Winchester white box ammo - is it normally this bad?

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Happy Independence Day everyone,

My wife and dogs aren't fans of fireworks but I still wanted to make things go bang on the 4th so it was off to the range I went this evening. I took along my SR9 to punch some holes in paper and brought with me the first few boxes of ammo I grabbed on the way out the door.

One of said boxes was Winchester, standard 115gr 9mm target ammo, that I had picked up a couple of months ago as an 'always good to get more ammo' purchase when picking up other stuff. The rest was Blazer brass.

I'm glad I only had the one box of Winchester as, out of 50 rounds in the box, I had 8 failures to eject. No visible deformations of the cases and, after the first 3 in one magazine, I found no problems with the gun and ran 10 rounds of Blazer with no problem. But, I got 2 more FTE on the next magazine of Winchester, followed by 3 more on the last magazine of Winchester after running two more of Blazer.

That seems like a stupid-high failure rate and I'm glad I only had the one box. It's the only time my SR9 has ever had any trouble eating any ammo I've fed it.


So, my question to the collective wisdom, is this anywhere approaching normal or just a really bad coincidence?

And yes, I am a relatively new shooter and yes, this is my first experience with this brand of ammo.
 
Contact winchester, bitch to them about it, you'll get free ammo.
 
Some guns just don't like certain ammo, no helping it it seems. My M&P9c eats everything, including the WWB with no problems. No FTE so far.
But yeah, bitch to Win and get some free ammo. Then sell it because it looks like your SR9 won't be taking those.
 
It's probably just a bad lot. If a gun don't eat WWB 9mm its probably broken.
 
Thanks for the responses. I think I'll go the route of bitching to Winchester. At the very least, I could get some more ammo to test my theory that my gun doesn't like any of it or verify that it was just one bad bunch and my gun likes it just fine.
 
I've never had a problem with WWB. Others certainly have posted photos of defective WWB cartridges and bullets and it's good practice to visually inspect as you load, which you don't have to scrutinize but just observe if the bullet is deformed, the casing is oblong or if the bullet setback is odd. You'll find some oddities if you shoot often enough. But to have that many failures is unusual.

Like other's wrote, save the box with the lot number and report it to Winchester. If this firearm is new, unproven and under warranty then I'd consider contacting Ruger too.
 
Happy Independence Day everyone,

My wife and dogs aren't fans of fireworks but I still wanted to make things go bang on the 4th so it was off to the range I went this evening. I took along my SR9 to punch some holes in paper and brought with me the first few boxes of ammo I grabbed on the way out the door.

One of said boxes was Winchester, standard 115gr 9mm target ammo, that I had picked up a couple of months ago as an 'always good to get more ammo' purchase when picking up other stuff. The rest was Blazer brass.

I'm glad I only had the one box of Winchester as, out of 50 rounds in the box, I had 8 failures to eject. No visible deformations of the cases and, after the first 3 in one magazine, I found no problems with the gun and ran 10 rounds of Blazer with no problem. But, I got 2 more FTE on the next magazine of Winchester, followed by 3 more on the last magazine of Winchester after running two more of Blazer.

That seems like a stupid-high failure rate and I'm glad I only had the one box. It's the only time my SR9 has ever had any trouble eating any ammo I've fed it.


So, my question to the collective wisdom, is this anywhere approaching normal or just a really bad coincidence?

And yes, I am a relatively new shooter and yes, this is my first experience with this brand of ammo.

Bet it wasn't a Glock ..[smile]
 
Like other's wrote, save the box with the lot number and report it to Winchester. If this firearm is new, unproven and under warranty then I'd consider contacting Ruger too.

Yep, saved the lot number and such from the box. Nothing looked odd as I loaded (and I even had a different ammo with to compare visually) and the gun has been a reliable tool for infrequent range trips and even a few IDPA-style action shooting matches over the past 3 years so I'm pretty sure it's not the gun.

Guess I just got a bad batch. Writing to Winchester now and will update with any response they send me.
 
Had the same issue with the 9mm white box from Winchester.
It was a box I picked up at Dicks Sporting last year.
Firearm was a S&W M&P Shield
I had at least 4 failures in 50 shots.
 
Found it,but, where is the lot# located? It's Winchester 9mm Luger 115 grain FMJ.
100 round value pack.
 
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Lot # is usually on the inside flap of the box.

My biggest problem with WWB is the quality control, especially the .45 ACP.
I have found more than a couple of rounds where the projo had actually folded down the mouth of the brass.
WWB is more like quantity control... nothing slows the line. Nothing.
 
That may explain a couple hiccups I had with my new Remmy last year. I bought a 100rd box of WWB with my new gun. I still have a few rds left. I will have to take a closer look at them. It still may have been break in anyway, as I have had no problems shooting it since with different ammo.
 
I have seen whacky OAL with some WWB but nothing that would cause me not to shoot it. Never had an inordinate amount of failures. Probable ran 5-7k rounds in the last few years.
 
WWB was basically all i shot before i started reloading. I never had issues with it.

The OALs are inconsistent but that doesn't explain any ejection issues. I've never had issues with primers, FTFs or FTEs in any of my guns. Ive probably had a few bad rounds out of thousands.
 
curious to know what will be Winchester's response. Their .45 ACP was so-so for me, but .223 was the worst ammo I have ever fed to an AR. Dirty and very inaccurate. As others mentioned OAL all over the map, but the biggest accuracy killer was horrible concentricity.
 
i've had my sr9c for about 10 months and the only ammo i had an issue with was the wwb. granted the gun was new at the time, but i've been hesitant to try it again. it was a fail to feed problem.

don't want to gamble $20.00 to see if it was just a break-in issue as everything else i've run through it has been fine.

on the flip side, i have no problem with wwb .38
 
Found it,but, where is the lot# located? It's Winchester 9mm Luger 115 grain FMJ.
100 round value pack.

Assuming the lot number is the three groups of numbers printed on the inside end flap of the box, mine was:

CT365BY
E129262
K6683

Will post a picture when I work out some hosting.
 
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