Winchester White Box 9mm in a... Black Box?

[Simple Shooter]

I have, literally, purchased SUV loads of WWB 9mm, .40, .45 and 5.56 annually for my former office. Spending $25,000.00 (government price) at a time was the norm, one year I spent over $40K.

I was lucky. The chief asked me what I felt we should be training with and I told him, "The same thing we carry." So, all our practice ammo was Federal 9BPLE, which was the LE round back in the 90's. Our Sig P226's ate it up at 50-200 rounds per month depending on the exercise and were no worse for the wear.

Jeez, really? They charge you to shoot there and want to nickel and dime the customers for the brass money?

I don't shoot at indoor ranges, so this is not an issue for me. Each of the two outdoor ranges I go to charge less than $200 a year and you go however often you want, whenever you want, except after dark and holidays. Since I work from home and make my own schedule, I can slip in range time when I hit a slow spot. I consider myself fortunate to have them both close by.

On the other side, A friend took me to his local indoor range a few years ago and they got on me for picking up my own brass from my own reloads. It was exactly like Riomouse911 says- they sell the brass and anything that falls on the floor belongs to them. They even had a sign stating so.

Couldn't load it that cheap, so I bought a box every time I went shopping...
Moon

Funny you mention that. I have not shopped for bulk 9mm ammo in years as I have been reloading since 1986. Did some price checking over the past few days and discovered I can buy bulk Blazer, WWB, Fiocchi, and even my favorite Federal for about 7 cents per round more than reloading. Even if I had the time, I may not continue to reload.

 

[Riomouse911]

Jeez, really? They charge you to shoot there and want to nickel and dime the customers for the brass money? I know you may not have much choice in the People's Republik, but I wouldn't shoot there. It's not like they cant sell the steel and aluminum too. Sounds like they are just too lazy to sort it.....SMH.

Dunno. They aren’t the only ones, several ranges around here have a similar policy. Plus no steel core or penetrator type bullets, no more shotguns (unless slugs) due to the target carrier damage, etc.

Since it’s not my range, and it’s only about three miles from my house while the next closest indoor range is almost 15 miles up the freeway, I follow their rules so I can keep shooting there.

Stay safe.

 

[Riomouse911]

I was lucky. The chief asked me what I felt we should be training with and I told him, "The same thing we carry." So, all our practice ammo was Federal 9BPLE, which was the LE round back in the 90's. Our Sig P226's ate it up at 50-200 rounds per month depending on the exercise and were no worse for the wear.



I don't shoot at indoor ranges, so this is not an issue for me. Each of the two outdoor ranges I go to charge less than $200 a year and you go however often you want, whenever you want, except after dark and holidays. Since I work from home and make my own schedule, I can slip in range time when I hit a slow spot. I consider myself fortunate to have them both close by.

On the other side, A friend took me to his local indoor range a few years ago and they got on me for picking up my own brass from my own reloads. It was exactly like Riomouse911 says- they sell the brass and anything that falls on the floor belongs to them. They even had a sign stating so.



Funny you mention that. I have not shopped for bulk 9mm ammo in years as I have been reloading since 1986. Did some price checking over the past few days and discovered I can buy bulk Blazer, WWB, Fiocchi, and even my favorite Federal for about 7 cents per round more than reloading. Even if I had the time, I may not continue to reload.

When I was handed the ammo-purchasing reins back in 2008 or so we used to use JHP ammo to train. But I figured out we could train our guys and the SRT unit with about 3x more range time (and shots) switching to fmj ammo for the same cost. Since we had a funky budget back then we switched and just never went back. (Guys like the extra time behind the trigger )

At least my local range lets you collect your brass, lots of guys reload and they would probably have a fit if they were stopped. But anything that is swept forward of the shooting tables/barrier is theirs to sell.

Stay safe.

 

[BlankRow]

Jeez, really? They charge you to shoot there and want to nickel and dime the customers for the brass money? I know you may not have much choice in the People's Republik, but I wouldn't shoot there. It's not like they cant sell the steel and aluminum too. Sounds like they are just too lazy to sort it.....SMH.

I was always told this restriction was to prevent backstop damage at indoor ranges, and reduce the risk of sparks/fire at outdoor ranges.

The real risk is the projectile obviously, but brass ammo is "always" loaded with lead/copper, so the range will just black list everything that isn't brass so it's easy to check that everyone is shooting non-steel projectiles.

 

[NIGHTLORD40K]

I was always told this restriction was to prevent backstop damage at indoor ranges, and reduce the risk of sparks/fire at outdoor ranges.

The real risk is the projectile obviously, but brass ammo is "always" loaded with lead/copper, so the range will just black list everything that isn't brass so it's easy to check that everyone is shooting non-steel projectiles.

The indoor range I frequent most often banned all 7.62x54R, but thats becoming less and less of an issue as time goes on. They never seemed too concerned about the steel cased/projectile intermediate or pistol cartridges. Shotguns are restricted to buck and slugs, no birdshot. They dont have any posted policy on brass.

The local outdoor range, interestingly, only allows birdshot- but has no rifled cartridge restrictions. They have it posted that one may gather ones own brass, but not others. Of course, its not really practical for them to police it that closely.
That particular range is a public State park and some of the staff actually got canned a few years ago for skimming money they got from selling scrap range brass.

 

[CapnMac]

Blazer seems like a good deal. Any issues I should know about?

Blazer AL cased ammo gives me a twitch that probably mimics exactly @NIGHTLORD40K 's one with WWB.

Bought the stuff back in the late 80s & early 90s for being inexpensive. And grew to hate it for being unable to hold zero in a single box. As in zero would wander by more than 12" in a given box. Except for when it didn't and only varied, say an inch or so. You had better odds rolling a seven in a back-alley craps game.

It's been thirty years' so, maybe the stuff is better? Dunno. I'm very unlikely to drop my hard-earned dollars on a "maybe." That's my 2¢; other pennies will differ.

 

[Simple Shooter]

Blazer AL cased ammo gives me a twitch that probably mimics exactly @NIGHTLORD40KIt's been thirty years' so, maybe the stuff is better? Dunno. I'm very unlikely to drop my hard-earned dollars on a "maybe." That's my 2¢; other pennies will differ.

It’s funny how we gun guys hold onto product bias for decades. I had a S&W 6906 back in the late 80’s. It was the most unreliable and poorly accurate firearm I have ever shot. To this day I hesitate to buy a S&W semi-auto, though I am sure they have changed in the past 30+ years.

I’ve always had good luck with Federal as well as their AE line. Unless the Blazer is significantly less, I will probably go the Federal route.