WWB ammo no good???

J

janieoakley

New member
So, I just got back from an indoor shooting range (Coal Creek Amory in Knoxville, TN) and was told that I shouldn't be using the WWB ammo. They said "we wouldn't ever shoot that stuff out of our guns". I was out of ammo so I had to buy more (9mm) and they sold me PMC Bronze ammo. I've shot 1000+ rounds of the WWB in my Glock26 and never had a problem. My husband and I do a lot of target shooting in our back yard so the expense can get a little out of control. It was just TOO hot today to go outside and I was anxious to get some practice in. Comments?? Anyone else have problems with the WWB. Oh, he also said there is NO quality control on the WWB ammo.
 
Well, I would like to know what reason for not using it. That kind of advice isn't worth much without more info. I personally have never had a problem with wwb ammo.
 
???

Sounds to me like they were trying to sell you some ammo. I shoot WWB with no problems. It may not be the highest quality ammo. It is very affordable and if a gun will not shoot it I shy away from the gun. My theory is a gun should be able to shoot whatever ammo is available as long as the ammo is functional. The only ammo I won't use is MFS which I only tried once with a 40% failure rate. Maybe it was a bad batch or something. I bought it during an ammo shortage. Also, one reason I like wwb is because it is almost always available any time (early Sunday morning, etc. at Walmart).

I am not sure PMC is any better.
 
Yeah, I thought the people there were kind of rude. Won't be going back. His reasoning was that there is NO quality control on the WWB ammo. Even told us that they've had catastrophies from people using that ammo. We thought afterwards of asking what the catastrophies were, but now I don't even want to go back to ask:eek:
 
Bingo to what KMAX said. Sounds to me like they just wanted to sell you some high priced range ammo. I have used WWB for years in all my guns and have never had trouble. I consider it to be one of the best FMJ for practice. WWB and Speer Lawman are the 2 I think are the best quality per price. I actually would pat no mind to what they said about WWB.
 
The QC on WWB is no worse than any other lower-end target ammo. You get a few duds here and there. I've had a couple with no primers even. Catastrophe though? I'd like to see that documented or I call BS.
 
I have shot thousands of WWB with out problems. About a year (or a little more) ago, I did find about 4 rounds where the bullet wasn't seated properly and side of casing was damaged. Always inspect the rounds before shooting and found these during this inspection - they would not have chambered. Haven't found any since.

The defective rounds were found not too long after Winchester announced that they were moving the plant from IL to MS. Who knows maybe lapse in QC was the result of disgruntled employees.
 
I shoot almost exclusively WWB since that's what Walmart usually carries. I never have any feeding problems, although a few months back I got a dud round. No big deal considering how much of the stuff I shoot, has to happen sometime.

My husband and I do a lot of target shooting in our back yard so the expense can get a little out of control. It was just TOO hot today to go outside and I was anxious to get some practice in.
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At my outdoor range they have overhangs so you can shoot in the shade, i'm sure a deck umbrella would do. Also wouldn't be a bad idea to run an extension cord and set a fan up while you shoot on those scorching hot days. I hate indoor ranges so I would do anything I could to stay out of them.
 
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I've shot a fair amount of WWWB and I found it to feel underpowered and very dirty. Other than that I can see no reason not to shoot it.
 
I shoot WWB almost exclusively due to availability and price, and I shoot a fair bit. I've never had any issues with it.
I'd complain to his boss if he's an employee, and find a new range if he's the boss.
 
I have never had any issues with wwb 9mm fmj or wwb .38 spl ammunition. They just wanted to sell you their ammo.
 
only issue I have ever had with WWB is its kinda dirty ammo
but other than that, it fires fine
just need to clean your gun after you shoot it
 
WWB may not be the best ammo, but I have little doubt that the people at that range were trying to sell you ammo that is more expensive (and mainly has a higher profit margin).

Low-end ammo is made on fully automated high speed lines that have good automatic QC but in all honestly less human observation, sample testing, and double checking than slower lines running the high price spread. I have heard of, but not experienced, an occasional failure to fire with WWB, but it is very uncommon.

As to "we wouldn't ever shoot that stuff out of our guns", that is pure nonsense. WWB ammo is not going to harm any gun, and I have no doubt about their motives in saying such a silly thing.

Jim
 
I have never had a single issue with WWB. It is dirty, but I've shot worse ammo.

Find a new range or at least stock up on WWB before you hit their range again but either way, you have no worries shooting WWB.
 
Before I started reloading, I shot almost exclusively WWB as practice ammo and in competition. At any given competition, there were numerous competitors with box after box of WWB. I have fired at least tens of thousands of rounds of the stuff, if not hundreds of thousands, and I have not experienced one single problem. And I never saw any of the other competitors have a problem with it.

And I certainly don't consider PMC to be in any way superior to WWB.

janieoakley said:
His reasoning was that there is NO quality control on the WWB ammo.
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Ah, of course. I'm certain that one of the world's oldest and largest ammunition manufacturers has stayed in business as long as they have by NOT having any quality control. And I sure that the genius you were speaking with has toured both the Winchester factory and the PMC factory so he has first-hand knowledge to back up his ridiculous claims.

FWIW, the pistol reviews in the M1911.ORG e-zine until recently included extreme spread and standard deviation in their ballistics results, along with accuracy. I just looked at a number of their older reviews, and found that most of them include WWB (not surprising, as it's readily available, and affordable). Compared to other brands and types of ammunition, their test data shows the WWB to be consistently among the best with respect to extreme spread and standard deviation. This suggests that, in fact, they practice very GOOD quality control.
 
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No QC on WWB??? Yeah sure, it's only explosives sold to the public. Probably no one checking on it...

Those range employees are idiots. I'd never go back based on that alone. If I were in the area conducting other business I may stop in and slap the one who said WWB has no QC. PMC Bronze is not much better.
 
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