Wolf Case Stuck in DPMS Chamber

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Drakejake

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At the range today a case got stuck in my DPMS .223 and I could not pull it out with the charging handle. End of shooting session. At home, I pounded it out with a cleaning rod. The case seemed to have some little marks on it but no clear sign of what caused the jam. Is this bad ammo? I had not cleaned the chamber after the last outing of shooting about 60 rounds. My bad?

Drakejake
 
I have heard that some of the steel cased Wolf ammo is lacquered and when the barrel heats up it heats and dissolves the lacquer into a sticky, gooey mess. I bought a 1000 rds of Wolf when I bought my SU-16B and now only use it in my T/C Contender for that reason. Haven't had that problem in an AK though.
 
I think my Wolf 223 is polymer covered, not lacquer. A failure to extract is followed by the next round being jammed into the bottom of the case still in the chamber. This action lodges the case more firmly in the chamber.

Drakejake
 
First off, Wolf isn't such a hot idea in a nice spiffy American-spec rifle. The coating is only part of the problem. The real issue is the steel case not contracting properly when chamber pressure drops. This can (and does) cause extraction problems. This, compounded by Wolf's rather poor quality consistency causes all kinds of weird things to happen. Stick with brass cased ammo in that gun and leave the steel cased stuff for your AK variants.

As to specifically what caused your FTE... It's hard to say. Clean the chamber and repeat the experiment with better quality ammo. I'm willing to wager the ammo is at fault. I've done my share of tapping out Wolf cases by hand.
 
Wolf ammo

Wolf ammo works great in an AK-47, because that gun is designed to function with steel cased ammo.

I have heard mixed results with shooting Wolf steel cased ammo in AR series weapons.

The variable rim-thickness of the steel cases can be hard on extractors, and for that reason I won't use it in any of my handguns. But it works great in an AK.
 
WHAT an AR rifle that gets finiky?!? Might as well blame the ammo, especially the internet whipping post du jour otherwise known as Wolf. Course everyone complains about everything but the price. Frankly I'm bored with the exhaustive postings whining at length about the horrors and vindications of economy ammunition. The worst of which are the posts that quote the price of the rifle and the savings related to the economy ammunition. OF COURSE THE AMMUNITION COSTS LESS THAN THE RIFLE. Of course the economy ammo costs less than the premium stuff. There are lots of folks who have performance cars who don't buy premium gas for it. Over the life of the rifle you'll likely spend more cummulatively on the ammo than you did on the rifle, add the fact that many among us plink which doesn't require premium ammo and the reason why Wolf ammo sells becomes self evident. My unpopular opinion is that if the ammo and the firearm are made to SAAMI tolerences, the two should function. The fact of the matter is that they do to the point that some designs are more intolerant of fouling the AR chief among them. I'm not trying to attack the original poster however it occurs to me that a cursory search of "Wolf" on the rifle forum would have told them what would likely happen in terms of replies.
 
I have a couple of AR's that have probably fired 15,000 rounds between them and neither has ever had any issue or malfunction. I've never fired any Wolf .223 ammo thru them, but I don't know how relevant that fact is. :rolleyes:
 
While Wolf *might* be hard on the extractor, I can replace the extractor on my AR for less than $20. Considering the price of .223 these days I can buy a case of Wolf and a new extractor to throw in the parts bag and still come out ahead.

As for the occasional stuck case - gee, I've never seen that happen with brass either. ;)
 
Bryan

you are correct. My friend who i shoot with alot had a broken extractor on his bushmaster carbine after shooting wolf. The outing before that he had also been shooting wolf and as the rifle heated up he had a few stuck cases. coincidence? presonally, i think not.
 
I have said this before and will say it again.
I make pretty good money pulling stuck steel cartridge cases out of AR15 rifles when the owners can't get them out themselves.
If you can afford to buy an AR15 you can certainly afford to feed it high quality brass case ammunition.
If you can't afford to do this sell the AR and buy a .223 chambered AK varient.
The AK type rifles will feed steel case ammunition without issue, most AR rifles will not and it is just a matter of time before you have a problem.
 
Standard drill for an ar with a stuck case , pull out charging handle and hold with some force,smack buttstock on ground like the gun belongs to uncle sam .
This usually works but if the extractor slips over the rim-then you are on your own.
I am on the fence with the whole wolf thing. I haven't shot more than a couple of boxes but I might yet. I would recomend it only for blasting,but why not,I have a bunch of ar's and if one is out of commision for a spell it is not a huge problem!
 
