Winchester Varmint HV 17gr...

[CZSHOOTER17]

I recently bought a CZ 457 Varmint in 17 HMR. The only thing available in store was the Winchester and the one box of CCI. The CCI fed flawlessly and is very accurate where just about every round of the Winchester was a failure to feed. It seems as though there's a lip on the casing where the bullet is seated that won't feed. EVERY ROUND! Is there something that can be done or am I SOL? I grabbed 3 boxes of the Winchester and they only had 1 of the CCI. I did order some Hornady and will see what it can do soon. Thanks.

[Flynmoose]

Winchester has had some problems with their rimfire ammo. My wife bought two boxes of 17HMR, didn't know about the problems. I gave them away with full disclosure as to why I wouldn't shoot it in my rifle. Hornady and CCI have been very good. I forgot, congratulations on the new CZ, fine rifles!
FM

[dgeesaman]

Given the mad rush on ammo, it seems I only see Winchester 17hmr on the shelf now.

That should tell you what you need to know about its quality. I for one would prefer to have a little money and no ammo than Winchester 17hmr. That’s how poorly it’s shot for me.

The Hornady is made by CCI. You should get acceptable to excellent results from it. My personal favorite in 17HMR is the CCI/Federal TNT

[jaia]

Haven't been happy with any of the Winchester 22lr or 17 hmr.
22wmr has been adequate, 17 wsm okay.

https://ammoseek.com/ammo/17hmr

My last order was a week ago, 12 bucks a box for CCI 16 grain NTX.

Current prices are 15 to 25 bucks a box....ouch!

[MurphDog]

Double ditto on Winchester rimfire ammo. I just bought several boxes of 20 grains online because that's all that was available at a reasonable price. Almost every neck splits when fired and it doesn't feed or extract reliably. When it doesn't feed properly, the bullet gets jammed down inside the case. It does seem to be quite accurate, though.
I should have known better than to buy it after a bad experience with their 22 ammo. I bought a 333 box about 1 out of 10 would misfire. Accuracy was terrible.

[SHOVELHEAD82]

A friend and I have identical Browning T-Bolts in 17HMR. He and I met at our club for an afternoon of shooting, I brought Hornady, he brought Winchester. I bought some at Cabela's a month or so before that day but I rotate ammunition out from the stash, the Hornady had been in the can longer. He bought the Winchester the day before.

FTF's from the Winchester were common, eject and rechamber, final toll was about ten percent would not even fire on the second chambering. We loaded my Hornady in his gun, fired each time first chambering. He was going to pitch them, I told him to hang on to them.

So the next day while he could not go I could, took one box of the three Winchesters that I had. Final toll was seven FTF's out of fifty even after rechambering. Called him, we checked the lot numbers, both the same despite being purchased at different stores about 100 miles apart.

Called Winchester, they sent a call tag for the unfired ammunition together with the FTF's that we saved. About a month later I received a refund check which we split up between us. As this was in 2016 I would have figured that the problem had been rectified but with the O.P. and the recall for Winchester HMR l figured wrong.

[jaia]

Just an opinion...based on long term observation...but it appears Winchester,
in order to save money on production costs, has determined that the consumer
is the quality control inspection crew for the rimfire ammunition manufactured.
Cheaper and more cost effective to wait for complaints and issue refunds
than to have employees and equipment dedicated to ensuring the cartridges
meet design specifications and function as intended.

[dgeesaman]

Originally Posted by jaia

Just an opinion...based on long term observation...but it appears Winchester,
in order to save money on production costs, has determined that the consumer
is the quality control inspection crew for the rimfire ammunition manufactured.
Cheaper and more cost effective to wait for complaints and issue refunds
than to have employees and equipment dedicated to ensuring the cartridges
meet design specifications and function as intended.

They might have cut production costs but they haven't lowered their sale price accordingly. You would literally need to pay me to run that garbage through my guns and targets.

David

[1tondriver]

I just shot 50 rounds of the Winchester HV and it was terrible. Horribly inconsistent and could get a even remotely good 5 shot group. Glad I only had the one box.

[tbates66]

Sad that such a historically fine company would be Ok placing their name on what appears to be a substandard product. That said, I've had no problems with it in either of my Anschutz 1517 rifles and the accuracy was good too.