SILVER BEAR OKAY IN DPMS LR308B???

[concretus]

  I'm new to this forum and it's nice to be here. A friend of mine at his gun shop gave me a box of Silver Bear 140gr 308 ammo to try out. I was stoked at the group I got from this relatively cheap ammo. Is it okay to use in my DPMS LR308? I've read conflicting stories. One was the fact that the lacquer coating can get hot and leave deposits in the chamber causing a potential stuck case. But Silver bear has a nickle type plating....The other was the fact that steel cases do not expand like brass which does not seal up in the chamber which can leave carbon deposits in the chamber. It's a shame that it may not be recommended cause I was really impressed with its performance. Anybody out there have any feedback (pros/ cons) from using this ammo? Thanks.

[imschur]

Straight from dpms

Ammunition Warning

After extensive testing, we have found that only ammunition manufactured to SAAMI (Sporting Arms and Ammunition Manufacturers Institute) specifications is reliable in DPMS rifles. DPMS recommends the use of high quality, domestically produced ammunition for best results and highest accuracy. For plinking and practice, we recommend only domestic, commercially manufactured ammunition. Please note: the use of hand-loaded ammunition voids the factory warranty. The use of all ammunition listed below also voids the warranty.

We have incurred feeding problems with the following: 

          * Israeli ammunition

          * Korean ammunition

          * Chilean ammunition

          * Portugese ammunition

      We have reviewed several reports, from several manufacturers', regarding problems using this ammunition. The problem appears to be the bullet contour and the overall length of the cartridge, which is contacting the rifling before firing. This is creating a gas port pressure and chamber pressure higher than recommended, therefore causing feeding and extraction problems due to the increased bolt carrier velocity. In addition, there is accelerated fatigue on internal parts. There are also indications that brass may be out of spec, which could create an unsafe condition.

          * PMP

          * South African produced surplus

      We have used this ammunition in the past for testing purposes and found the brass is extremely soft and can "flow" into microscopic pores and grooves in the chamber creating "sticky" extraction. This has been reported in many types of rifles, but is more prevalent in semi-automatic weapons.

          * Lacquer Coated Ammunition or Steel-cased, lacquer coated ammunition

          * Wolf

          * Norinco

          * Silver Bear

          * Any steel-cased (coated or non-coated) ammunition

      The problem with this ammunition is that the lacquer coating on the case. As the barrel heats up, the lacquer turns to a soft, varnish substance and upon cool down, becomes very solid and difficult to remove. This effectively creates an undersized chamber and creates understandable problems.

Your rifle is an investment and it only makes sense to choose quality ammunition for a quality rifle!

Barrel Information

To achieve the best results for accuracy you should clean the chamber and bore after every round for the first 25 rounds and then every 10 rounds up to the 100 rounds. It usually takes about 200 rounds per barrel for optimum accuracy. Please keep in mind that our barrels are production barrels not custom barrels. Accuracy is dependant upon many factors such as bullet weight, powder load, rifling twist, rifling lands, operator technique, etc. Our production barrels have achieved anywhere from 1/8" to 1

[turningfast]

Silver bear has a zinc coating, no lacquer, and is steel so it is harder than brass.  The only problem with steel cased ammo is it does not expand and form to the chamber as well as brass, so your chamber gets dirty fast, which leads to a FTE with a case stuck in the chamber.  This is why people complain of this problem with all of the steel cased ammo that is not lacquer coated, such as newer wolf and a few others that are polymer or coated with other materials than lacquer.  It also may chew up your extractor faster than brass, but that is a cheap part.  I really don't think it would hurt a chamber, since it does not expand as much as brass.  BUT, if I had a match rifle I would not shoot it through it.  I'v shot a lot of steel cased ammo through my ARs and only have had problems if I let my chambers get too dirty., If I take 500 rounds, I would have to clean it half way through to keep everything smooth.

[PantherPlayer]

Personally, I won't touch wolf, silver bear, brown bear, or any of the other ammos listed there with a ten foot pole

[draco41]

Personally, I won't touch wolf, silver bear, brown bear, or any of the other ammos listed there with a ten foot pole

+1

[Dusty44]

I bought a 500 round pack of "Brown Bear."  This is steel cased and lacquer coated,  lead soft point,  140 gr copper jacket bullets. 

On a day at the range I got holes in the target from 175 gr Sierra soft point about two inches high and on centerline at 100 yards.  Group under an inch.  Keeping the scope settings the same,  I fired 20 rounds of "Brown Bear" in two 10 shot strings from the magazine with a barrel and chamber cleaning between strings.  The two groups were on the same target and the impacts were about ten inches high,  ten inches left,  six inch diameter pattern.  I use masking tape on the back of the target to help differentiate successive groups in these tests;  all impacts were in the same place and pattern and a lot of the taped holes vanished under new impacts.  This was partly a test of how well the Russian ammo would do and partly how well the magazine would feed.

For a comparison I tried a five-shot group of the "Brown Bear" in each of my bolt guns.  I was surprised that both guns got one-inch or less groups on centerline and two inches high.  I could only conjecture about why the bolt guns did well with this ammo and the DPMS did not.