Strike Two for Winchester - My Take

[teflon6string]

I don't care who you are or where you hang out, ask ANYONE what "Winchester" means and 99% will equate the name with guns or ammunition - as long as you've been alive. So that should be a trusted, tried-and-true brand of ammo to buy, yes? Regarding that rep, here are my pros and cons...

I bought four 100-round "value packs" of 230 grain Winchester .45 Auto at Walmart about half a year ago, thinking it was a good price. I've always liked Winchester guns and 12 gauge shotgun shells, but I was sorely disappointed with 3 failures to fire (FTF) in 15 rounds of the value pack .45 ACP. Primers were thoroughly indented, but they did nothing. What DID work on the same outing included Tulammo, Remington, PPU, Blazer and Federal.

So of those 6 brands, Winchester is THE BRAND I would refuse to carry in a self-defense weapon. Actually, I carry hollow point "flying ashtrays," but not Winchesters, based on that disappointing experience. I thoroughly test what I carry. Some brands impress me and some don't.

So I contacted Winchester, who promptly responded with free UPS return shipping and a timely refund exceeding my investment by $100. Fair enough!

Given this desperate shortage, I might be inclined to ask them to keep their money and send me a similar dollar amount of .22LR ammo instead!

But the sad thing is that I bought 6 bricks of Winchester .22LR about 6 years ago during the intitial onset of the Obama occupation (...that miserable POS and his guffawing jester Joe Bidet). And THAT ammo failed too! FTF, FTE, and pissy little weak shots/squibs - about 25-30%!

So! WTF Winchester??? Wouldn't it make more sense to manufacture and sell a quality product, and be known for delivering the goods? Inspire customer confidence in Box #1, vs. excellent customer service and back-pedaling with refunds when your ammo fails?

Just a thought... but what do I know?

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[Rix]

Did you see the recalled ammo thread?

 

[teflon6string]

Did you see the recalled ammo thread?

Yes I did. It makes me sad.

 

[chemist]

This sure makes me wonder about that Win Ranger SXT +P that I paid so dearly for; those 230gr. flying ashtrays are supposed to be "more than enough."
I don't have the resources to fire off tons of the stuff, but the few mags I've run through a stock Glock 21 all did what they're supposed to do.

The Win .22LR has never impressed me, being no better (and probably worse) than Federal bulk packs. But if Rem Golden Bullets are the standard, almost anything looks good by comparison! Do you think the Win .22 is even worse than Golden Bullets??

"I ask for so little - and boy, do I ever get it."
- Dilbert

 

[John H]

I bought four 100-round "value packs" of 230 grain Winchester .45 Auto at Walmart

Ever think that might be your problem.

I have used all sort of ammo from Winchester not from wally world , from .22 to 12ga. and haven't have a issue

 

[JRuby]

It is my understanding that the company that mkes winchester guns is seperate from the winchester company that makes ammunition. I beleive that the WInchester gun manufacturer is Fabrique Nationale and Olin makes the ammo. Am I wrong?

 

[teflon6string]

Ever think that might be your problem.

I have used all sort of ammo from Winchester not from wally world , from .22 to 12ga. and haven't have a issue

Had I been armed with some factual knowledge that Walmart gets factory seconds from Winchester, or that the very evilness of Walmart's political and HR policies somehow makes handgun primers fail, I'd have surely abstained.

Like I said, I've been using Winchester 12 gauge target loads for years and couldn't be happier with the price and 100% performance.

 

[teflon6string]

It is my understanding that the company that mkes winchester guns is seperate from the winchester company that makes ammunition. I beleive that the WInchester gun manufacturer is Fabrique Nationale and Olin makes the ammo. Am I wrong?

Great point! I dealt with Olin regarding the return. So perhaps the thread should be "Strike Two for Olin." I'll read ammo boxes more carefully from now on (assuming it'll be available).

 

[G1GRANDEUR]

I never used Winchester handgun ammo, but never had any issues with 12ga shells.

Sound like you had bad batch, also they were willing to work with you.

Some point every manufactures had bad batches, even for federal ammo.

 

[tac]

Re: Olin-Winchester ammunition quality issues - Here in yUK, in the last year or so, we have been seeing evidence of an alarming lack of QC in Winchester centre-fire ammunition, so much so that it is simply not worth the risk of buying it. We are seeing split necks after ONE firing, in the following calibres - .223Rem, .243, 270 and .308Win. You'll note that the last three calibres intially share a 'common-draw' case, necked down as necessary. Worse still is the incidence of ammunition packaging being opened and some of the contents were found to have split necks. One noob, last weekend, came over to me as the nearest RCO, and asked me if if was ok to shoot such a round, the second in a pack of twenty.

Needless to say, I advised him to take them back whence they came.

As a reloader of all my centre-fire calibres, I use Norma cases for all except my 7.5x55 guns, and in those I use Graf/PPU cases. Many of that brand are good after SIX reloads.

tac

 

[simon99]

I never rely on any thing that says " value-pack" or the like with my personal safety in an EDC situation.

Ask yourself, would you EDC a "value weapon" like a HiPoint?

I'm not dumping on you, but I keep things real and usually have pretty low expectations when it comes to anything that's cheap.....