Pop Pop Fizz Fizz, oh what garbage WWB is

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I haven't used WWB much, but haven't experience a problem with it yet. However, I do hear complaints about it often.

When I think "garbage ammo", other brands come to mind. Does anyone remember the "American Ammo" that came in blister packs? Not to be confused with American Eagle, which I like.
American Ammo was for me real "garbage ammo". When it caused constant failures to feed in my K9, I thought it was the firearm. I sent the pistol in for evaluation with a description of events/ammunition. After receiving it back from Kahr, the printed invoice said something along the lines of:

*Chamber and ramp polished
*Test fired/ok
*Please do not use garbage ammunition in your Kahr K9

I kid you not, it was quite amusing and I'm nearly certain "garbage ammunition" was the terminology used. They were correct though, the ammunition was not sized properly and caused similar malfunctions in my other 9mm. I eventually gave up and donated the ammunition to a reloader who said he could make use of the components. I reload now and really don't think I'd use anything but the pulled bullets.
 
I use to run a lot of WWB in 9mm. through my Sterling Mk. VI carbine. Can't recall having any sort of problems with it and typically I would shoot about 300 to 400 rounds using surplus Sterling and Sten magazines at each range session.
 
One other point on reloading 9mm. Some loaders don’t care if they are saving money reloading at all. Competitors are looking for reliability and consistency. Excessive amounts of dud ammo and malfunction clearing can mean the difference between winning and losing.

100ths of a second count. Would anyone actually trust factory ammo in that scenario?
 
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Ok, I gotta ask whats WWB? I've bought very little factory ammo over the last 40-45 years and I guess that I'm out of the loop.
 
One other point on reloading 9mm. Some loafers don’t care if they are saving money reloading. Competitors are looking for reliability and consistency. Excessive amounts could f dud ammo and malfunction clearing can mean the difference between winning and losing.

100ths of a second count. Would anyone actually trust factory ammo in that scenario?

For the most party, I don't save any monies by reloading. Even in the .460, I just have the opportunity to shoot more rounds, more often. At my job now, I can work as much overtime as I want. Ain't no amount of reloading any caliber enough to pay me what I make an hour in overtime. But I enjoy reloading and I enjoy sending ammo I made, downrange. While I get very accurate and consistent ammo from my reloading, for general range use, there's lot's on the shelves at Walmart that would work just fine. I read much more on gun forums about folks having issues of squibs, misfires and Ka-Booms from their own reloads than I do about factory ammo. That tells me something.

It is what it is.
 
WWB is garbage? Not in my experience.

I go through a fair amount of .45 auto WWB 230 gr ball. There's a bit more smoke residue left on my pistols after shooting it than perhaps other brands, but WWB groups well from my guns and I've never had any failures to feed, fire or eject when using it. It goes bang every time.
 
I'm not sure if the 9mm WWB talked about refers to ALL white box Winchester ammo, but I've shot many thouands of rounds of their 124gr NATO rounds w/o a hiccup. SGammo carries it for $0.18/rnd, delivered. That's a great price. I've had the most problems with Blazer 124gr. Stopped buying it a few years ago after a couple of stuck rounds from different batches. I keep vascilating on reloading. When I consider the equipment and supply cost and time spent reloading, when I can get what I consider to be decent brass cased 9mm ammo at $0.15 - 0.18/rnd and brass .223 at $0.24 - $0.30/rnd, I haven't felt compelled to go that route just yet. It helps I've been able to stockpile to avoid the crazziness. I have to admit I did pay $0.10/rnd for Remington golden .22LR during the last administration. But I've learn my lesson. I just wish my wife could be a little more understanding!
 
I'm not sure if the 9mm WWB talked about refers to ALL white box Winchester ammo,

This what not the white and black box NATO ammunition Winchester makes (Q4318). This was the 115gr stuff that comes in the white and red box (USA9MM). In the past, I have run various factory ammunition handgun loads over a chrony, and 9mm WWB was one of the worst performers I have ever seen in terms of consistency with a spread over 100fps between rounds. IIRC, Hornady Critical Duty was the reigning champion with a spread under 10fps.

Get what you pay for though, right?
 
I seem to remember that Winchester White Box aka WWB was frequently referenced on collector's forums as a good round for the WWII P38 pistol. I have used it in that application (9mm) with no issues. Has there been a recent decline in quality?
 
I've only shot the 9mm JHP version of WWB and it hasn't ever given me any trouble. I assume its the same as the FMJ version aside from the bullet.
 
WWB is garbage? Not in my experience.

