Tula .223 is it as bad as they say?

[rojodiablo]

Ok we are goin round and round about this stuff. I am new to this ar thing. Have one on the way. Anyway can we agree on an ammo that is still cheap to shoot and works well in most if not all the rifles? I know I have to experiment when my rifle gets here so I won't be buying 1000 rounds or anything until I know it works. I guess the question is where should I start?

thanks

Okay, my personal recommendation; it comes as a qualifier question or 2: Are you planning on using any kind of optics? If your answer is YES, follow me on this-
Get your optics you plan on using; ALL of them! (Yeah, red dot, Eotech holo, hunting scope, get them all ready to go- mounts, all that good stuff.
Get yourself some good quality hunting ammo/ match grade ammo- say 3 or 4 boxes of the stuff, depending on how many different optics you plan to use. 1 box per unit.
Get some basic xm193 or xm855 military ammo. Again, get a box per optic, or 2 since it costs less.

Start with zeroing the iron sights. (Okay, screw around and shoot the .mil surplus ammo; have a bit of fun and see that the rifle works well.)
Now, let the barrel cool a bit, and set up targets. have a spotting scope or good binos at the ready. And, a notepad:
Using .mil ammo, check the iron sights for zero. Adjust as necessary. Once on, let it cool off, set up for your optics. Put one on. Replace .mil ammo with hunting ammo. Sight in the scope as you would a hunting rifle. Slow, measured shots and let the barrel cool; do not go dropping lots of more expensive ammo. Once zeroed, switch to .mil ammo. See how it shoots relative to the hunting ammo. Take notes, and compare.
Repeat this with each optic.

After this, shoot the cheap stuff with glee.

 

[xICEMANx]

Ok we are goin round and round about this stuff. I am new to this ar thing. Have one on the way. Anyway can we agree on an ammo that is still cheap to shoot and works well in most if not all the rifles? I know I have to experiment when my rifle gets here so I won't be buying 1000 rounds or anything until I know it works. I guess the question is where should I start?

thanks

yes. American Eagle .223. I've never heard a bad thing about it. Can be found for $6-7 a box.

 

[SSgt M]

Not tula but,
I have some family intown and my local shop only had brown bear 223, @ 5$ a box, so we bought 10 boxes. I've never used this before, but....... Was pretty accurate and reliable, my only issue is all the scratch marks on the deflector, but it shot very well through a few back to back rapid fire mag dumps. I now like brown bear and my lake city 5.56 xm193,....Oh ya, the brown bear smells funny.

 

[HomeSkillet]

Anyone have any experience with Herters (sp?) - looks like exclusive to Cabela's? Appears to be along the same lines at Tulammo and Wolf but has a fair number of bad reviews on the Cabela's website. They have it on sale right now with free dry storage container.

Just picked up my new Sport yesterday, looking for ammo now

 

[thumbs]

Anyone have any experience with Herters (sp?) - looks like exclusive to Cabela's? Appears to be along the same lines at Tulammo and Wolf but has a fair number of bad reviews on the Cabela's website. They have it on sale right now with free dry storage container.

Just picked up my new Sport yesterday, looking for ammo now

I guess I've been lucky. Haven't shot any of the .223 but a bit of the 7.62x39 in my and my buddies AK's. No problems here. I hope I'm not shooting myself in the foot. LOL When it goes on sale again I'll pick up another 1k rounds.

 

[Wolffire99]

I had one gunsmith swear up and down that the steel cases cause premature chamber wear.

Seems to me that far to many people use it for that to be true.

 

[crracer_712]

Probably hard for the weekend warrior to define premature chamber wear, much less barrel wear or any wear for that matter.

 

[GMC man]

I was at the range today and the marine next to me was using tula .223 in his AR and every couple of rounds he would have to get his rod out and knock the case out of the rifle. He asked if he could have a couple of my federal 5.56 rounds to check his rifle and I gave him 2 and he had no problems at all with the federal.

 

[arizona98tj]

Anyone have any experience with Herters (sp?) - looks like exclusive to Cabela's? Appears to be along the same lines at Tulammo and Wolf but has a fair number of bad reviews on the Cabela's website. They have it on sale right now with free dry storage container.

Just picked up my new Sport yesterday, looking for ammo now

I've shot a fair amount of it. It ran just like Tula....I couldn't tell the difference. No problem with any of it.

Heters is an old name from the 60s. They were to shooters, fisherman, outdoors people, etc. back then what Bass Pro Shops or Cabela's are today. It would seem that Cabela's has obtained the rights to use the name. I was a kid back in the 60s....I use to thumb through the Heters catalog and dream off all of the gun stuff they had in it. Fond memories.....

 

[rojodiablo]

I was at the range today and the marine next to me was using tula .223 in his AR and every couple of rounds he would have to get his rod out and knock the case out of the rifle. He asked if he could have a couple of my federal 5.56 rounds to check his rifle and I gave him 2 and he had no problems at all with the federal.

