Product Warning And Recall Notice WINCHESTER® 22 Long Rifle Rimfire Ammunition

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What with all the rush to stock-up, I'd hate to see an ATSer go missing from the boards. This hasn't received much press and .22LR is cheap and popular.
Source

Winchester has determined the above lots of 22 Long Rifle rimfire ammunition may contain double powder charges. Ammunition with double powder charges may subject the shooter or bystanders to a risk of serious personal injury and/or death, or cause firearm damage, rendering the firearm inoperable.

Hmmm.

Maybe some anti-gun people found a way to infiltrate the assembly lines?

Sounds too suspicious.

Sabotage.

reply to post by Snarl


That's pretty dramatic!
I worked as a ballistic technician, and have had my share of double charges when functioning ammo. It will certainly make you sit up and take notice, though!

I'd rather have a dbl charge than a half charge any day.

xuenchen
Hmmm.

Maybe some anti-gun people found a way to infiltrate the assembly lines?

Sounds too suspicious.

Sabotage.

Nope. Very common occurrence. It means a lot of 'someones' weren't doing their job for the lot to have made it to shipping, and I could just about guarantee you where it happened along the chain of inspection.

Been there, seen that.

nugget1

xuenchen
Hmmm.

Maybe some anti-gun people found a way to infiltrate the assembly lines?

Sounds too suspicious.

Sabotage.

Nope. Very common occurrence. It means a lot of 'someones' weren't doing their job for the lot to have made it to shipping, and I could just about guarantee you where it happened along the chain of inspection.

Been there, seen that.

This is ATS, we should go with the sabotage conspiracy.

No? I just hate it when someone actually really knows what's happened.

reply to post by nugget1

Or a centerfire squib. LOL

I honestly hesitated on the OP ... but I like my sleep. If I had a box of those, I'd make sure I could trade, rather than just asking for my money back. That said, all of my fire arms are in outstanding condition. Who knows what somebody else is shooting.

Snarl
reply to post by nugget1

 

Or a centerfire squib. LOL

I honestly hesitated on the OP ... but I like my sleep. If I had a box of those, I'd make sure I could trade, rather than just asking for my money back. That said, all of my fire arms are in outstanding condition. Who knows what somebody else is shooting.

I agree with you 100% ! I would really hate to buy a box of rimfire and find out the hard way that somebody screwed up! They'd be buying me a new outfit!

You expect a reasonable product, and great pains are taken to see that lots like this are found and dealt with before they have a chance to reach the market.

Tests are done as the lot is being produced, and enough rounds are supposed to be functioned in a varity of weapons so this would be statistically nearly impossible to occur.

Of course, not everybody does their job as they're supposed to.

Im not really surprised.

The ammo rush is over for everything, except for .22lr, and to a smaller extent, 9mm. (Yea of course 9x19, but im also going to throw in 9x18 Makarov to, since I haven't seen that in any store around here since last May atleast! My Makarov is just sitting there, collecting dust....and even the online prices for 9x18 suck still. They're nowhere near what they should be. I mean seriously, regular 9x18 fmj range ammo (Brown Bear, Silver Bear, Monarch, etc....), why is that still more expensive than reloaded 9x19? Heck, I can find .40 S&W cheaper than 9x18 nowdays! WTH?)

Anyways, back to .22lr. Im not really surprised. The most in demand ammo right now is .22, so the ammo manufacturers are more than likely prioritizing .22 as their main production. (Lots of .22 firearms out there. Plus, since the ammo is supposed to be much cheaper than say 5.56 for example, people are going to be shooting .22 more often than 5.56.) Since more is being produced than usual, there's a higher chance of QC missing a batch/lot or 2.

Now about that 9x18 Mak....

Yeah it happens.

This is a little off topic but along the lines.

When I was with my pops shooting once at the range he had a habit that if he found a round he would use it if he could.

Until he picked up one that must have been double loaded. The brass fragmented out and nearly blinded him even with glasses and the grips on the 1911 fractured apart.

