Silver Bear

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Steel cases do not expand/contract like brass cases- you may encounter extraction problems and possibly cycling may be compromised
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I have had this issue with Silver Bear 145gr JHP 9mm with nickle plated steel cases in some of my guns. Some times the round just stays in the chamber and is difficult to extract. The sad thing is I found it to be very accurate ammo. The 145gr bullet was pretty fast for a heavy for caliber round that chrono'd at 1,054 fps average velocity from my Glock 19. Don't expect the JHP to expand though as seen in this video 9mm Luger - Silver Bear 145 Gr. JHP - Ammo Test - YouTube they don't even expand in water.

I have shot the Brown Bear 115gr FMJ ammo and it worked fine with no issues in any of my 9's.
I've also had no problems with the 9x18 makarov ammo in either Silver or Brown out of my Makarov pistol. It shoots and functions well.
 
I shoot a metric ton of Russian ammo each year. Silver Bear hasnt failed me yet. That being said, i use it for range only. Unless its milsurp dont expected any kind of SD performance.

Its steel case so chances are if it rusted it was poorly sealed during transport somewhere between the origin and the end user. Ive been buying this stuff for a long time and never had rust issues

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk 2
 
Just my 2 cents

Haven't used Silver Bear 9mm ammo but have shot a mess of it in my FEG PA63 in 9 Makarov caliber. Has worked fine for me altho I second some other Pard's comments about needing a good cleaning afterwards. Incidentally, I use Silver Bear and other (formerly) inexpensive stuff for practice but stick to Hornady Critical Defense for carry purposes.
 
Have shot a bunch of both the Silver Bear and Brown Bear 9mm and 9x18 with generally good results.
Has a funny smell - smells like burning bone, like when you've had a tooth drilled at the dentist. Wonder what's in the powder?
 
Silver Bear Luger Jam

I've had a box of the Silver Bear 9mm Luger laying around for a quite a while. Yesterday, I had it at the range with me.

My SW9P has been 100% reliable for over 12 years. Never one malfunction. Yesterday was the first.

After sending 20 rounds of Remington downrange, I put the Silver Bear in my mag. First shot.... damn thing jammed. I could not rack the slide. The casing was stuck in the chamber. Damn! I put the 9mm down and shot some with the 38 spcl and then with my Mini 14 rifle.

Once at home, I was able to force the slide open on the edge of my workbench. I had to knock the empty casing out of the chamber using a wood dowel and a couple of hammer taps.

I field stripped the pistol and decided to see what was the cause. Sure enough, when placing a round in the barrel by hand, the Silver Bear rounds would stick in place. (happened with several fresh SB rounds) If I just dropped it in the chamber from 1 inch and turned the barrel over, the round stayed in place. All other brands did not stick at all.

I will never again use Silver Bear in my Sigma. Please be careful if you do.
 
jchenriksen said:
I've had a box of the Silver Bear 9mm Luger laying around for a quite a while. Yesterday, I had it at the range with me.

My SW9P has been 100% reliable for over 12 years. Never one malfunction. Yesterday was the first.

After sending 20 rounds of Remington downrange, I put the Silver Bear in my mag. First shot.... damn thing jammed. I could not rack the slide. The casing was stuck in the chamber. Damn! I put the 9mm down and shot some with the 38 spcl and then with my Mini 14 rifle.

Once at home, I was able to force the slide open on the edge of my workbench. I had to knock the empty casing out of the chamber using a wood dowel and a couple of hammer taps.

I field stripped the pistol and decided to see what was the cause. Sure enough, when placing a round in the barrel by hand, the Silver Bear rounds would stick in place. (happened with several fresh SB rounds) If I just dropped it in the chamber from 1 inch and turned the barrel over, the round stayed in place. All other brands did not stick at all.

I will never again use Silver Bear in my Sigma. Please be careful if you do.
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Thanks for the heads up!
 
I too have had no problems with any of the steel stuff. And I was going to clean it anyway.
 
i used over 500 rounds of 9mm silver bear thro my glock 17. never once had a problem. but like blueovalbandit has said. everyones gun is different. so try it out yourself and as always make sure you keep your gun clean as a whistle. i cant tell you the amount of guys i know that work in my department alone, that do not clean their gun well enough or often enough.
 
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