Watch out for NIB Winchester ammo

[RyanG90]

Went up shooting with a friend today. Took out my 6.5cm amongst others… freshly opened box of 6.5cm ammo. 3 out of the 40 rounds weren't seated properly. Glad I always inspect the ammo that's going through my can. Is there any way to reach out to them? Is it even worth the time? I just feel like it could be dangerous. Seems like ZERO quality control over there at win. Will not buy their ammo anymore.

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[AMT]

I'd say that it wouldn't hurt to contact them with the picts.

At least you might feel better about it.

Good catch. This is a good reminder for me to be more aware too.

Cheers

 

[JohnH]

Back in 2020 I added a 45 Colt to my toys and proceeded to buy 500 pieces of Winchester brass to load for it.

Ended up with only 275 usable cases and after contacting Winchester and sending back the 225 bad cases they sent me a check to cover the cost of ALL 500 CASES, so yea, I would say its worth the time to complain,,,,

 

[Willysmb]

My agency purchased 150,000 Winchester 115 fmj and 124 fmj's last year.

The 115's had so many FTF's (like 2-3 per 17 round magazine) we looked at it as good for malfunction clearing drills.

In order to use the 115's up, we used them for pre-qualification training, but would switch out to the 124's for the actual qualifications.

Never had a problem with the 124's.

The distributor offered to take them back, but it was less of a hassle to just shoot them up (don't ask, agencies can make simple things quite complex).

We will not order any more 115's.

WMB

 

[RyanG90]

I'd say that it wouldn't hurt to contact them with the picts.

At least you might feel better about it.

Good catch. This is a good reminder for me to be more aware too.

Cheers

I appreciate the feedback.

 

[RyanG90]

Back in 2020 I added a 45 Colt to my toys and proceeded to buy 500 pieces of Winchester brass to load for it.

Ended up with only 275 usable cases and after contacting Winchester and sending back the 225 bad cases they sent me a check to cover the cost of ALL 500 CASES, so yea, I would say its worth the time to complain,,,,

View attachment 1767156

Good to know!!!! Wow they couldn't find the center could they!!

 

[RyanG90]

My agency purchased 150,000 Winchester 115 fmj and 124 fmj's last year.

The 115's had so many FTF's (like 2-3 per 17 round magazine) we looked at it as good for malfunction clearing drills.

In order to use the 115's up, we used them for pre-qualification training, but would switch out to the 124's for the actual qualifications.

Never had a problem with the 124's.

The distributor offered to take them back, but it was less of a hassle to just shoot them up (don't ask, agencies can make simple things quite complex).

We will not order any more 115's.

WMB

That is crazy to me!! At least you were able to repurpose them, I was just nervous about running them through my 1100$ can!

 

[Alexx1401]

"Something" happened to the damn QC at Win a good couple decades back. At first I was hearing scattered reports of problems with their White Box ammo. I had used this stuff for so long I kept wondering if it was true and kept buying. Then they hit with their version of the steel case stuff for those who did not want the brass. I started buying the 9mm stuff as I had a boat load of 9mm brass and it was about a buck a box cheaper. Then one day at the range I ran into some REALLY bad stuff. First a couple rounds sounded "off". Then couple more would not fire. Then two of them had hang fire's. Felt almost like shooting a flint lock. The primmer would go and you could hear the delay and round fired. At that point I stopped using it. Problem was I had dumped a couple boxes of the stuff in a container to take to the range and had a couple more of the bulk boxes at home. So no way to know if the stuff at the range was the same lot#. So I just tossed the entire load in the trash and that was the last time I bought any Win ammo. Started to rotate out all of it I had at home till it was gone. Sad a Co this old has decided to let the QC slip like this.

 

[RyanG90]

"Something" happened to the damn QC at Win a good couple decades back. At first I was hearing scattered reports of problems with their White Box ammo. I had used this stuff for so long I kept wondering if it was true and kept buying. Then they hit with their version of the steel case stuff for those who did not want the brass. I started buying the 9mm stuff as I had a boat load of 9mm brass and it was about a buck a box cheaper. Then one day at the range I ran into some REALLY bad stuff. First a couple rounds sounded "off". Then couple more would not fire. Then two of them had hang fire's. Felt almost like shooting a flint lock. The primmer would go and you could hear the delay and round fired. At that point I stopped using it. Problem was I had dumped a couple boxes of the stuff in a container to take to the range and had a couple more of the bulk boxes at home. So no way to know if the stuff at the range was the same lot#. So I just tossed the entire load in the trash and that was the last time I bought any Win ammo. Started to rotate out all of it I had at home till it was gone. Sad a Co this old has decided to let the QC slip like this.

Wow, unreal. Fortunately, I didn't give the bad ones a chance. The others ran decent, but not good enough to ever buy again. Will be contacting them tomorrow, to get my 40$ back at the very least.

