Australian here, is Winchester 22lr ammo any good

Ben78 · #1 12-10-2018, 03:47 AM

I've just found out that Winchester Australia is shutting down their ammo plant and will now be importing their 22lr (as well as centrefire and air rifle ) from the USA.

I use the 42 grain subsonic hollowpoints because my Winchester 320 likes them, and they are heaps cheaper than the Eley target ammo that it also likes! Is the USA made 22lr stuff any good? Or is it like Remington 22lr and not worth buying?

Beastly · #2 12-10-2018, 05:48 AM

IMHO, the Winchester stuff is much better than the Remington. Fewer failure to fire/eject (almost zero with the Winchester) than the thunder duds and seem to be a little more accurate. Still don't hold up to match stuff, but don't cost nearly as much either!

flylo · #3 12-10-2018, 06:59 AM

IMHO It's great unless you want it to shoot. They put it in nice wooden boxes. You keep the box & give the so callled ammo to your competition

It's bigger around than most 22lr. We hace a word for it, but I cant say it & it makes you say other bad words too

It's a step below out famous Golden Bullet Match ammo. I think anti gunners make it so every Wincheater user will find a happy hobby.

Good Luck!

I just googled "problems with winchester 22lr ammo" & could read & watch you tubes the rest of my life, no joke, well Wincheater is a joke, try googling it!

To be fair I googled Winchester 22lr great ammo & after my laptop quit laughing after it hit the floor all I found under google was ads for the wonder ammo "Wonder why I bought this & wonder why it won't eject"?

flangster · #4 12-10-2018, 07:37 AM

I'd take anything made by Eley or Lapua, or Aguila (for that matter) over Winchester for pretty much any task. I have some of the bulk boxes, but use them for sighting in, plinking etc. Sad, really.

LtCrunch · #5 12-10-2018, 07:48 AM

Welcome Ben! Glad to see you picked a simple black and white non-controversial subject for your first post

I haven't shot any of the newer Winchester ammo so I can't offer an opinion other than to guess that it will probably go bang in your 320 most of the time and definitely hit somewhere down range.

Cheers,

Frank

jon p · #6 12-10-2018, 08:56 AM

in the 1960`s, but the current stuff has been very poor performing for me, just my opinion. buy Aguila, it is much better if you can get it down under, good luck.

grg · #7 12-10-2018, 09:13 AM

Welcome to RFC Ben.

Winchester should group about as good as those boomerang things you guys are known for in Australia. Haha I think you are getting the idea on it now. To be serious, every now and then I think I am going to try some Winchester in a rimfire and it is so bad I don't think I have ever even shot up the whole box. In the old days it was good ammo but that was in the old days, probably about the same time you guys used those boomarangs. Haha just had to throw that in again.

Do have to say I had a 320 I refinished and gave to my best friends son, it was an outstanding rifle. If I have an opportunity to get one again reasonable I will buy it.

vet6771 · #8 12-10-2018, 09:53 AM

I have had varying, but mostly bad experience with several types of Winchester .22LR ammo in my semi-auto pistols: FTEX, FTEJ, FTF, stovepiping. I've given up on it altogether now. There are many other similarly priced options that are of equal or better accuracy IMHO. I haven't used it in my rifles because the accuracy just wasn't there.

Arrowhead · #9 12-10-2018, 10:02 AM

The Super X and T-22 of earlier years was good ammo. I bought some of the new Super X last year and it is very different than the older ammo. Lots of dud rounds in a box. The price isn't bad but the quality has dropped drastically IMO. I still have a couple of 100 round boxes and don't want to shoot it and deal with the duds and also don't want to just throw it away.

WalnutBill22 · #10 12-10-2018, 11:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arrowhead

The Super X and T-22 of earlier years was good ammo. I bought some of the new Super X last year and it is very different than the older ammo. Lots of dud rounds in a box. The price isn't bad but the quality has dropped drastically IMO. I still have a couple of 100 round boxes and don't want to shoot it and deal with the duds and also don't want to just throw it away.

Sad, but true. Winchester .22 ammo was very good up through the 1980s but has been on a steady decline ever since. The WW Super Match Mark III was the Eley Tenex of its day, but that unfortunately ended in the 1960s.
I too have used the Australian-made subsonics, and they were quite good. Sad to hear they're closing.

motovita · #11 12-10-2018, 12:17 PM

The only decent Win. .22LR ammo I've seen in recent years, here in the U.S., was produced in Australia. Sounds like I won't be buying that in the future. If they're going to sell U.S. produced ammo in Australia I'd probably try to buy a life time supply of the stuff you have and never buy the U.S. produced stuff.

Larry in Bend · #12 12-10-2018, 01:36 PM

For small game hunting (mostly Richardson's Ground Squirrels) I use WW Power Point. 40 grain @ 1260 fps. It's accurate and deadly.
and is once again available.

2 years ago, I couldn't find Power Points so bought buckets of Remington Golden Bullets. I shot 2 buckets and was satisfied with them. About as accurate as Power Points but not quite as lethal.

Accurate to me means about 1/2 to 3/4 inch @ 50 yards for 5 shots with only an occasional flyer (maybe 1 in 10) opening the group to an inch or so. This is out of a Volquarten-ized 10-22.

PS: Out of that 2800 rounds of Remington, there was not a single dud. The smaller hollow point is a negative to me, however.

41B · #13 12-10-2018, 01:41 PM

The US version of the Winchester 42gr bullet is/was "Crapola"
I originally started with some Australian Winey, but when the US version came out they were awful - don't exactly know why, but they were not very accurate.

Federal has a "new" 45gr Suppressor .22LR. It shoots about the same as CCI SV at 50, but has a 9" drop at 100 yards,

I wish you luck in finding ammo.

Michael

Al the Infidel · #14 12-10-2018, 01:52 PM

Welcome to RFC Ben.

Take more time to enjoy each shot of an ammo better than Winchester, that will hit what you aim at, is my advice.

DoneDeere · #15 12-10-2018, 01:59 PM

I had a problem with the last Winchester ammo not fitting into the cylinder of my Ruger single 6 in stainless steel. About 40 % were oversize diamater and would not go into the cylinder. They would shoot in my Colt auto .22 but just to chubby for the revolver. Now I only shoot CCI ammo for my .22 handguns.