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  1. #1
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    Tula ammo report

    I have posted this in a few places and wanted to post it up here. Hopefully it is useful to some:




    As an avid shooter who likes to spend as much time training as possible I am always trying to get the most for my money. It’s a delicate balance between quality and value. For the last several couple years I have been running SPEER Lawman or BVAC 5.56 ammo through my gun. I came across the Tula .223, 55 gr. ammunition at my local Cabela’s so I started doing some research on them.

    Tula ammunition is manufactured at the Tula Cartridge Company in Russia. They are a large supplier around the world and sell a lot to militaries as well as the private sector. They make several different calibers and bullet weights (grains). The one that grabbed my interest was the .223 55gr as it was only $3.79 per 20 round box. When I do the math that’s only $190 per 1k rounds. Normally I have been spending nearly double that for quality brass ammunition.



    Tula ammunition boasts a 55 grain FMJ bullet in a steel case with a non-corrosive boxed primer and the bullet themselves are a full metal jacket. Basically perfect for training ammo where you may expend several hundred or more during one training day. I have heard that some variants from Wolf mfg have had a very rotten egg smell as well.



    I wound up picking up 500 rounds of the Tula to give it a try in my gun. Presently I am running an LMT 14.5 with a PWS FSC-556. The gun had about 3,000 rounds prior to this and I use SLiP 2000 Gun Lube. My first impressions were that the coatings on the steel casings were nothing like I heard from the old Wolf lacquer horror stories which caused chamber seizure. The Tula ammo has a very thin coating of polymer (so I have been told) which caused no issues for me. I also like to inspect my ammo before I buy and out of all the boxes I looked through (around 100 or so) I found no bad primers or miss-seated bullets.

    Testing:

    I loaded 4 Magpul P-Mags with 28 rounds per for a total of 112 rounds and put it through my LMT gun in under 5 minutes leaving 1 round chambered at the end. My intent in leaving one round chambered was to see if I could induce chamber lock due to the coating on the casing. After letting the gun cool down for nearly 20 minutes I slowly pulled on the charging handle to see if it was locked in. The round easily ejected with no signs of chamber lock. I fired the rest of the 500 rounds over the course of the day and broke the rifle down once I got home to inspect it.



    What I found upon inspection is the ammo was a dirtier then SPEER or other US ammo. However it never got to the point where it affected the performance of the gun itself. Also, I had no failures while running the Tula ammo and every time I pulled the trigger the gun worked just as it should. I keep my gun well lubed at all times and do very minimal cleaning. After such a positive test result I went pack and purchased 2,000 rounds for future practice and a carbine course I had scheduled through LMS Defense.

    Over the course of the next few months I put nearly 4,000 rounds through my LMT carbine with no issues to speak of. I had 3 failure to fires within all that time but they were all during a carbine course and it was just a rack and re-fire and I never stopped to dwell on it. I am now over 5,000 rounds through the gun with no issues that would raise an eyebrow.

    So here is a brief synopsis:

    PRO:

    -Very affordable to shoot at an average of $190 per 1k rounds. That’s about $200 less then most US brass ammunition.

    -Boxed primer and non-corrosive means the ammo is not going to hurt your gun if you neglect it.

    - .223 caliber in 55 grain means it is a pretty light round and easily manageable for long days on the range and has decent accuracy in a carbine.

    CON:

    -Not made in US which can result in poor quality control issues.

    -Steel cases are not reloadable

    -Tends to be a dirtier ammunition overall.

    Bottom line:

    If you are on a tight budget, the Tula may be good ammunition for you to shoot. It is reasonably priced and readily available through Cabela’s who will ship to most states. You can really add to your training time spent pulling the trigger compared to working more just to afford more ammo.

    However, if you are looking for a clean running, super accurate, reloadable brass case then the Tula ammunition is not for you. It runs dirtier than most, the steel casing are not reloadable and from my experience it’s not a tack driving round.

    ------------------------

    Full report here:
    http://op4guy.blogspot.com/2010/08/t...68542523587012

    -Op4
    كافر - Infidel
    http://op4guy.blogspot.com/

  2. #2
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    Thanks for the great review. I went through a minimal amount of the Tula and it seemed to be similar to the current poly-coated Wolf. With the crazy prices of brass cased ammo, it's good to have an alternative.

  3. #3
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    I had no problems with newer poly coated wolf 55gr ammo through my ML Spikes except for one bad primer which failed to ignite. Fired approx. 375 rounds in bout 1 hour or so. Not bad ammo and would def. buy again.
    I might have to give the Tula a try too. Are you running a F/A carrier and what kind of buffer are you running?

  4. #4
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    Thanks, nice report.
    What can one man do? You never know until you try.

  5. #5
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    Thanks guys, I have more and will post them up here or you can visit my sight located in my sig line.