 

[coltemp]

I have always used Winchester rifle ammo as my fouling round. They have always been the worse shooting crap I have ever seen with multiple guns. Supposedly their handgun ammo is a bit better I can't say I am surprised.
Seems like all the brands have gone down hill over the last decade or so. Federal Champion 22LR used to be some of the best shooting stuff out there. Now the newer stuff is mostly suspect.

Most definitely contact Winchester. They will likely need to recall that whole lot as I seriously doubt you are the only one with issues.

 

[Ruger Rich]

Contact them. They may not care but they sure as heck can never care if
you don't call their attention to the problem.

 

[Caveman Jim]

Back in 2020 I added a 45 Colt to my toys and proceeded to buy 500 pieces of Winchester brass to load for it.

Ended up with only 275 usable cases and after contacting Winchester and sending back the 225 bad cases they sent me a check to cover the cost of ALL 500 CASES, so yea, I would say its worth the time to complain,,,,

View attachment 1767156

GFL brass is about the same. I will not reload em, I'll sell those headstamps.

 

[RyanG90]

Contact them. They may not care but they sure as heck can never care if
you don't call their attention to the problem.

I plan to call tomorrow!

 

[WAYNO]

Will not buy their ammo anymore.

That much more for me.

I am not discounting the OP had problems with a batch of Winchester ammo. I've shot a lot of ammo over many years, and just like with anything mass-produced by automated machines, quality slips thru the cracks, regardless of manufacturer. I'm not defending their quality (or lack of), but if I boycott every company that has had a quality issue, there will nothing left to buy, be it ammo, guns, cars trucks, appliances, furniture, electronics...

But what is important, as pointed out by the OP, is we inspect everything we use or buy.

 

[TTSX]

This sounds like a great big foot stomping tantrum over a few rounds that got past QC.

 

[RyanG90]

That much more for me.

I am not discounting the OP had problems with a batch of Winchester ammo. I've shot a lot of ammo over many years, and just like with anything mass-produced by automated machines, quality slips thru the cracks, regardless of manufacturer. I'm not defending their quality (or lack of), but if I boycott every company that has had a quality issue, there will nothing left to buy, be it ammo, guns, cars trucks, appliances, furniture, electronics...

But what is important, as pointed out by the OP, is we inspect everything we use or buy.

No one is perfect. I understand that, I just have the choice to avoid them, no disrespect to them as a whole mistakes happen.. was just crazy to see it back to back.

 

[Dozer99]

A couple of years back, I posted on here about the second squib round I had from "Winchester white box" ammo. The first one I chalked up to "happens" but the second one was "all right, this pi$$ed me off". Two separate boxes of the same caliber bought at two sperate times. Different lot numbers. I contacted Winchester and they had me ship the boxes and spent brass back to them, then told me that they would pay to have a gunsmith check out my pistol and remove the round. Well they reimbursed me for the two boxes of ammo but became I removed to squib loads both times and checked out my own pistol they would not pay for that (I do my own gunsmithing).

That was the last time I purchased Winchester centerfire ammo (rimfire seems ok so far).

Seems like they are still not putting much emphasis on QC.

 

[belshawelk]

Went up shooting with a friend today. Took out my 6.5cm amongst others… freshly opened box of 6.5cm ammo. 3 out of the 40 rounds weren't seated properly. Glad I always inspect the ammo that's going through my can. Is there any way to reach out to them? Is it even worth the time? I just feel like it could be dangerous. Seems like ZERO quality control over there at win. Will not buy their ammo anymore.

View attachment 1767150 View attachment 1767151

yes. I had a Remington corelokt that never fired. I called them sent picture of the serial number and they sent me a new box. Worth the effort

 

[ilikegunspdx]

Went up shooting with a friend today. Took out my 6.5cm amongst others… freshly opened box of 6.5cm ammo. 3 out of the 40 rounds weren't seated properly. Glad I always inspect the ammo that's going through my can. Is there any way to reach out to them? Is it even worth the time? I just feel like it could be dangerous. Seems like ZERO quality control over there at win. Will not buy their ammo anymore.

View attachment 1767150 View attachment 1767151

I never use Winchester ammo personally. Had such horrible luck with their 22lr. Filthy dirty, tons of duds that I wrote off that brand permanently. Also seeing their $4.99 knives etc make me think this brand has been about making the cheapest possible thing they can that will sell.

 

[RyanG90]

yes. I had a Remington corelokt that never fired. I called them sent picture of the serial number and they sent me a new box. Worth the effort

I never use Winchester ammo personally. Had such horrible luck with their 22lr. Filthy dirty, tons of duds that I wrote off that brand permanently. Also seeing their $4.99 knives etc make me think this brand has been about making the cheapest possible thing they can that will sell.

Jack of all trades, master of none apparently. Good to know! They are on my no fly list now.