As I have found, you must clean the chamber very well every couple thousand rounds. I mean CLEAN. And, extractors do tend to wear a bit quicker. So far, my S&W has not lost its' extractor. But....my DPMS did. It has about 6500 thru it, so for a $6 part, I have saved a lot more than that in ammo cost.

 

[oneyeopn]

For me...it is not my favorite...will I shoot it again....without a doubt!!

 

[2001gmc]

I been using so far the Federal X193 I think is what they were called and the American Eagle AR from Walmarts these are $6.95 a box and the Federal's were $7.95 a box at local gun shop. I'm debating on weather to use the Tulammo cause I can get it for $4.97 a box at walmart or order it even cheaper. The gun shop I got my M&P from told me it was my preference to shoot steel case but to keep it clean and it it was his he wouldnt use it. So I'm still debating I can handle a FTF but dont want to get a case jammed in my barrel.

 

[oneyeopn]

GMC...I shot about 400 rounds of the steel cased (silver bear was my favorite) including 140 rounds of Tulammo, before I got my Fed XM193, it is fine for plinking, it does dirty up the gun more, I switched so I would have plenty of brass for reloading. Right now I am prepping over 300 pieces of brass. One thing I have discovered is that the Xm193 Brass is visibly thicker than say Ram or American Eagle .223 brass. This is all my opinion though and there are people who have shot a lot more than I have.

 

[arizona98tj]

So I'm still debating I can handle a FTF but dont want to get a case jammed in my barrel.

Stop by Home Depot. Pick up a 3' long piece of mild steel rod from their hardware section. Cut it to length, 6" longer than your barrel. Using a roll of electric tape, wrap it (overlapping half the width of the tape) top to bottom. Toss the steel rod into your vehicle and forget about it. If you ever get a case stuck, you'll have the perfect stuck case removal tool. This is much better than an aluminum cleaning rod (don't use that). I've never had to use mine and probably never will because I have it (Murphy's Law in reverse).

 

[ArmednDangerous]

Anyone got any new updates on how the Tula has worked out for you in your M&P? Seems that's about all I see at Wally World anymore around me. And the most frequent thing I see when looking for it online is "Temporarily Out of Stock"

And it's about 6 cents per round cheaper than the next cheapest thing.

If your money situation is good, then get the better ammo. If you really can't budget the better stuff do what everyone does and buy what you can afford and then deal with the possible inconveniences

Personally, I would rather have Tulammo onhand than nothing onhand.
Even if I had 5,000 rounds of Tulammo I would feel FAR better than having only a few rounds of Federal or whatever.

Fortunately, I have a lot of the better stuff but I have also purchased a few hun-ded rounds of Tulammo.

 

[Capt Crunch]

Anyone got any new updates on how the Tula has worked out for you in your M&P? Seems that's about all I see at Wally World anymore around me. And the most frequent thing I see when looking for it online is "Temporarily Out of Stock"

And it's about 6 cents per round cheaper than the next cheapest thing.

If your money situation is good, then get the better ammo. If you really can't budget the better stuff do what everyone does and buy what you can afford and then deal with the possible inconveniences

Personally, I would rather have Tulammo onhand than nothing onhand.
Even if I had 5,000 rounds of Tulammo I would feel FAR better than having only a few rounds of Federal or whatever.

Fortunately, I have a lot of the better stuff but I have also purchased a few hun-ded rounds of Tulammo.

I use it regularly with my Sport and the only thing I have to say is that I have to use steel colt mags. If I use my Thermoid mags they jam but I've never had an issue with my colt mags. Hope that helps!

 

[Matthew Courtney]

We have 5 AR style direct impingement rifles and to date steel ammo has functioned flawlessly in all except a Colt Sporter in A2 configuration. A subsequent attempt to shoot brass cased ammo in that Colt indicated that the issue may be magazine related. We will try steel in that rifle again with a known good mag to get things sorted out.

 

[The_Soviet]

My M&P 15 refuses to digest the stuff. I never have problems with any other steel case ammo, so maybe it's just a defective lot. Well, more defective then usual. I still prefer brass anyway. Just my opinion.

Sent from my Zio using Tapatalk 2

 

[oneyeopn]

I use it regularly with my Sport and the only thing I have to say is that I have to use steel colt mags. If I use my Thermoid mags they jam but I've never had an issue with my colt mags. Hope that helps!

I have never had a problem with it. Even in my Thermold 20 round mags, I had problems with some ammo in my Thermold 30's so I got rid of them but I have 10 thermold 20's that I use a lot and they work with all different ammo!

 

[TangoFoxtrot]

This is why I stay away from Tula, Wolf and any steel cased ammo. For what you save in price you take too many chances on doing damage to your rifle. The savings are not worth the risks. IMHO