    Quote Originally Posted by bcammons View Post
    I might have to give the Tula a try too. Are you running a F/A carrier and what kind of buffer are you running?
    I am running a FA carrier with an H buffer in my LMT. I have several other guys that have been running the Tula and only 1 of them has experienced an problems. He is running an M&P15 and after about 200 rounds it would start to develop issues with not fully cycling-basically it was short stroking. It was (at the time) a fairly new gun with under 1k rounds and he was running SLiP 2000 for lube and PMAGS.
    كافر - Infidel
    http://op4guy.blogspot.com/

  6. #6
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  7. #7
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    To be honest Paul I have no solid data. I can tell you that most of my stuff is 50 meters or less and I zero at 50 putting consistent groups onside of 3" using a micro w/ 4MOA dot.
    كافر - Infidel
    http://op4guy.blogspot.com/

  8. #8
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    Quote Originally Posted by Op4guy View Post
    To be honest Paul I have no solid data. I can tell you that most of my stuff is 50 meters or less and I zero at 50 putting consistent groups onside of 3" using a micro w/ 4MOA dot.
    That's good enough in my book.

  9. #9
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    I had the exact opposite experience with Tula. They would not work in any of three rifles of mine. Two of them were carbine length and one mid-length. It short stroked in the carbines and the only round shot out of the mid-length gave me a stuck case the camber. They did however work fine in my friends Armalite mid-length.

  10. #10
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    Thumbs down Ammo does not feed.

    I have a stag arms AR. I have 30 rd. Magpul mags and Promag metal mag that came with the gun. I have 6 yrs spec forces experience with the Navy. I cannot figure out why these tula rounds will not feed 100% of the time with my gun. It is new with about 300 to 400 rds through it. I have inspected the gun intensely with a marine and army ranger. We cannot figure this out. Have you heard of this problem with this ammo? All other ammo works perfectly fine. Not one problem yet with all other U.S. ammo. I know its not my gun, but maybe a heaver buffer would help. Frustrating because I still have about 400 rounds of this ammo.

  11. #11
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    the ammo does not feed in my AR15 but at 100 yrds it is pretty straight. I had about a 6" to 8" group. I also use a fine metal nail file to buff out some scratches I have found on the first 200 rds I used.

  12. #12
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    I mostly load my own ammo. Occasionally Dicks Sporting Goods has special deals on Remington and Tula ammo. I pick some up, for those occasions when I don't have enough of my own handloads or exceed the minimum of what I want "on the shelf" at home.
    Just for the heck of it, I picked up about 7 or 8 boxes of Tula. I've heard good and bad about it. In my LMT, I shot about 250 rounds of the Rem UMC, followed by all of the Tula. I realize that 140 rounds is not really enough data to make a "scientific" judgement with, but I can say this. None of the ammo gave me any problems, as far as FTF or FTE. Weapon ran fine. As far as the "dirty" part, I didn't notice much of any difference in my weapon. The Tula was not as accurate as my handloads, of course that's normal, working up a specific load for a particular rifle, and slightly less accurate about 2.5 in at 100 yds compared to about 1.75 to 2.0 in with the Rem stuff. I run a Spikes Tactical Nickle Boron bolt, and not much sticks to it, so there wasn't much to clean there. The bore, well, I can't really say. If I had only used the Tula, I could give an objective answer, but mixing them all, doesn't tell me which is more "dirty". On the Pro side, I didn't have to work to keep an eye and pick up my personal brass, I left it all. Also, it's pretty cheap to shoot, especially if you don't load your own ammo.

    In conclusion, it (Tula) ran perfect in my firearm. On the other hand, I've heard trusted friends tell me it would not cycle in their weapons, or gave them sporadic results. I guess you just have to try it and see for your own particular weapon. For that reason alone (performing different from weapon to weapon), I'd have to say don't buy it for emergency ammo, unless you've run a lot of it through your weapon, and have full confidence in it.

    FT

  13. #13
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    Nice review, Thanks for the information! I don't mind putting some steel casings through my rifle but its good to read it doesn't effect the guns overall performance

  14. #14
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    I have been using nothing but LC ammo 55 & 62 gr. Been basically scared to use Tula. I'm shooting a Bravo Co. 16" ML BHF. With the prices of ammo going up every time I buy ammo I decided to try some Tula this past saturday. The weapon is Frog Lubed. I ran about 300 rounds. I had absolutely no problems. Didn't measure groups but I hit where I was aiming every time. I broke the weapon down at my range to see how dirty it was and to see if the Frog Lube worked. I am pleased with both. Dirty? Yes but it wasn't nothing unusual. No more dirty than the LC I have been using. What carbon that was on the bolt just wiped off. I'll Definetly be getting more Tula. I guess I'm not so much of a ammo snob anymore.
    As our enemies have found we can reason like men, so now let us show them we can fight like men also.
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