stopped by Wal-Mart today and all they had for 9mm was TulAmmo.
it was only $10.00 a box of 50 so I grabbed 2 boxes. But I've been reading some negative reviews of this ammo online tonight (albeit most of the neg reviews are a couple of years old). Is this stuff junk? should I avoid it? I regularly shoot either American Eagle 124gr FMJ or Winchester White Box 115gr through my shield and it eats both of them ...no problem. Since I'm only looking at $20.00 no loss if it's junk, just curious as they had a ton of it.
I usually clean my shield every 150-200 rounds using brass ammo.
100 of this going to "soot up" my gun? :shock:
Here's the deal, the Tula ammo uses bimetal bullets, meaning a lead core, with a mild steel jacket, with a very very thin copper plating. Its not as bad as it sounds, but it is true the bimetal bullets will cause increased wear on your barrel, although 100 rounds really won't hurt it.
For a thorough test that goes into all the various things involved, read this article and watch the video that comes with it, it will answer all your questions.
they were out. I've shot that in .40 with no problems.
hmmm I guess I'll just try it then and shoot a few rounds then. I am wary of getting a round wedged in the barrel. (as I read a few horror stories using this ammo) :hope:
OK thanks for the feedback guys
The biggest problem I've seen with TulAmmo was from the polymer coated cases. I did enough shooting to heat up the barrel, the polymer can melt off the cases and crust onto the chamber, which caused FTE issues.
Cleaning the polymer off the chamber was a bite... requiring a pick, some time and a few choice words.
Others may not have had any issues with Tula, but I won't ever get it again.
I just like to add my two-cents into this steel vs brass. How many people go out and shoot 10,000 rounds in one day in one weapon? Beside the folks that are out there doing all the hard work by testing different ammo. I don't know to many people that do this. For me I just use the steel ammo to go out and shoot for fun. Now if had to trust this weapon with my life, I will shoot nothing but the best like for home defense. I will clean my weapon after every 1,000 rounds or two. Pretty much it depends on the person and what they are trying to accomplish with their weapon. There is a lot of variables in steel vs brass.
problem with them here is that you can't shoot them at the ranges, so, if you have access to a clay pit or old quarry, you are set, but if you shoot it a bunch, the guy is right if you get the barrel hot, the polymer coating will shed. Word to the wise, if you buy at walmart, wait for winchester or the italian ammo (both in the brass cases. When they are on sale, they are as cheap or cheaper (i got some yesterday at 9.73). good luck and good shooting.
i have shot tula in 9mm and 45 with no real issues. its less consistent than regular brand name ammo, like federal, winchester etc . Have not had ftf fte`s other than with a sig 938 that was never 100% reliable with 115 gr ammo anyway. most of the time ill get the fed aluminum for practice ammo, out of a half dozen guns ive tried it in they all worked 100%. The round 100rd tubs of tulammo 9mm i tried, brass cased, didnt feed reliably in one gun, due to the oal of the cartridge being too long and would hang up in the mags. aside from that i dont think its a huge issue though others think different. ill buy the stuff if the other "cheap" stuff like the fed aluminum is not available on that day, seems to be more fed aluminum lately than the tul which is ok as i like its consistancy better.
I shoot steel cased 9mm, .45acp, 5.56 and 7.62x39 through multiple rifles, with 'varying' degrees of success. Some guns have tightly spec'd chambers and just don't like steel cased ammo. Steel case also doesn't expand like brass so your chamber will get dirty quicker, so I always run a chamber brush thru 'em after a trip.
I've personally never had an issue with lacquer buildup in any pistol or rifle, and there are several videos proving that lacquer doesn't burn. The only buildup I've seen from foreign steel ammo is the residue from the red primer sealant on some rifle rounds, but hasn't caused a stoppage.
Its funny that you can take two identical guns, one will run fine on Russian steel case ammo, while the other one chokes on it, maybe one is at min spec and the other at max spec, and very few people will ever shoot a gun long enough to wear out a barrel, even if they did, barrels aren't that expensive.
Up until recently, I've used a lot of Tula in my Shield. About a month ago, shooting up a box, one particular magazine of the three I have, wouldn't cycle the stuff reliably. The other two, no problem. Switched to brass cased and the issue disappeared. Probably a magazine issue, but just enough that I won't use it in my Shield anymore.
Still shooting it in my M&P15 though! No issues in three or four years of use.
Forgot to mention in my previous post, most steel cased ammo (at least .223 & 7.62x39) does not have a copper clad projectile, but what most refer to as a bi-metal projectile, that is harder than copper and will wear your barrel out faster. Maybe not enough to notice over the life of a firearm, but LuckyGunner did a test on .223 with several ARs under heavy continuous firing, and the bi-metal wore barrels faster.
