Winchester White Box 9mm Issues?

[DustyDawg48]

I can echo what others have said earlier. Of the malfunctions I've seen that could easily be attributed to ammo, WWB was the culprit in all cases but 1. At a large IDPA match there were issues of factory ammo from Winchester that failed to make power once ran over a chronograph.

With a name as recognizable as Winchester they should issue an apology for the subpar ammo they've put out in the last few years.

 

[looney2ns]

Admittedly, I don't shoot much centerfire factory ammo these days, but all of the Winchester factory loads, be they shotgun or centerfire, well up in the hundreds of rounds, have fired 100% of the time.
More importantly, I've shout several times that many Winchester rimfire loads (my .22 does its best with Winchester Wildcat), and even all of that fired 100% of the time.

You must be blessed by the ammo gods.....

 

[johntheplinker]

A year or so ago I had a batch of the 9mm WWB with an undersized rim and an oversized extractor groove. Had several FTEs in my Suomi, the extractor would slip off leaving the case in the chamber.
Also last fall I had some 22 mag ammo that would split half way down the side.

 

[oldpink]

You must be blessed by the ammo gods.....

I've never shot white box as such.
However, Winchester Wildcat is definitely not their top of the line for their rimfire ammo, and probably the equivalent to whitebox for their centerfire ammo; and I've shot multiple thousands of rounds of Winchester Wildcat, and keep in mind that the design of rimfire ammo is inherently less reliable than centerfire.
All of the centerfire that I've shot from Winchester has been their regular production stuff, however (again, admittedly) it's been at least five years since I've shot any factory centerfire metallic ammo, and that was a box of twenty lead roundnose .45 Colt of Winchester standard (non-WB).
I've been insulated from factory ammo because I much prefer to roll my own, and I do just that.
I'm so insulated, in fact, that I'm even unsure if the other two of the three big name U.S. manufacturers (Remington and Federal, or throw in Hornady for a distant fourth) have a line of more generic ammo.
American Eagle is Federal's counterpart, isn't it?
I'm unsure if Remington or Hornady has a line of discount ammo at all.
It would be interesting to see how well the big manufacturers' standard line of centerfire ammo compares.
Federal has always been the one of the big three with the best reputation, but my opinion (and only mine) is that the best ammo that can be shot for less is what you can get by rolling your own.
In fact, if you really know what you're doing, it's quite easy to make ammo that shoots better for your gun and fires more reliably.
I'm well into several thousands of my own fired at this point without a single failure of any sort, and it's so much more satisfying shooting your own instead of settling for what a factory churned out.
Yeah, I'll admit to being smug on this one.

 

[Bfish]

I've shot a fair amount of it. I have about 1000 rounds just hanging around. I think i'll have to start shooting it up and see what I think. Leave the clean stuff for later, and I can reload all of that brass!

 

[oldpink]

I've shot a fair amount of it. I have about 1000 rounds just hanging around. I think i'll have to start shooting it up and see what I think. Leave the clean stuff for later, and I can reload all of that brass!

Exactly!
It's discount ammo, so the QC level is bound to not be quite up to the standard that their standard ammo gets, much less their premium ammo.
It's intended for range use and not for hunting or defense.
Maybe I'm confusing it with another dicount ammo, but I've been told that they also prime their .45 ACP (maybe some of their other handgun loads, too?) with small primers instead of large primers.
Why be shocked that it's not as good as a box of Silvertips, Golden Saber, Gold Dot, or Critical Duty?

 

[wesnellans]

I've not found anything of the like of the OP, but just the other day I had what I thought to be a light primer strike in my LC9S. Ejected the round, looked like it should have gone...

Okay. Chamber it in the Glock (yes, everything else looked okay, like OAL and such). Click. Hmmm.... Let's try again...... Click.

Checked it again. There's no way (or pics, sorry!) it shouldn't have gone off... just a dud.

I consider WWB to be the perfect training ammo - for malfunction clearing drills, that is.

 

[Robjps]

Federal Champion is the brand I found an undercharged cartridge. Almost a squib. They aren't immune either

I can hear and feel wwb light loads. I've never had a squib but they certainly have failed to cycle the action.

 

[Cygnus]

I haven't seen anything crazy like that but I did have a box of 100 that had about 4 or 5 times where the gun didn't cycle or failed to eject all the way. This was in a P95 that cycles everything. I then tried 50 rounds of ZQ 123GR. with no issue. A few days later 50 rounds a mix of Blazer Brass and Magtech with no issues. So I think I had a box of Wimnchester with a 5 percent fail rate.
Tula is more reliable and not much dirtier if at all.

 

[Ballstater98]

I will never buy white box again! Picked up a brand new pistol. Bought and put 100 rounds of Blazer (dirt cheap for break in ammo) through it out of the box, then 1/2 way through a 100 pack of white box...disaster! (Now, I did not inspect the 9mm 115 gr., as I use a speed loader). THEN: Odd sounding bang, magazine hit the floor, and pain ensued! The discharge cracked the mag release in half blowing it out both sides bruising my hand at the base of my index finger! Disassembly of the mag. revealed a follower cracked. Threw the rest of the white box away. Retailer got her fixed right there on the spot and through in a fresh box of Federal. Not going to lie, 'lil gun shy, but sucked it up, and got back on the horse. Still my EDC.

