[amd65]

I grew up shooting lots of real military surplus ammo...rifle caliber, and pistol caliber. Lots of it made in the dark days of war.
In all that ammo, I never saw a defective round, where the defect wasn’t due to poor storage. Certainly never one like the white box .40 pictured above. And that surplus ammo was made and checked the old fashioned way, by eye...no computer spewing it out and doing its own QC.

Every ammo company puts out a clunker round every once in awhile.

 

[CanyonMan]

IF/When, I use 'factory stuff,' I have used WWB and CCI blazer brass, for years and years... Never one issue with any of it. Have a box of WWB 147gr JHP's on the shelf for 'SD carry,' if I ever need them. Also keep all the brass from both, and have reloaded them over and over... Both in 9mm and 45acp. Has always worked for me.



CM
:horse:

 

[Schrag4]

I think their FMJ is fine. What about their white box “defensive” ammo, though? As long as they go bang, shot placement does most of the rest, I suppose.

 

[pAZ Ron]

Deleted due to error replying to quote

 

[rogn]

Shot hundreds of these back when Wally's nearly gave it away. All 40 S&W 165 and 180. Had a tendency to put all the shots in the same hole when shot from my 226. Sometimes you couldnt tell how mant shots. I thought all brands would be that good. Never had any failures of any kind.

 

[oldmick]

It’s usually my choice. I like the large “Value Packs”. I only shoot 5-7K rounds per year, but no complaints from me.

 

[hannstv]

Seems to be a little on the low power end and a little dirty. No other complaints. I haven't burned though that many rounds of it.

 

[pAZ Ron]

Over the years I have read countless posts from people making vague references to "sub-quality" Winchester White Box.

Virtually never anything specific, always in the form of,."well, "everyone" says it's no good".

Yet, (without fear of contradiction), I have fired... or been responsible for the firing of probably in excess of 1/2 a MILLION rounds of this ammo.

Outside of a literally a hand full of dead primers, (probably fewer than 10), never a problem.

I have a feeling this is very much like the .40 S&W kick too much to be useful mantra that is spread around the web.

Why?... Well, everybody says so.

Sooooo..... What problems have you guys had?

In 9mm WWB is my go to favorite. Never had any reliability issues and it is my overall best grouping ammo in 9mm.

A different story in .40 S&W. WIN 180 gr is fine, but that is not the most commonly carried WWB. The 165 gr WWB that was the most common one available goes bang every time. But for whatever reason, my groups open up and I mean very noticeable. In .40, my guns group much better with Federal Champion or American Eagle, mostly 180 gr.

... It does seem to be a bit dirtier than some other ammo, though....

I keep hearing this too over the years. But when I get done shooting WWB my gun is dirty. When I get done shooting Rem, Federal, Hornady, Speer, etc. my gun is dirty. Can't say I've noticed any of them to be different or "clean".

Just picked up six boxes for $12.99 before my wife's 10% ISD discount. Boom!
View attachment 823276

Shadowlands, that is the NATO version of WIN ammo. 124 gr and higher velocity vs the less expensive, standard WWB 115 gr ammo (like Wmart used to carry in 100 rd value pack). NATO is good ammo too.

Most of my 9 mms group a little better with the cheaper 115 gr. WWB FWIW! I do have a G26 that groups best with the NATO variety though.

 

[rotorhead1026]

I don’t seek it out, but do purchase and use when the price is competitive. Nary a problem.

 

[CanyonMan]

I think their FMJ is fine. What about their white box “defensive” ammo, though? As long as they go bang, shot placement does most of the rest, I suppose.

Again, 'for me,' over a long lot of years, and countless boxes of WWB FMJ in 45acp and 9mm and 40s&w both, I have never encountered an issue. Tons of it. Bought "on the cheap," (sales) to shoot up, and kept the brass to reload. 'My experience..'

I have seen some COAL weirdness in the WWB "Value -Pak" 100 ct. I do not use them, but have seen issue once or twice with a couple folks. :dunno:

The 50rd ct boxes, again, NEVER one issue for me, and I have shot tons of them.




CM
:horse:

 

[shadowlands]

In 9mm WWB is my go to favorite. Never had any reliability issues and it is my overall best grouping ammo in 9mm.

A different story in .40 S&W. WIN 180 gr is fine, but that is not the most commonly carried WWB. The 165 gr WWB that was the most common one available goes bang every time. But for whatever reason, my groups open up and I mean very noticeable. In .40, my guns group much better with Federal Champion or American Eagle, mostly 180 gr.



I keep hearing this too over the years. But when I get done shooting WWB my gun is dirty. When I get done shooting Rem, Federal, Hornady, Speer, etc. my gun is dirty. Can't say I've noticed any of them to be different or "clean".



