Have you shot the "Bear" Russian brand of 5.56 ammo. pointed soft point. If you have any comments???

Question

Have you shot the "Bear" Russian brand of 5.56 ammo. pointed soft point. If you have any comments???

Answer 1

It's good for plinking. If war beaks out I would rather go with Priv.

I plan to get another 500 round of lake city XM193. The good stuff.

Answer 2

Watch the Eastern bloc ammo. Bear and a couple of other brands may have some issues in certain lots of product

Bear has been known to sell a copper coated steel bullet.... and those are OK, as long as the copper is thick enough. Bear and some of the other brands are copper washed steel...copper isnt thick enough.

Steel bullets rubbing in a steel barrel is a bad thing.

Check the bullets with a magnet...avoid steel.

I shot a lot of Wolf brand... Bear and Wolf are available with steel cases. That's not a problem... the lacquer they paint the steel case can be... melts off and fouls your chamber. The residue is hard to remove and can gum up the gun to the point of stoppage.

The newer Wolf is not as bad...

Some of the Bear and other eastern bloc ammo suffer from poor powder quality. I have shot some of this stuff that was one step above charcoal...very dirty. In a MINI 14, not a problem... in an AR15 big problem..carbon and soot in the gas system will cause a stoppage.

ARs should not be fired using steel cased ammo either.

I have shot a lot of wolf 9mm, 40sw and 45 acp without a problem.

Answer 3

If you value your AR  dont risk it with cheap ammo!  Only use it for last result , end of the world type situations!

Answer 4

In the hands of an experienced shooter, it's quite an efficient round for the purpose for which it was made.

Answer 5

Yup -- Good answers here..... Its decent stuff.... You wont win a competition match shoot with the stuff but for general plinking and closer range varmint shooting this stuff is excellent...

The only complaint I have is its a little dirty.... Keep the chamber cleaned... I find it fouls up the gun faster than American made brass stuff...  Go ahead and use it.. If you notice the bolt starts having trouble slamming shut then immediately stop and clean the rifle... This can be a safety issue with this cheap stuff.....

Other than that its great stuff... Lots of fun on the cheap!!!

Check out this .223 cartridge guide while your at it.....

http://www.6mmbr.com/223Rem.html

Answer 6

"Bear" comes in 2 flavors, Golden Bear & Silver Bear. Both use steel cases. The golden bear is brass plated so that is functions more like true brass cased ammo. That is, it works smoother through the action of the firearm. The Silver Bear is zinc plated. The plating helps a little but it is still not as smooth.

Both are Berdan primed. Meaning "not reloadable". Well, it can be done but it absolutely is not worth the trouble & will drive you to see a shrink pretty quickly.

Main benefits are cost & not having to worry about picking up your brass. Main drawback is accuracy. While accurate enough for self defense & short to medium range hunting, it is not up to the task for long range work. Almost any American ammo will beat it in the accuracy department. I can get sub 1 inch groups through several of my rifles with almost any American ammo (& all my reloads). The best I've been able to get through the same rifles with either of the Bear versions is just under 2 inches and it averages closer to 3 inches. Like I mentioned earlier, plenty accurate enough for close to medium range work.

One other problem I had with it was in a rifle which had a slightly oversize chamber. Being steel cased, it would grip the chamber walls & extraction was extreemly difficult. Had that rifle rebarreled so it's no longer a problem for me but something to be aware of. Chambers in some of the various AR's can varry enough to cause you problems with it.

Overall, if you don't reload, it can be worth looking at, depending on planned usage. If you reload, you can reload cheaper and more accurate ammo.