2 Dozen FTF With Winchester White Box!?!

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SeniorXJ

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I have over 1100 rounds thru my Ruger SR9 & I've ran 5 or so brands from the cheapest to decent & not a single problem. Bought a 100 round box of Winchester white box ammo for the 1st time & were talking 2 dozen FTF with 9 taking a 2nd strike, 4 taking 3 strikes, 3 taking 4 strikes, & the range master grabbed 4 of them, (not sure what he used), but all 4 went down range & rapidly!

First thought, light strike issue, but with a clean gun & over 1100 rounds thru it? Second thought, my SR9 doesn't like Winchester White box ammo, Period! I asked several people if this was myth or truth & everyone has had particular issues with specific brands & most explaining that its probably the type of primers used. The weirdest part, a quick field strip & its the cleanest I've ever seen after 100 rounds down range. Hell, even most the grease was still red in color!! :confused:

So is this myth, is it truth, or should I go grab ammo that I've used before without flaw & run em thru her as a deciding factor? (I'm just so disappointed right now)... :(
 
I haven't personally heard anyone say that the SR9 doesn't like WWB, but that doesn't mean YOUR SR9 doesn't like WWB.

I would simply stick to other types of ammo in the same price range, be it Federal, BrassMazz, Perfecta, etc.
 
Have you, by chance, been dryfiring your SR9 lately? If you dryfire an SR9 WITHOUT the magazine installed, it can damage the internal striker or striker safety which can impede or even completely prevent the striker from reaching the primer.

With the (empty) magazine installed the gun can be dryfired without damaging internal components.

https://ruger-docs.s3.amazonaws.com/_manuals/srSeries.pdf

DRY FIRING
Going through the actions of cocking, aiming and pulling the trigger on an unloaded gun is known as “dry firing.” It can be useful to learn the “feel” of your pistol. Be certain that the pistol is fully unloaded (both the chamber and magazine are empty) and that the pistol is pointing in a safe direction even when you are practicing dry firing. The RUGER® SR-SERIES pistols can be dryfired without damage to the striker or other components as long as an empty magazine is inserted.

CAUTION: Dry firing your RUGER® SR-SERIES with the magazine removed may result in damage or unnecessary wear to the magazine disconnect mechanism and/or striker.​
 
WWB seems to have some qc issues as compared to similar brands.No issues with Rem-UMC orAmer.Eagle.
 
I know nothing of the SR 9.

1) I would not dry fire any striker fired pistol unless using snap caps;
2) Use only the plastic type of snap caps and not the aluminum (aluminum shaves off and debris settles in gun); and
3) stick with the ammo that you've already determined works in your gun - whatever make it is.
 
WWB seems to have some qc issues as compared to similar brands
Click to expand...
They've been known to use hard primers for several years. Some guns have issues with it.

I'd try different ammunition before saying the gun is at fault.
 
FWIW I have a G35 glock tricked out with a lighter striker spring and the only primers that have ever been an issue with my handloads are Winchester. Remington, CCI, Tula, Wolf, and a few more all work fine and have never been an issue and this is from a gun with close to 20k rounds through it.
 
I am going to guess that you have a worn striker or it was simply hard WWB primers. If I get a FTF (Failure to Fire) that does not go off on the second strike I will often fire it from another gun. If it goes bang on the first strike it leads me to believe that the issue is the gun not the ammo.

WWB is as reliable as any other low $$$ 9mm fodder. It should be fine in your SR9.
 
I had 1 out of 200 WWB 9mm fail to fire yesterday in a Glock 19. It didn't take a second strike, and when comparing it to the rest of my fired brass, the dimple on the primer was very faint, even after a second strike. Its not nearly the failure rate that you experienced, but hard primers are a thing.
 
A few failures to fire can happen, though to be honest in somewhere between 8000 to 9000 rds of pistol ammo a year I can count the number of times it happens in a given year on one hand. 22/100 isn't just the ammo at that point, you've got a striker issue. If you have the skill you might want to remove the striker and examine it as well as clean out the striker channel. I remember some years back that Ruger had issues with debris in the striker channel from factory and that cleaning the channel has a positive impact.
 
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Oil or lube in the striker channel? I don't own the SR9, but when I got my first striker fired pistol, I overlooked that part in the instructions that said not to lube the striker or spring. Had a bunch of ftf light strikes until I figured it out.
 