I go through a fair amount of .45 auto WWB 230 gr ball. There's a bit more smoke residue left on my pistols after shooting it than perhaps other brands, but WWB groups well from my guns and I've never had any failures to feed, fire or eject when using it. It goes bang every time.

This thread is specifically about the 9mm flavor, and most commonly the 115gr FMJ.

I've seen threads on it on other forums showing some seriously dangerous varying bullet setback. I bought a 100-pack once and when I tried to re-prime the cases, they would barely go in due to the deformed primer pockets.

Never had issues with it in .40 S&W, but I haven't bought any of it for a couple of years, since I started seeing complaints about the 9mm variety online and my own experiences.

A quick internet search revealed some issues with .40 S&W as well...

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I went right to the source of the problem, WWB usually purchased at Walmart as the stories went. That's the repetitive theme in years past on the internet. Personally, I have not experienced a problem with WWB-9X19mm, that I can recall. If I had a problem I would simply say so.
 
Never had a problem with WWB but haven't shot a ton of it.

Federal Auto Match from Walmart is the cheapest factory ammo you can buy locally. 200rds for a little over $30. I normally buy 1000rds a month mainly to keep up with my shooting and also to add a little to the stash. As much of that stuff as I shoot I've had ZERO issues.


I still think reloading is more a hobby than a mass money saving plan, and there's nothing wrong with that.
 
Eh, I've shot a metric butt-ton of WWB -- in 9mm -- over the past three decades, and haven't detected any more problems with this particular ammo than any other production ammunition. And yeah, I've bought most of it at Wal-Mart, as it's the cheapest it gets. 'Course, I'm a lucky guy.
 
AIM Surplus is currently selling Russian steel 9mm for $6.39 a box, buy a case and it's down to $6.19. Not worth my time to reload at those prices. They generally have some brand of brass cased 9mm for $8 and change, but the Russian will go bang just as often, maybe more often than some.

I agree. It appears that some peoples time isn't worth anything.:eek:
 
I agree. It appears that some peoples time isn't worth anything.:eek:
People’s time is worth plenty. You’re missing or ignoring one of the points with that broad of a comment.

If someone just loads in order to shoot more and doesn’t enjoy it, I can understand why they wouldn’t load 9mm, the savings just may not be worth it to you.

If someone enjoys the process and finds it fun or relaxing like I do, then I consider my time a donation as it’s recreation time.

I’m at work 10-11.5 hours 5 days a week and I’m paid hourly. My time is worth a fair amount I guess. But loading is one of the pass times that allows me to regain my calm so I can get up and go to work the next day.
 
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When buying cheap ammo don't be a bit surprised if you end up with cheap ammo.

I've bought and shot several boxes of WWB over the years in a multitude of chamberings and while I've had some bad rounds, I've had no more than other cheap plinking range fodder.

I have noticed the WWB rifle ammo tends to be very dirty. Particularly with the faster stuff like 45gr 22-250rem. As it pertains here with 115gr 9x19mm, it's pretty standard quality for super cheap bulk ammo in my experience.

Which is what I bought and paid for.
 
WWB is my main practice ammo for all my 9mm and .45ACP handguns. I've probably shot thousands of rounds of the ammo over the years and I've never had any particular problem with any of it.
 
I agree. It appears that some peoples time isn't worth anything.:eek:

I'm retired, and according to the Government "Permanently and Totally Disabled", All I have is time. Fishing has sucked this winter so far, it's been raining enough that a range trip is a rare occurrence, prostate cancer took sex off the table, so I ask, what else am I to do but reload?
 
I think what a lot of people aren't realizing is that even though they are claiming "no issues" with their WWB, it doesn't mean that they didn't get faulty ammo.

Sure, it went bang and stuff, but how consistent was the bullet setback? was the brass useable due to deformed primer pockets? Just because it went bang, doesn't mean that the gun didn't experience severe pressure spikes due to extreme bullet setback. Though I do think that severe setback is reasonably rare, and that it takes A LOT of setback to reach dangerous levels with WWB.

I'd wager that 95% of people posting no issues with their WWB have never looked at it to check for those issues; they just loaded it up, shot it, and didn't inspect or try to reload the casings.
 
I generally jokingly say that WWB is good training ammunition because it gives you plenty of opportunities to practice you failure drills.

There is a school of thought to have a friend or stranger load a blank or two into every magazine. The random nature of the malfunction will cause you to practice your malfunction drill. OR you can get WWB and get it without having to ask someone. In a box of 50, I get 2 malfunctions on average. Sometimes more, sometimes less. But they are the cheapest and I can practice my failure methods. For the record, I normally prefer Blaser because they are the same price as WWB (usually) and more reliable. Sometimes.
 
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