The bolt and charging handle were stuck; presumably the extractor was hooked onto the stuck case. I used an aluminum cleaning rod with solid piece in the end to knock the case out. I had to do this on another firearm.

Drakejake
 
Makes as much sense as buy a high performance Corvette or Porsche, filling it up with the lowest grade of fuel to save $3 on a tank of gas, then complaining about the engine pinging and sputtering and blaming the car for it.
 
I've seen AR's lock like that with all kinds of ammo. Lock your fingers over the charging handle and drive the buttstock into the ground and you'll clear it.
 
I wish I had tried that. I had two rounds jam the case before I realized the cause of the jamming. My girlfriend was firing the rifle when the failure to extract occurred and perhaps she did not provide enough resistance to recoil, thus causing the extraction failure. More likely, the Wolf case was a little sticky. I have fired many rounds of Wolf in various calibres and have not noticed any problems except for this one.

Drakejake
 
Usely none chrome lined chambers has such issues, worn out none chrome lined chambers usely work out.

AKs has loose chambers & also most are chromed lined.

I have a few chromed lined ARs, both digest wolf,havent had one to stick as of yet.

SHTF is all GI brass cased ammunition.

TG
 
Is that personal experience? I've shot Wolf through 4 non-chromed guns without issue. 3 were 5.56 chambers and one was .223 Wylde.

I never shot the old laquered Wolf. All my experience is with the newer polymer coated stuff. I've run 3000 rounds of it without failure.
 
I have a Bushmaster,Colt and CMMG, here while back I got a DPMS none chrome lined AR in a trade.
What I'd mention in my previous reply is based on tons of post & replies reguarding stuck wolf ammo casings.

I've never owned a .223 Wylde, isnt their chamber tighter than 223 & 556?

Stuck casings can happen in any chamber,but rarely happens in the ones mention in above reply.

Proper maintenance & lube, should help a none chrome lined chamber running.

TG
 
The .223 Wylde is tighter than 5.56 and larger than .223.

I've never stuck a Wolf case, but have had Federal reloads get stuck hard even in 5.56.

I chamber brush my AR's and wonder how many people just wipe down the bolt.
 
I have fired Wolf in most all of its calibers, and on the whole I have been exceptionally pleased with it. Sure, I have the occasionaly problem, but I have had the occasionaly problem with every last brand of ammo I have shot in quantity. Fact is, I have been impressed enough with Wolf's .45ACP that it is what I carry in my .45 as my main ammo, and I feel completely confident in doing so.

I have also fired Wolf .223 ammo extensivly, both in an AR and in my Model 70. Accuracy in both cases was pretty good, and in the case of the AR, no failures to extract occurred. The guy that owns the AR now has also not had any problems with the Wolf, and I think he uses it exclusively.
 
I have six AR-15's, from Bushmasters to a cobbled-together Stag/C7 upper.

I have shot well over 15,000 rounds of Wolf Polymer through these guns, and have never experienced a stuck case, failure of any kind other than a bad magazine causing a feeding issue once and a while....hardly the fault of Wolf.

I have also never replaced a single part on my AR's....not 1 extractor, not one spring, screw or pin. Given ammo prices, I have saved about $750 in ammo costs so far, which has effectively bought a brand new AR....or lots of parts which haven't had the decency to break yet (they must not know they are supposed to).

I must be the luckiest guy in the whole world. :neener:

Oh, and here's the kicker, that Wolf shoots halfway accurately for me. I can usually hold them to under 1.5 groups. I must have sold my soul to Satan for such good fortune, no??

:rolleyes:
 
I've gone thorugh over a case of wolf in my ar.. it likes it better than winchester whitebox.

I have a chrome lined 5.56 chamber for what it is worth.
 
The same thing happened to a friends AR.
DPMS with Wolf ammo. After a couple of hundred rounds a case became stuck in the chamber, the next round hopped up and was fed into the rear of the stuck case. He did manage to get it out with a cleaning rod, but it was stuck in there really well. He didnt bring a rod with him, so the AR was out of commission for the rest of that session.

My old Olympic never had stuck cases with Wolf, but it would get dirty. I would just clean it and keep shooting. Of course I would not reccomend it with a higher quality rifle.
 
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