Have you removed and cleaned the striker and it's channel in the slide? I have found that this area in Glocks, SIGs, Colts, Browning Hi Powers and others can get real gritty and gunky and cause the firing pin/striker to move less freely. I suspect something similar could be occurring with your pistol....ymmv

BTW, I've used thousands of rounds of 9MM WWB over the years in a variety of pistols, revolvers and carbines. I can't honestly recall a failure of WWB to fire in any of them.
 
JohnKSa said:
Have you, by chance, been dryfiring your SR9 lately? If you dryfire an SR9 WITHOUT the magazine installed, it can damage the internal striker or striker safety which can impede or even completely prevent the striker from reaching the primer.
Click to expand...

If you remove the magazine disconnect it is safe to dry fire without the mag.


armedleo said:
1) I would not dry fire any striker fired pistol unless using snap caps;
Click to expand...

It is perfectly safe to dry fire most striker fired guns, that is unless you want to share something that the rest of us don't know.
 
If your SR9 is intended for range use only, I would stick to whichever factory ammo it cycled best.

If this is intended for carry, I do not like my carry gun to be picky with the ammo it can cycle. I have not had problems with WWB 9mm in any of my guns; WWB .40S&W is quite another story. I would call Ruger CS and describe the excessive cycling problems with the WWB. and push them to give an RMA to send it back for repair.
 
My SR9 is about 8 or so years old and until a few years back, all I shot was factory loaded - and it ate anything I fed it - even Winchester white box. But - that's mine. lAll I use now are my lead cast re-loads so I[m not help to you in regards to the Winchester of "today". I have heard some things about the White Winchester in not just the 9mm in regards to some not going blam. It could be a hard or defective primer? But the quantity you are talking about seems high.

If other brands work . . then I'd stick with them. I'd also take the lot number off of the box of Winnie loads and at least go back to where you bought them and ask if they've had any other complaints. Could be a "bad run" or maybe not.

And . . . what has been said about "dry firing" the SR9 is something to pay attention to as well. If it continues to be a problem with "non fires" of various brands - I'd be contacting Ruger and talking with them about it. At 1100 round though you SR9 - it shouldn't be having issues.
 
I just ran 100 thru my CZ P-01. It was very accurate with no issues. I just bought a few more boxes. Hopefully the quality is consistent...
 
I have had a couple of problems with WWB. One box had a few apparently hard primers, and another box had some rounds with mashed rims. Winchester sent me a certificate for $20 off my next purchase after I honored their request to send back some of the mashed-case-rim rounds for them to look at.

These were problems in two boxes out of a way big stack of it I have shot. I wouldn't accept such problems in premium SD ammo, but WWB is intended to be low-budget high-volume plinking ammo, and as such I don't consider that level of problem to be that bad. If I hadn't started loading my own I would still be buying it cheerfully.
 
Remember folks, this should be about the OP's Ruger, not your Glock, CZ, or other gun, using a particular box/lot of Winchester ammo.

If the OP had another gun of the same caliber to try that day, it might have narrowed it down to the gun or ammo. That's with the premise the each round in the box/lot of ammo are all similar. A different box may come from a different lot (the lot should be stamped somewhere on the box) and that box, then, could perform differently.

Can the OP bring another 9mm next time? Perhaps. That might narrow it down to the ammo or the specific gun. Will he try WWB again? Perhaps.

Good comments, however, and it seems others have had some negative experience with WWB (I haven't). I was particularly surprised at the caveats on dry-firing the SR9 without a mag.
 
I have been having FTFire problems with a series of 3 different S&W BG380s that I have been trying to get rectified, working with the factory.

I have fired many hundreds of rounds, of several different brands of ammo, through these 3 guns in an effort to track down the design problem, and Win WB is by far the most troublesome. In fact, when I get a gun back from the factory, I test it first with WWB, which is predictable in its likelihood to mis-fire.

I have never fired any off-brand, steel case, or foreign ammo, and would forgive the guns if they were finicky with them. I know WWB is an inexpensive ammo, but it is from a premier manufacturer, and if it a gun is finicky with it, it is not acceptable to me.

Some say to just find an ammo the gun "likes", and avoid the ones it doesn't. This is unacceptable to me. A personal defense gun should not be finicky. Who knows when it might get finicky with your premium carry ammo?

I have measure the fired cases of several brands of ammo, and the WWB is a few thousandths shorter. That may not sound like a big deal, but for a gun that headspaces off the cartridge mouth, and where the acceptable throw for the firing pin has to be within a few thousandths, I think this may be contributing. So maybe the specs are a little off on WWB.

David
 
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