The flip side is that the cost savings over all those rounds was enough to buy a new barrel. I'm not discouraging anyone from steel cased, I shoot a LOT of Wolf steel case .45acp. with no complaints. But not thru ALL of my guns.
Forgot to mention in my previous post, most steel cased ammo (at least .223 & 7.62x39) does not have a copper clad projectile, but what most refer to as a bi-metal projectile, that is harder than copper and will wear your barrel out faster. Maybe not enough to notice over the life of a firearm, but LuckyGunner did a test on .223 with several ARs under heavy continuous firing, and the bi-metal wore barrels faster.
The flip side is that the cost savings over all those rounds was enough to buy a new barrel. I'm not discouraging anyone from steel cased, I shoot a LOT of Wolf steel case .45acp. with no complaints. But not thru ALL of my guns.
Is it junk? Yes. Will it damage your shield? Not in 100 rounds. I had no issues with it in my shield others I know have. My 2c I can get blazer aluminum for the same price per round even during the shortage. So I never had any reason to bother. By the way blazer aluminum is my go to for cheap ammo it runs cleaner than most ammo I've used in general and is more consistent shot to shot than wwb. And you can get it dirt cheap if you buy on line.
But if you already bought a bunch of it just go use it. If it starts giving you issues stop using it and give/ trade the rest of it to someone that runs it in there guns. I just personally wouldn't run it regularly, but because as I said I can get much better for the same price. That said it's all I ran in my AR up until recently when 223 started coming back down to sane pricing.
So I finally decided to give this crap a go this weekend. I tried it through my shield and
my FS .40 that I use a Storm Lake conversion barrel with to shoot it as a 9mm.(9mm magazines too)
Well besides floating all over the place, In one box of 50 between the 2 guns, 14 jams,
fail to feed, fail to eject, what a lousy brand of ammo. and on top of that dirty as hell.
switched back to my Blazer brass and went through another 150 rounds between the 2 guns. Zero issues. I alos was pleasantly surprised.
I bought a box of remington Hollow points for real cheap at Walmart a while back (box of 100 for like $20.00), shot incredibly accurate.
I'm going to have to find some more of those 115 grain to which is light for a 9mm hollow point. my carry ammo is hydro shock 124, but this stuff was great target ammo.
So I guess I will never be buying that junk Tulla ammo ever again.
Yuck.
Hmm I e shot a bunch of it out of my shield 40 and no issues.
I clean the gun after and its fine.
Ive shot it out of. Y AK and SKS as well as my old 308 bolt gun
So far bang when trigger is pulled.
20 rd of 308 for 10 bucks yeah Ill shoot it.
Russian ammo is designed and manufactured for Russian arms. Great for AK rifles with chrome lined chambers/barrels. Having lacquer or polymer deposits in a chamber is difficult to clean out completely and may promote reliability issues. I believe that Tula makes brass cased ammo, but I have heard it is dirty, depositing powder residue in the striker channel and gun mechanism .
I tried some in my Shield and it was one jam after another. Went to my own reloads and some Federal Munitions and haven't had one jam since. YMMV but for me, Tula didn't get the job done but gave me lots of malfunction practice.
It has worked fine in my shield.
Not any dirtier than any other IMO and I am going to clean the weapons after the range trip either way.
As stated YMMV but I have and will continue to shoot it.
I had one box left of this stuff......................so nervously I tried it again with my shield last night.
50 rounds....................6 FTF/FTE, I wish i could trust this stuff as it's regularly on sale at a local Walmart for $10.00 a box of 50, but I have to say , that last night was probably the last time I ever buy any of that ammo again.
Shot some Federal premium Aluminum today. as cheap as the TulAmmo
but apparently much cleaner and more reliable. I shot a box of 50 with my Shield and my FS M&P .40 (Storm Lake barrel and 9mm Mags) and a box of Aquila 115gr 9mm.
the Aquila had some light loads and some flyers, the Fed aluminum was quite a bit hotter and stayed on target much easier. I have one more box to "test" but so far I really like it , i may have to stock up on this stuff.
at 32 feet outdoors today.
I figure why shoot something that wears out your gun faster, dirties it up faster and as not allowed in my indoor range when I can get Freedommunitions 115gr reman brass cased ammo for $9.50/box delivered to my door if you wait for the free freight specials.
The few times I have used Tula because somebody at the range paid me back with it for some they had borrowed :dry:, it was dirty and made sparks fly at the range causing the range master to scold me.
Never have had any problem with Freedommunitions reman in the 5 years I have been shooting it. Sure I've had a few jams, but so have I with Blazer and Perfecta.
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