Winchester Ammunition

[Shed]

Like a lot of you guys, I try to save as much money as I can when it comes to buying ammo, yet I also avoid the steel Russian stuff, especially when shooting at longer ranges.

While I use a variety of brands, I've relied on Winchester White Box the most...until now.

I've had numerous quality issues with their products in both handgun cartridges and shotshells. With handgun, I've had cartridges with the bullet seated too deeply and dud primers. Also, they routinely gave me an extra cartridge in the 100 count range packs, and while this is a nice perk, it doesn't inspire a lot of confidence in their scale and machinery calibration. I've also found their loadings to be inconsistent in 9mm; some are loaded hot, others not.

I've also had issues with their Super Target 12 gauge line. About every other box had a shell in it with a bulged hull that wouldn't chamber; quite annoying when you're in the middle of a trap round.

I finally got annoyed enough that I complained to Winchester about the shotshells...and this process was about as annoying as dealing with the ammo in the first place. I had to fill out multiple online forms and attach pictures, talk to them on the phone and email, ship them a shell (they initially wanted me to drop it at a UPS store 30 miles from my house) and then went silent for 2 weeks. The good news is after more prodding I got a check for about double the price of a box of shells, but no explanation or admission of fault from the company.

In conclusion, I'm not buying their products anymore. Customer service was curt and relatively unhelpful, and from what I've gathered from talking to guys at my club, problems with Winchester ammo are becoming more common. The silver lining I guess is if you feel like dealing with customer service that's on par with Comcast, you may be able to get some money back.

Shoot Safe,

Shed

[Hal]

Why not join us cheap,,,err,,,I mean,,,smart,,, people and make your own ammunition?

That way, all the QC issues and praise are on you!

[JJ45]

"avoiding the cheap Russian stuff" depends on what you shoot.

I have Makarov pistols and SKS carbines. Although I own and shoot other weapons, I like the Russian steel case ammo for shooting in these particular firearms. I could care less if it shoots a bit dirty. I'm going to clean my guns regardless.

I had a PTR32 X39 and it thrived on Russian steel case ammo. I could easily get 2.5" groups at 100 meters with this HK clone, and thats with the drum peep sight.

Being relatively cheap, especially in 7.62X39, it is suitable for stocking a good supply for an emergency.

Especially the ammo that once came with sealed primer pockets and sealed case mouths Hard to find now.

[jdc1244]

I usually don’t purchase Winchester ammunition because I can find less expensive alternatives – online, anyway.

I did purchase some Winchester .22 LR ammo that ran fine in my semi-autos, and I’ll continue to purchase that ammo as long as it performs well.

[45Gunner]

I gave up on Winchester a long time ago for all the same reasons: poor quality control and it burns very dirty.

And now that the price of ammo has come down, it is easy to buy in bulk at lower prices and find lots of deals with free shipping or low fixed shipping rates.

[sakata8242]

WWB is bargain bin ammo at premium prices. You can do much, much, better from both a quality and price standpoint with current ammo prices on high quality European brands like S&B, MEN, Yavex, Fiocchi. Blazer Brass/Blazer aluminum are priced appropriately for the quality level (less than $10 per box for 9mm) when purchased in bulk, which is what WWB should cost. You can even find Speer Lawman under $10/50 (for 9mm) if you're patient and willing to buy in bulk online.

[jonnyc]

Hah! We could easily put this thread on "replay" and just substitute Remington!

[JWT]

I stopped buying WWB a long time ago. Too darned dirty for me. I shoot Blazer aluminum for inexpensive ammo. Never had any issues with it.

[44caliberkid]

I just recently bought a box of Winchester Super X in 40 S&W, 155 gran Silvertip JHP. I fired it through a Smith and Wesson pistol that has always cycled anything I put in it. I got lots of FTF and jams. A lot of the rounds seemed weak and didn't push the slide back far enough to fully eject the fired case, and that stopped the next round from popping up to chamber.
I've experienced lots of duds and weak powder charges with Winchester 22 rimfire rounds.
On the positive, I have good luck with white box 44 Magnum 240 grain in my Desert Eagle. Walmart occasionally has really good sales on it. But in general, I avoid Winchester ammo. Perfecta and PPU have been working really well for me.