Shadowlands, that is the NATO version of WIN ammo. 124 gr and higher velocity vs the less expensive, standard WWB 115 gr ammo (like Wmart used to carry most). NATO is good ammo too.

Most of my 9 mms group a little better with the cheaper WWB FWIW! I do have a G26 that groups best with the NATO variety though.

Most excellent. Thanks for the education. I appreciate it.

 

[wyntrout]

UPDATE!:
Sorry, I just looked back and I was shooting the Federal Champion Value Pack-100, not the white box Winchester.
Update. The pix weren't there because Photobucket changed their policy, but just now I did post a few from July 2015 of the incident.
I did feel somewhat of a small "blast" and felt a few gunpowder-like particles hit my face, but no real pain or injury.

I talked with Federal customer service and sent them a DVD of the incident along with the bullet and case. It took a long time and I never heard back from them after saying their metallurgy guy would have to examine the bullet components, but after many months, I got 2 boxes of their Independence(?) brand .40 S&W from them and that was that.

Original Squib post with pix, etc: https://www.glocktalk.com/threads/squib.1587509/

 

[M 7]

I don’t seek it out, but do purchase and use when the price is competitive. Nary a problem.

It helps (at least for me, it does) to keep perspective that for a company that turns out hundreds of millions of rounds of ammunition (in all calibers) every years, there are gonna be a few flaws. Simple probability dictates that. The percentage overall is very small for the major domestic ammo manufacturers, so I tend to stick with them. Of course, there are good foreign manufacturers, too, Fiocchi, Sellier&Bellot, Norma, etc.

 

[skyfall]

My understanding is that WWB in 115 gr. is the price leader of their line and less quality control.The WWB in 124 gr. NATO is equal to any of the other mfgs. ammo as far as quality.Win. NATO to my understanding is the issue for their military contract and is better ammo.Again,this is my understanding.

 

[nitesit(+ an e)]

The WWB Personal Protection 230-gr .45Auto is actually very good ammo (believe it or not).

 

[Glockman4]

Over the years I have read countless posts from people making vague references to "sub-quality" Winchester White Box.

Virtually never anything specific, always in the form of,."well, "everyone" says it's no good".

Yet, (without fear of contradiction), I have fired... or been responsible for the firing of probably in excess of 1/2 a MILLION rounds of this ammo.

Outside of a literally a hand full of dead primers, (probably fewer than 10), never a problem.

I have a feeling this is very much like the .40 S&W kick too much to be useful mantra that is spread around the web.

Why?... Well, everybody says so.

Sooooo..... What problems have you guys had?

Yea there's nothing really wrong with it other than being really smoky and dirty. Same with Tula and Wolf honestly.

The only pistol ammo I ever remember being extremely crappy was Perfecta from Walmart. I had some 9mm one time that was completely inconsistent. One round would sound like it only had a primer setting it off and the next one would have the blast of a 357, and this would alternate several time per magazine. I was afraid I was going to blow my gun up but I shot it anyway, and then never bought any more.

 

[M 7]

The WWB Personal Protection 230-gr .45Auto is actually very good ammo (believe it or not).

Yes, it sure is.

 

[CBennett]

Over the years I have read countless posts from people making vague references to "sub-quality" Winchester White Box.

Virtually never anything specific, always in the form of,."well, "everyone" says it's no good".

Yet, (without fear of contradiction), I have fired... or been responsible for the firing of probably in excess of 1/2 a MILLION rounds of this ammo.

Outside of a literally a hand full of dead primers, (probably fewer than 10), never a problem.

I have a feeling this is very much like the .40 S&W kick too much to be useful mantra that is spread around the web.

Why?... Well, everybody says so.

Sooooo..... What problems have you guys had?

Only problem I ever had was my 1 gun LOVED every ammo but WWB..it would get light strikes with WWB....only brand it did that with..that said...I USED to love WWB...it was the good cheap ammo you looked for for practice...then they raised their prices....and at the current price I dont bother with it as Blazer,AE,Herters,LAX are all cheaper and just as good...its just not a good VALUE anymore for me to bother with unless nothing esle is available..back in May or June I got the Herters and some Federal for less than $10 a box.....WWB is like $14($13.97) a box...why bother when there was $10 a box thats just as good..they priced themselves out of ME using it anymore.

 

[Bradd D]

Belled case mouth causing a failure to feed. Missing primers and upside down primers. I'll shoot it if my usual choices aren't available.

 

[Intolerant]

I`ve shot THOUSANDS of rounds of WWB. Always went bang for me. Yeah, its a little dirty, but so ain`t i...lol. Thankfully though, my guns clean up pretty good after range sessions. Me, not so much.