing and when this happened there were less than 60 rounds fired through either rifle.

I'll bring a rod to the range next time and if this happens again I will likely patiently shot what Tulammo I have left and not purchase anymore.
 
I had a Tula case stuck in the chamber so bad it took me a half hour to hammer it out using a metal rod down the barrel. Since then I've used Tula without a repeat of that fiasco. I don't think it's lacquer or poor cleaning but just out of spec cases that are too big.
 
the absolute cheapest ive found tulammo was $0.22/rd, the absolute cheapest i could hand load 5.56 with once-fired brass and 55 grain FMJ bulk bullets actually wouldnt be much higher than that with a more accurate, higher quality end result.. once i get a new 5.56 rifle i'll be personally working up a 75 grain HPBT load which will only cost me $0.30/rd and be MOA capable

what im saying is, tulammo isnt really cheap enough to be worth the headaches if its causing you a problem
 
I bought a case of Tula .223 a couple of years ago and have had similar issues with cases getting stuck in the chamber and short stroking. This is an issue in multiple AR15s, a T/C Contender, and even a Norinco 84S.

It's crap ammo, and not worth the price.
 
Tulammo is the cheapest and filthiest ammo on the market. Sell it and get something better. Tulammo short strokes several of my AR's. I've had feed problems with the AK's with that stuff.
 
Tula is junk. I've had at least a half dozen cases that were so far out of spec at the shoulder that the bolt wedged them in the chamber OOB, and the live rounds had to be knocked out with a rod. It's also really weak, having given me cycling issues in rifles that never malfunction with brass cased stuff, or even Wolf steel case ammo.

I've had OK reliability with it in handgun calibers, but it's filthy stuff.

Stay away from Tula. Plenty of quality ammo out there that isn't much more expensive.
 
I think just some ARs don't like steel cases. It must have something to do with tolerances between builds. I've fired Tula/Huerters flawlessly in my old M&P15, but on the same line my friend had his M&P15 (newer) and it would hang up with it.
It's the only explaination I can think of.
 
Yeah. Don't shoot cheap, crap ammo.

Tula 5.45x39 wouldn't even cycle my Polish Tantel AK-74 reliably, and I had the same issue with stuck cases. I'd never put Tula in any of my .223 rifles.
 
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Tula ammo is fantastic... in guns made for steel ammo, like G3s and AKs.
Click to expand...

:scrutiny:

The CETME/G3 can shoot steel, but it certainly wasn't made for it.


AR's can handle steel just fine, so long as the case is in spec. I've run thousands of rounds of Wolf Poly coated steel and Barnaul zinc plated steel without a problem, in both 5.56 and .308 ARs. With Tula, though, it's a crapshoot.
 
I just ordered another 2k rounds of Wolf .223.

Russian stuff shoots just fine in my ARs so long as I keep the BCG wet. I did have a nasty FTE once with steel cased ammo in a new AR when the BCG was dry (much like you are describing) -- that has been the only one in the umpteen thousands of rounds later.

That being said, I generally use a Spikes AR -- specifically because they were the only manufacturer at the time that expected steel cased ammo to be used and guaranteed their rifles with it. The accuracy is just fine at the 100yd ranges I can use, especially with iron sights and no bench.

I still can't figure out why everyone tells me they spent x-thousand dollars on their AR because it is super-dooper reliable and its the only thing they trust at TEOTWAWKI, but they don't trust it to shoot steel cased ammo. That means it ain't reliable if you ask me.
 
Tula ammo and components are the worst choice out there. I was shooting Tula 7.62x39 out of an AK and more rounds failed to fire even with multiple primer strikes. I used Tula primers to reload because they were $21/1000 at the time. They do not seat deeply and many required 2-3 strikes and still failed to fire. Spend a few cents more and get Wolf or Silver/Brown Bear if you want cheap factory ammo.
 
I've actually had better results with Brown Bear lacquered case ammo than with Tula.

Seems hotter and I haven't had any short stroking with it, unlike Tula or Wolf.

BSW
 
I had a few get stuck,I now try to run one brass case per 10-20 rounds of steel to help pull the chamber clean.
 
I must be lucky, never have had issues with tula or wolf in any caliber I've used.

I have been shooting a pile of 223 that I bought around 2 years ago. I had an impromptu range outing about 3 weeks ago, I stopped by China mart and grabbed 7 or 8 boxes. I did notice the projectile uses a silver coating now instead of the standard copper color.
 
I had a Tula case stuck in the chamber so bad it took me a half hour to hammer it out using a metal rod down the barrel. Since then I've used Tula without a repeat of that fiasco. I don't think it's lacquer or poor cleaning but just out of spec cases that are too big.
Click to expand...
I've shot a good bit of Tula in my 16" Rock River, and recently had a failure to extract a Tula case (the only time this rifle has ever had a failure of any kind). The rifle was reasonably clean and reasonably well lubricated, though not as wet as I usually run it, and wasn't particularly hot. Looking closely, it appeared that the case rim failed; the extractor didn't jump the rim, but rather sheared a portion of the rim almost completely off the case. My guess is that it was out of spec, either oversize, or a weak rim, or (less likely, but possible) overpressure. The steel-case-chamber-fouling hypothesis didn't seem to apply in my case, because neither the extracted case nor the chamber showed much residue.

I'll keep shooting the Tula that I have, but next time I buy any, I may switch to Wolf or Brown Bear for cheap plinking for a while.
 
If you want to shoot Tula ammo you need to carry a bore snake with you. Shoot 5 and bore snake. Shoot 5 and bore snake. Repeat until you get tired of shooting Tula and buy quality ammo. :)

kwg
 
its the low pressure keeping the case from fully expanding, and the carbon blockback over the neck that causes sticky extraction. This cant really be addressed. If you want proof that this is the cause, pull a few bullets, and fill them with a full charge of 335, or reloader 15, or 748, and see if they still give you problems.
 
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