[Don Fischer]

Other thn RF. I pertty much quit on factory ammo years ago, took up reloading. Now I've never bought new commercial shot gun hulls, for 16ga, I bought whatever was inexpensive, I only wanted the hull. Same with 12ga, 20ga and 28ga. Always, unless I can find some once fired, buy those gauge's in target load. Shoot Everything I load is target loads with a change in shot size. I've never had a bad product form Winchester or Remington. They are the only case's I use, all one piece case's.

[44caliberkid]

I also reload, but some of the Eastern European ammo is good quality and cheaper than I can reload it for. My time is worth something and I don't reload 9mm or 40 when I can buy it for .20 cents a round. I still reload 45 acp match ammo, 175 or 200 grain lead SWC, and 44 Mag, 6.8SPC, 458 SOCOM, and 30-06. I used to load 308 Match, but PPU's 308 Match shoots great in an M1A, and cheap if Im not doing the work.
I also reload all my own black powder cartridges, 44-40, 44 Mag, 45 Colt, 45-70, and cast my own Bullets for those.

[zipspyder]

I've had no issues with Winchester 40 cal white box but was surprised at how dirty it was. More so than some of the Euro/Ruskie stuff...

[4 Paws]

I may be the exception here. Last week a local store had some Winchester White box 9mm on sale, so I picked up 500 rounds. During practice I used the ammo and was very impressed how well it shot. Clean, no failures, and tight groups. Based on my practice, I put it to use this past week at a match and was very impressed again. I'm sure others have had a different experience, but this was mine.

[bamaranger]

I think anytime you buy factory ammo that is marketed at a price point, you are purchasing an item that has had some aspect of the production process either eliminated or cheapened. How could the manufacturer produce/sell and still make some type of reasonable profit.

Whether you buy "white box", or anybody else's price point ammo, you are getting less than top shelf stuff. That ammo should then be used accordingly, plinking, practice, not SD, duty use, or competition. Where the corner cutting takes place, I dunno, but I bet it is far more than the packaging. Certainly in the handgun calibers, there is no flash suppressant........it's be interesting to weigh cases and mic and weigh slugs too, to see how much variation there was over a couple of hundred rounds. I also suspect that there may not be as much inspection on pricepoint ammo. That would explain the occassional inverted primer, slugs seated wrong, that sort of thing that seems so dang obvious otherwise.

Somebody mentioned "Perfecta"... After 40 yres of handloading, I finallay broke a decapping pin.......... on one of their .223 cases, the flash holes were so far off center on that case and others in the batch (range pickups) that it was hard to believe the cartridge fired at all.

Back when I did not reload, W-W Powerpoints in my heirloom Wincherster 88 shot wonderfully, that was a long time ago, but won me some devotion to W-W factory ammo. Also, the best affordable lead turkey load going right now, is Winchesters "XR". Not just for me either, as the stuff sells out locally every season, when other loads stay on the shelves. I also walked very confidently with .45 acp 230 JHP W-W (Ranger) ammo in my duty pistol, and shot a lot of .45 acp whitebox ball for practice and training,without issue.

[Saurdaukar]

Need a gas mask to shoot that stuff at an indoor range.

[BlueOvalFitter]

I'm aware this is an old thread, but I'm just here to defend Winchester ammo.
I EDC the RANGER T-SERIES in .40 caliber. I esp. like the 165 gr. bullet. I also think the PDX1 is a great bullet. If you're concerned with high muzzle energy, try the PDX1 DEFENDER bullet. It's less recoil then the standard PDX1 bullet.
Does anyone else here like the RANGER T-SERIES and PDX1 bullets?

[kenny53]

This is an old thread. I don't believe I have much Winchester ammo and none of the stuff you mentioned.

[BlueOvalFitter]

Originally Posted by kenny53

This is an old thread. I don't believe I have much Winchester ammo and none of the stuff you mentioned.

That's what I stated in my first sentence of my reply.
Below are examples of RANGER T-SERIES, PDX1 DEFENDER, and PDX1 DEFEND (Low Recoil) ammo.

[Spats McGee]

Not only is it an old thread, it's an old thread about Winchester shotgun shells. If we're going to switch calibers and talk about completely different ammo, let's do it in a different thread.