Thursday, June 29, 2006

Wolf Military Classic from Cabela's

The other night I recieved my Cabela's order of Wolf Military Classic 7.62x39 FMJ ammo. I got a full case -- 1,000 rounds -- and Cabela's included two of their Dry-Storage Boxes as a bonus.

Made in Russia's Ulyanovsk Arsenal, Wolf Military Classic comes in 20 round camoflauge cardboard boxes. The steel cases are lacquer coated, rather than being coated with the gray polymer that the newer Wolf ammo made at Tula has. This is a Good Thing, as in my experience the polymer coating is not very rust-resistant. I've had some rust in my crawlspace. Anyone looking to lay in a supply of 7.62x39 should take this into account. Since AKs and SKSes don't have problems with lacquered ammo, I'd rate this as preferable to the polymer coated stuff.

It appears that Cabela's pre-packs 500 rounds in Dry-Storage Boxes, then sends out however many are needed to fill an order. I saw this because each box contained 500 rounds even though each will hold more than 1,000. I was not pleased that they failed to fill up the empty space with packing peanuts or something, because the 20 round boxes of ammo got jumbled in transit, many of them tearing open to spill their contents. I wound up consolidating the ammo into one Dry-Storage Box, with the loose rounds in a few Ziplock bags.

The Dry-Storage Boxes seems to be pretty sturdy and are quite a bit larger than a surplus .50 caliber ammo can. They stack well and have a large, comfortable handle thant folds down. I don't like their gaskets, however. Instead of a one-piece gasket installed at the factory, a four-piece gasket made of adhesive-backed foam is included inside the Dry-Storage Box. If the gaskets were one-piece I wouldn't mind too much, but there's no way the four-piece gaskets will be as air or water tight as a one-piece unit. Take this into consideration if you get any of these boxes. I may try making a replacement using silicone caulk, with a release agent on the top edge of the box so that the lid isn't glued shut.

MTM makes similar plastic "Sportsman's Utility Dry Boxes," but they have better gaskets which are factory-installed. I recommend the MTM boxes over the Cabela's boxes if you're going to be buying any. I have a couple of the MTM SPUD1 boxes and they are very nice. Both MidwayUSA and Natchez Shooters Supply carry the MTM boxes.

Since I now have an extra Dry-Storage Box, I may use it as a case for my Yaesu FT-7800R 2M/440 MHz ham radio and it's power supply.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

The dry box seals are "one piece". Look carefully and you will see how they are supposed to work. If one puts the gasket on correctly, I have found that they are airtight.

Dave Markowitz said...

Hmmm. I'll have to check this out the next time I'm at Cabela's.