 

[DustyDawg48]

I will never buy white box again! Picked up a brand new pistol. Bought and put 100 rounds of Blazer (dirt cheap for break in ammo) through it out of the box, then 1/2 way through a 100 pack of white box...disaster! (Now, I did not inspect the 9mm 115 gr., as I use a speed loader). THEN: Odd sounding bang, magazine hit the floor, and pain ensued! The discharge cracked the mag release in half blowing it out both sides bruising my hand at the base of my index finger! Disassembly of the mag. revealed a follower cracked. Threw the rest of the white box away. Retailer got her fixed right there on the spot and through in a fresh box of Federal. Not going to lie, 'lil gun shy, but sucked it up, and got back on the horse. Still my EDC.

Wow! Glad to hear nothing got permanently damaged but WWB's reputation...or what is left of it.

I'm like others that I'm a bit out of touch when it comes to factory I've been loading my own ammo for such a long time. Last batch of factory that wasn't self-defense that I bought was Magtech's .380 when I first got my G42 about a year ago. Once I had enough brass that spelled the end of any factory.

I will say that I loved WWB and shot so much of it in my early days that I'd swear by it as much as I'd swear by my Glock. It was dirty but it was true...not I'm both sad and angry that the name Winchester is now as synonymous with guns as it is with bad factory ammo.

 

[Ballstater98]

I will never buy white box again! Picked up a brand new pistol. Bought and put 100 rounds of Blazer (dirt cheap for break in ammo) through it out of the box, then 1/2 way through a 100 pack of white box...disaster! (Now, I did not inspect the 9mm 115 gr., as I use a speed loader). THEN: Odd sounding bang, magazine hit the floor, and pain ensued! The discharge cracked the mag release in half blowing it out both sides bruising my hand at the base of my index finger! Disassembly of the mag. revealed a follower cracked. Threw the rest of the white box away. Retailer got her fixed right there on the spot and through in a fresh box of Federal. Not going to lie, 'lil gun shy, but sucked it up, and got back on the horse. Still my EDC.

Wow! Glad to hear nothing got permanently damaged but WWB's reputation...or what is left of it.

I'm like others that I'm a bit out of touch when it comes to factory I've been loading my own ammo for such a long time. Last batch of factory that wasn't self-defense that I bought was Magtech's .380 when I first got my G42 about a year ago. Once I had enough brass that spelled the end of any factory.

I will say that I loved WWB and shot so much of it in my early days that I'd swear by it as much as I'd swear by my Glock. It was dirty but it was true...not I'm both sad and angry that the name Winchester is now as synonymous with guns as it is with bad factory ammo.

Speaking of Glock, this was in a new G19 Gen 4. Gun design probably saved grave injury. Still carry her today and leave WWB for everyone else to roll the dice.

 

[Sniper 79]

Glad I make my own. Scarry stuff happens running machines full throttle trying to keep up with demand. We need more ammo makers.

I shot WWB by the boat load back when ammo was cheap without any problems. Prices went up forcing me into hand loading. I have not purchased factory stuff in at least a decade.

 

[TubThumper]

Been seeing quite a few posts on Facebook about this. Apparently people are finding some disturbing flaws in WWB 9mm ammo bought at WalMart. Anyone else run into this?

Yikes! Haven't come across anything looking like this (yet)! I shoot quite a bit of WWB 9mm, as around here, it's pretty much the cheapest factory ammo I've consistently found. Time to start looking a little closer on the next box I open!

 

[Ballstater98]

Quality control is currently at the same level.

 

[wtburnette]

Back from a 3 year hiatus...

As I said on page 2, I stopped buying WWB not long after I started shooting. A few boxes was enough for me to learn my lesson. Especially since starting to buy all of my ammo online, I now pay less for ammo that is much cleaner and has higher quality control. I don't anticipate ever using WWB again.

 

[flatlander]

I've shot over a case of WWB in the last couple of months without ANY issues. Haven't really noticed it being too dirty compared to others or any malfunctions.
But then again, I only use Glocks and we know they're impervious to subpar ammo.

Bob

 

[BJones]

I have had 2 squibs with Whit Box and will never use it again.

 

[churchmouse]

I've shot over a case of WWB in the last couple of months without ANY issues. Haven't really noticed it being too dirty compared to others or any malfunctions.
But then again, I only use Glocks and we know they're impervious to subpar ammo.

Bob

Well do you ever clean them...????........

This crap ammo is dirty. JMPE.....

 

[flatlander]

It finally happened. Cleaned my pistol and went to the range. Was testing my new Magpul mags as I had some failures to hold the slide back. Imagine my surprise when I pulled the trigger and got no bang When it ejected I checked the primer. Good solid hit. Reinserted it and it went bang. After this thread I've got to say I'm going to start getting something else for practice.
BTW, the Magpul 15rd G19 mags worked fine. Had taken them apart and oiled the spring.<br>
<br>
Bob