Update: This is from InterOrdnance, an importer of these rifles.

I.O. Inc. has determined that the use of old military surplus ammunition in the SSG-97 and SSG-2000 rifles may cause malfunctions and damage due to erratic or excessive pressures caused by long-term and/or improper storage.

Therefore, the use of any ammunition without a commercial headstamp or the use of any reloaded or otherwise unsuitable ammunition will void the warranty. Repairs on such rifles will be at the owner’s expense. If I.O. cannot repair the rifle, it will be returned to the owner.

For best results, I.O. recommends the exclusive use of commercially loaded 7.62x54R cartridges with 146-150 grain bullets. Heavier bullets are unsuitable and may cause extraction, ejection and feeding problems in the SSG due to excessive gas port pressure.

Thank you.

The following was provided by an AK expert gunsmith:"I recommend to all users of such a rifle to stop using commercial Sellier& Bellot 7.62x54r and any other heavy ball such as the Bulgarian, Russian or German 54r. The rifle is not designed to EFFECTIVELY handle such rounds and almost everyone having problems that I have seen and fixed in the shop were due to shooting this stuff. They just beat the living hell out of those bolts even with the pin relief cut-out in the rear trunion. The gun is designed to use a STANDARD military 54r with a 147-158 grn bullet. This is a safe range of the 54r standard round to go by when using this rifle. I own a PSL and have never had one problem with it. It is a joy to shoot, quite accurate and the long stroke gas system is surprisingly smooth. I have fixed a wide array of problems for many people, but I must admit that more often than not they were brought on by the operator. Trust me, I have seen some screwy things fall out of the inside of the bolt assembly which I could write pages on, some really hysterical.

Don't get me wrong, I don't want to deter anyone from enjoying their PSL. Just follow this advice, and you should be fine:

1. Use military 7.62x54r ball

2. Keep the inside of the bolt well lubricated (Breakfree® is good)

3. Keep your internal trigger components lubricated and free of residue."

With regards to ammunition choices the following was posted by D. Fortier, gun writer (2001): "I've not fired any Wolf 200gr FMJBT in a ROMAK 3 and I wouldn't want to pound a lot of it through an SVD either. I hate to say it but what we all desperately need is a 150-155 grain FMJBT Match load. Unfortunately, except for the SVD, and the older Tokarev's, this bullet weight is a really poor choice in this caliber for long range work. We did get Sellier&Bellot to produce a Match load after only a year of harassing so maybe we can get one with a lighter bullet at oh say 2723 fps. However this might be impossible as S&B uses the Sierra matchking bullet and no U.S. bullet manufacturers make a proper .311 projectile in the lighter weight . So that leaves the Russian manufaturers and for some reason they just don't want to sell their 7N14. I did, however, talk to the folks at Wolf today regarding this issue. I said what was needed was a NON-CORROSIVE 148-155 grain FMJBT load that shoots well, will feed and function through the ROMAK 3 and SVD and not beat it senseless or blow it up. The rep was very receptive and said he'd talk to Novosibirsk plant officials about them introducing a load to fit this criteria. I will stay on them about it, and I plan to talk to Sellier&Bellot about it to hear what they have to say."

A review of Wolf's new 148 grain FMJ ammo from "Marty R" at gunboards.com:

May 5, 2002

Ok, here are my results for Wolf's new 7.62x54R 148 GR. BIMETAL FMJ:

Cost of Ammo: 500 Rounds $97 at Portland OR gun show

Equipment: Romanian (Romak III) PSL with stock 4x PSO-1 scope

I first micrometer tested the bullets for diameter and got .310 on average. Over All Length was 2.971 to 2.992 (big difference on some rounds). All shooting was done at 100 yards with a 2-5 MPH cross wind. Fired the first 5 shots into back embankment for function.

Very important this ammo did not stink in any way!! So no classic WOLF smell!!

For the first 20 rounds the groups were very tight (less than an inch wide and 1.5 tall) and tended to impact higher than the Hungarian Mil-Surp I had been shooting. This is logical as the Hungarian was from 1987 and would be a little less powerful. As you can see the later groups began to open up as more rounds were fired through the rifle. This is not the fault of the ammo, as I didn't clean the rifle at all during the tests. Normally I can shoot 20-30 rounds of Hungarian and then have to clean the rifle to get the accuracy back, so this is an improvement with the Wolf ammo.

This ammo shot very clean (half as dirty as the Hungarian surplus) and was most likely the reason I was able to shoot longer between cleanings. I'm not an expert marksman by any thinking and a bolt action would have been a better test. Alas I don't have a scope on my Mosin yet so I shoot what I have... All in all I think it's good stuff for the price AND IT'S NOT CORROSIVE!

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May 11, 2002
Ok, here's my revised range report: THIS STUFF RULES!
Ammo: Wolf's New 7.62x54R 148GR Advertised Non-Corrosive
Rifle: Romanian PSL, stock 4x PSO-1 scope

I went to the range again and followed several people's advice and let my rifle sit and cool after firing each string. The rifle shot much better and I turned in five sub MOA groups today before the wind picked up. Three sets at 200 yards, and two sets at 300 yards all with resulting groups under Minute Of Angle. So this ammo is much more accurate than I previously reported. When I did my part it was amazing!

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July 2008 update from Michael W:

Wolf appears to have replaced their earlier 148-grain 7.62x54R cartridge with a slightly more powerful 150-grain model in full production. This is what they now sell in stores, and is also what they show on their website. It is available through major retailers such as Cabela's. Here are the specs on the new model from their website:

7.62x54R 150 gr Copper FMJ Boxer 2838 fps

I have acquired 3 boxes of this ammunition for my recently purchased Romak-3.
The good: it seems to be good quality brass and bullets, and cycles very nicely in my PSL. My lack of familarity with the gun prevented me from getting it sighted in as well as I would like on the first day, but it was shooting a very tight pattern.
The bad: the powder quality does not seem to match the rest of the round. This round burns DIRTY, and a large cloud of smoke exits the gun on every shot. There was massive amounts of powder fouling. I'm not sure if this is normal with this caliber round, but I have never had to do this much work to clean a gun before. I put 36 rounds through it today, and the powder just kept coming out like there was no tomorrow when I cleaned it. I easily used 20 patches on the barrel alone, plus several on the gas tube. It's a good thing it's non-corrosive, because despite a thorough cleaning it will be a long time before I manage to get rid of all of that mess.

Full stats on this ammo:

Wolf 7.62x54R
150 Grain
Copper-washed
Non-corrosive
Boxer-primed
FMJ
BoatTail