Well he never did that again.

Instead he would take them home pull them apart and reload them himself. lol

I think it's just another way to get ammo away from that 'you can have my gun when you pry it out of my cold dead hands' group.

Right. So if there was no ammo for your precious hunting rifle, would you still die for it? I think not, because guns don't kill people - bullets do.

OMG serious?

If you have purchased one of these rounds, simply remove the bullet from the casing, dump the powder and load it back up with the correct amount.

What's the issue?

Sovaka
OMG serious?

If you have purchased one of these rounds, simply remove the bullet from the casing, dump the powder and load it back up with the correct amount.

What's the issue?

From what I know, you would have to construct your own bullet puller and end up with a round loaded with a loose bullet.
I don't think it would be worth the time it would require to end up with a substandard round of ammo.

reply to post by Snarl


I had a problem with Winchester 40S&W about 9 months ago, except the problem was the opposite... not enough powder in the round.

OptimusSubprime
reply to post by Snarl

 

I had a problem with Winchester 40S&W about 9 months ago, except the problem was the opposite... not enough powder in the round.

I've been shooting for over 40 years. I've never had a problem with a powder charge in a commercially produced round. I don't doubt you, but I'd have to say it's exceptionally rare. I own a couple of presses and hand load exclusively now. In all honesty I'm more afraid of making a mistake myself than finding one in a box from a name brand manufacturer.

Stay safe, brother, and keep your powder dry!

OptimusSubprime
reply to post by Snarl

 

I had a problem with Winchester 40S&W about 9 months ago, except the problem was the opposite... not enough powder in the round.

In .22LR Winchester has been the last choice of the competition shooters I know do to duds, carbon, and inaccuracies in the over all manufacturing process for quite awhile now.

A friend of mine who owns a range offered to give me 5 cents a shell for all my .22 horde; a box of 550 federal I paid $9 for I can sell for $27.50.. So ( I have not bought ammo for a long time) there really is an ammo shortage in .22 around here and I am glad I had enough sense to buy before the panic; who would have ever thought there would be a shortage of .22 or the prices would go so high ?.. Since I am moving overseas I am getting rid of pretty much everything...Still hard for me to sell though..

reply to post by Sovaka


What powder do they use for these rounds? We'll need to find the powder type to bullet weight to determine grain weight that should be in the casing.

The trick now will be to be 100% certain of the powder used, if it's not a blend they have themselves ...and where in the word do you find a reloaded spec sheet for rim fire .22 powder charges?

Since more is being produced than usual, there's a higher chance of QC missing a batch/lot or 2.

reply to post by buni11687


It doesn't matter how many lots of ammo are produced; the quality assessment remains the same. The ONLY way this can statistically happen is if someone failed to do their work.

In a lot of 4 million rounds, it is possible to have 1 or 2 flukes, but for a recall to happen it means QA went back to their reserved ammo and did testing, which showed it wasn't the occasional fluke.

You wouldn't believe how much testing is done on each lot! This isn't even 'human error'; it's dereliction of duty.

Sovaka
OMG serious?

If you have purchased one of these rounds, simply remove the bullet from the casing, dump the powder and load it back up with the correct amount.

What's the issue?

NVmind

Wrabbit2000
reply to post by Sovaka

 

What powder do they use for these rounds? We'll need to find the powder type to bullet weight to determine grain weight that should be in the casing.

All of the powder used in rimfire and centerfire where I worked came from China. It was a 'special' blend that had been developed specifically for our 'brand'. Can't swear for sure if that's the case with all manufacturers, but....

China is sure good with explosives.

nugget1
... for a recall to happen it means QA went back to their reserved ammo and did testing, which showed it wasn't the occasional fluke.

You wouldn't believe how much testing is done on each lot! This isn't even 'human error'; it's dereliction of duty.

Yeah ... I'm afraid you're right ... all the way down to the dereliction part. I'm sure some people are gonna get pink slips on this one.