Winchester Ammo

[Fredo]

I'm a relatively new shooter and I go to the range every week with two 9 mm pistols. I’m a little freaked about ammo prices but I see great deals on Winchester. I’ve heard that it’s dirty but I clean my firearms religiously after every trip to the range.
Should I still stay away?

 

[rammerjammer]

Winchester is decent ammo and good to go.

 

[DGW1949]

The only Winchester 9MM that I still shoot is their 9MM NATO-124 Grn FMJ, which I buy by the case. It is excellent ammo IF your particular pistol is "+P" rated. If your's ain't, you'll need something more in line with SAAMI pressure-specs for 9MM Luger...FWIW, my favorite "standard load" 9MM is S&B 124 GRN FMJ. I've seen way less QC issues with that than I've seen with Winchester's "white box" USA-branded stuff....and it's cheaper too.
Hope this helps.

DGW

 

[Fredo]

It does, Thanks

 

[GunnyGene]

Nothing wrong with Winchester for ordinary range use, but I would hope that you periodically run some quality self defense ammo also. Something like Hornady Critical Defense or Federal Punch, especially if you carry.

 

[peachhead]

Nothing wrong with Winchester. Curious to know why you thought you needed to stay away from it?

 

[DeletedMember275]

Winchester White Box ammo has developed a very spotty reputation in the past few years. I have experienced 9mm WWB that had varying powder charges in the same box, and varying overall lengths of the loaded cartridges. I won't buy their white box ammo now, in any flavor.

 

[Mike J]

I haven't had any problems with it (WWB) but I have seen more than one negative report about it on the forum boards. I've been buying blazer brass for range use lately.

 

[Fredo]

Nothing wrong with Winchester for ordinary range use, but I would hope that you periodically run some quality self defense ammo also. Something like Hornady Critical Defense or Federal Punch, especially if you carry.

Yes I'm looking for range ammunition at a reasonable price. I use Hornady hollow point in my carry

 

[GunnyGene]

You might keep an eye out for Browning FMJ on sale. I've used it in the past in 9mm and .45acp for backyard plinking. I picked up a 150rds of .45 a couple weeks ago for $70 at my LGS. 9mm is of course cheaper. S&B, Fiocchi, Blazer and other 9mm range ammo generally runs about $16/50rnds here.

 

[Fredo]

You might keep an eye out for Browning FMJ on sale. I've used it in the past in 9mm and .45acp for backyard plinking. I picked up a 150rds of .45 a couple weeks ago for $70 at my LGS. 9mm is of course cheaper.

Thanks.I just stocked up on some for.28 a round at Bereli who never charges for shipping.

 

[Mobuck]

'Dirty' is a relative term. ANY price point ammo is lower cost because of lower cost of production and one place cost is reduced is by using lower grade components--powder being one. Lower grade powder leads to more 'fouling'-hence the 'dirty' flag. I load my own 'blasting ammo' using quality primers and powder so really don't have first hand experience with factory made 'blaster grade' ammo.

 

[Fredo]

Thanks for your reply

 

[Mobuck]

Another point to mention: IMHO one should avoid steel cased 9mm. I had a customer try that in his GLOCK with dismal results(split cases to be exact).

 

[Randyzzz]

WWB in .38 is some of the “dirtiest” ammo I have ever used. It is accurate and seems to be consistent though.

For 9mm I purchased several cases of Fiocci FMJ years ago. It runs great and is very clean. For carry I run Federal HST 124g +P.

 

[fiasconva]

I don't know where you buy your ammo but a great site to check out ammo prices and shipping costs is ammoseek.com. All kinds of ammo from different sources and dealers.

 

[blume357]

I've found that the cheap commie ammo is just nasty stuff... I think they make their cellulose from old unwashed clothes.... I know Wolf ammo has a specific smell to it.
I guess one benefit of shooting cheap unreliable ammo would be you get to practice malfunction drills... which most gun owners and even those that shoot often don't have a clue about.

 

[hittman]

Winchester has never hit my radar as dirtier than any other 9mm. I use a lot of the bulk 115 grain FMJ cause it’s almost always in stock, on sale, and works every time. There’s 100 and 200 packs around here somewhere.

For carry, it’s usually a hotter load of whatever brand I have.

 

[WAYNO]

Winchester has never hit my radar as dirtier than any other 9mm. I use a lot of the bulk 115 grain FMJ cause it's almost always in stock, on sale, and works every time. There's 100 and 200 packs around here somewhere.

For carry, it's usually a hotter load of whatever brand I have.

I am in agreement here too.
I use a lot of ammo in a lot of different flavors. I always wonder, when somebody says a specific brand is dirtier, what do they actually see? Or are they just repeating...

At the end of a range session, I never say, "gee this ammo was really dirty". The gun is dirty regardless, and I clean my guns when I get home, regardless. :cool:





.

 

[hittman]

And about the cheap commie ammo …. That’s all I ever bought for AK47s but those are the only guns I ever fired steel cased stuff through too.

I get away with it cause AKs ( at least MINE ) will chew through ANYTHING without fail.

 

[WAYNO]

I don't normally shoot commie ammo.
But I have, and I've shot a lot of it.
And I've never had an issue with a single round, other than in a rifle, it's not as accurate as domestic or other high quality ammo.

 

[Pál_K]

Winchester White Box 9mm is fine. In fact, my 1916 DWM Luger liked it best of all.

For later reloading, I seem to recall the headstamps on the brass were mixed, though.

 

[vlavalle]

Another point to mention: IMHO one should avoid steel cased 9mm. I had a customer try that in his GLOCK with dismal results(split cases to be exact).

While I m not a pistol owner/shooter, and my handguns are revolvers, and none of them shoot 9mm ammo. However, I have dabbled with .45 ACP steel ammo (a pistol ammo that some revolvers can shoot), and it is always a problem. Since revolvers do not have any auto loading of the round into the chamber, the issue with steel based ammo is in the manual loading and unloading of the ammo/casings. They tend to expand too much, and this are a bit difficult to ejects (with the ejector rod). Sometimes the unspent ammo does not load into the cylinder too easily either, but the real main problem with steel ammo is the unloading of the spent casings.

 

[blume357]

I took my Mini 30 to a shoot with some friends and they ran some kind of cheap commie ammo... it smelled like Wolf, through it and I have never seen a gun so dirty... it looked like someone had poured mud down the barrel....

 

[hittman]

I’m surprised the Mini cycled steel cased ammo. Many will not.

 

[KurtC]

Years ago, the only Winchester ammunition that was dirty or problematic was the white box fodder.

Since they opened the Mississippi plant, as well as taking over Lake City, their quality has dropped across the board. They are also using different nomenclature and box styles, which adds to the confusion.

The only ammunition I have found to be decent quality is their RED lineup, as in RED9 and RED45. Otherwise, I handload all my pistol ammo.

Their M1152 9mm is good quality, but it is hot. Like +P+ hot.

If you want to see if ammunition is dirty, inspect your pistol after 10 rounds, not 100.

 

[hike]

I'm a relatively new shooter and I go to the range every week with two 9 mm pistols. I'm a little freaked about ammo prices but I see great deals on Winchester. I've heard that it's dirty but I clean my firearms religiously after every trip to the range.
Should I still stay away?

My experience is less than good. Magtech (made in South America) is better 9mm. Even Turkish 9mm ammo is more reliable than Winchester white box 9mm.
The main issue is failure-to-fire. Great for malfunction drilling but not for target shooting/plinking.
Maybe the issue is that Winchester sells the crappy ammo in southern states. I don't know. I do know that I have heard about consistent problems with Winchester white box 9mm since the last century.
Right now, Winchester white box 9mm ammo is cheap but, from experience, a cheap price for a bad product is still a bad product. I want to enjoy shooting.
HTH

 

[Punch7]

Anyone tried Scorpion ammo? Im
very impressed by its accuracy but question why I can only load 14 rounds in any of the five Ruger Security 9 magazines I have.

 

[yugorifle]

Winchester is good to go.

 

[bisleyfan41]

I've never experienced a single issue with WWB. Shot many thousands in a variety of calibers over the years. I guess I could just be lucky.