Winchester Supreme 17HMR

T

TPB12335

CGN Regular
Rating - 100%
75   0   0
Location
Brandon, Mb
Picked up a box of Winchester Supreme 17HMR 17gr. V-MAX today and was not impressed. I was down to about half a box of Hornady 17gr and the shop I went to didn't have so I figured I'd grab a box of these and give them a try. Out of the 50 shots I took 7 failed to fire. So basically almost 30% failed to work. Thought maybe it was the gun but switched back to Hornady and all were good. Anyone else come across this?

Left is unfired, right is the duds
P1040328.jpg

Also found 2 like this with the brass deformed at the case mouth
P1040329.jpg
 
These are the first for me as well. Never had a problem with any Hornady shell I've put through it. Anyone know where I can find a contact email for Winchester Ammunition. Might give them a call/email and see what they have to say.
 
i cant understand why people continue to buy winchester rimfire ammo.. the quality is completely substandard, the ammo is inconsistent and generally dirty.
Click to expand...

Actually, all 17HMR ammunition is made in the same CCI plant in Idaho. However the load recipes do vary slightly. The Winchester Supreme loads are the most accurate load in my 17HMR Cooper, and although I have only fired three boxes, I have yet to have one not fire.
 
I can't comment on the Winchester 17 ammo as I have never used it, however I have tried their 22WMR ammo and found it to be garbage. Usually at least 1 out of 5 FTF and poor performing when compared to the CCI. My last trip to the range I put about 30 CCI down range and had nice tight consistent groupings with it. I sent 5 Winchester FMJ down and got a spacing of 2 inches between each shot that formed an arc that looked like a smilie face. I am finding Winchesters ammo in all my rimfires is crap.
 
Same with me, shot 10 and 4 misfired last weekend. Same goes for my buddy. Very disappointed.
Ammo is non refundable too. I will stick with Hornady from now on. Shot 500rd last year on a gopher shooting trip and not one misfired.
 
Thats really odd, as mentioned before all .17HMR ammo is made in the same plant by CCI.

I bought a case (10 boxes of 50) last summer and had no trouble with misfires.

Perhaps you got a lemon??? Its not common but it can happen with any supplier.


When it comes to .17HMR ammo I basically buy any type (as long as it uses 17 grain V-Max bullets) when it's on sale. So far I have not found I even need to re-zero when changing ammo brand as long as its the same bullet type and weight.

Perhaps I have just been lucky????
 
stubblejumper said:
Actually, all 17HMR ammunition is made in the same CCI plant in Idaho. However the load recipes do vary slightly. The Winchester Supreme loads are the most accurate load in my 17HMR Cooper, and although I have only fired three boxes, I have yet to have one not fire.
Click to expand...

To quote:

CCI, Federal, Winchester, Remington and Hornady all loaded here at CCI in Lewiston, Idaho with a V-max bullet are identical, with the exception of tip color. Manufactured on the same equip, to the same ballistic specs, using the same components other than color of the tip of the bullets. Obviously the shellcase 'head stamp' and packaging would be different on the various products.

Linda Olin
CCI/Speer Technical Services
2299 Snake River Ave.
Lewiston, ID 83501
 
CCI, Federal, Winchester, Remington and Hornady all loaded here at CCI in Lewiston, Idaho with a V-max bullet are identical, with the exception of tip color. Manufactured on the same equip, to the same ballistic specs, using the same components other than color of the tip of the bullets. Obviously the shellcase 'head stamp' and packaging would be different on the various products.
Click to expand...

If that is the case, their quality control is awful, given that the velocity varies by up to 100fps from brand to brand, even though they advertise the same velocity. The point of impact also varies between the Hornady,Federal and Winchester Supreme in my rifle. All three loads use the same 17gr V-max bullet.

Actually another online source had similar results to my own.

As a follow up, I just weighed several 17gr v-max loads by Winchester, Hornady, and Federal. The Hornady and Federal rounds each weighed right around 40.1 grains on average. The Winchester Supreme loads weighed an average of 42.8 grains. Obviously the extra 2.7 grains of weight comes from somewhere. A difference of over 6% is quite extreme to blame on different lot numbers. As for lot numbers, I have tested three different lot numbers of the Hornady loads, two different lot numbers of Winchester loads, and one lot of Hornady, and in each case, the Winchesters were the most accurate in my gun, and the point of impact varied slightly from the Hornady and Federal loads. If the loads are supposed to be identical, the CCI plant has some explaining to do.

h ttp://www.chuckhawks.com/compared_17HMR_ammo.htm

* CCI - high 2613 fps; low 2517 fps; extreme spread 96 fps; average = 2559 fps.
* FEDERAL - high 2631 fps; low 2539 fps; extreme spread 92 fps; average = 2595 fps.
* REMINGTON - high 2626 fps; low 2591 fps; extreme spread 35 fps; average = 2609 fps.
* HORNADY - high 2698 fps; low 2621 fps; extreme spread 77 fps; average = 2658 fps.
Click to expand...

Another case of accuracy differences where the Winchester Supreme was significantly more accurate than the Hornady load can be found at.


h ttp://www.varmintal.com/17hmr.htm

Group Group Size
(in) Mfg Ammo
A 0.364 Winchester Supreme V-Max 17 gr
B 0.588 Remington PR17HM1 AccuTip-V 17 gr
C 0.594 Hornady 17 gr V-Max
D 1.040 CCI TNT HP 17 gr
E 1.069 Hornady 20 gr XTP
Click to expand...
 
Last edited:
stubblejumper said:
If that is the case, their quality control is awful, given that the velocity varies by up to 100fps from brand to brand, even though they advertise the same velocity. The point of impact also varies between the Hornady,Federal and Winchester Supreme in my rifle. All three loads use the same 17gr V-max bullet.

Actually another online source had similar results to my own.

As a follow up, I just weighed several 17gr v-max loads by Winchester, Hornady, and Federal. The Hornady and Federal rounds each weighed right around 40.1 grains on average. The Winchester Supreme loads weighed an average of 42.8 grains. Obviously the extra 2.6 grains of weight comes from somewhere. A difference of over 6% is quite extreme to blame on different lot numbers. As for lot numbers, I have tested three different lot numbers of the Hornady loads, two different lot numbers of Winchester loads, and one lot of Hornady, and in each case, the Winchesters were the most accurate in my gun, and the point of impact varied slightly from the Hornady and Federal loads. If the loads are supposed to be identical, the CCI plant has some explaining to do.

h ttp://www.chuckhawks.com/compared_17HMR_ammo.htm



Another case of accuracy differences where the Winchester Supreme was significantly more accurate than the Hornady load can be found at.


h ttp://www.varmintal.com/17hmr.htm
Click to expand...

WOW, that's a lot of info. To be honest, does it really matter ? It's rimfire ammo, plink away.
I just found that quote on another website where someone had contacted CCI and that was the reply.
Evidently you're pretty passionate about your 17 HMR ammo. :rolleyes:
 
Come to think of it, I did have one fail to fire out of my last box. Firing a second time did set it off, but as far as I can remember it was the first time it has happened. The quality of the ammo seems to have dropped a little (some casings looked somewhat oxidized) and it seems to coincide with the timing of the $4 per box price drop at WalMart.

Your box is from the "new" stock. Here is a comparison of the old and new packaging, with the known good (old) stuff on the left:

hmr.jpg
 
WOW, that's a lot of info. To be honest, does it really matter ? It's rimfire ammo, plink away.
I just found that quote on another website where someone had contacted CCI and that was the reply.
Evidently you're pretty passionate about your 17 HMR ammo.
Click to expand...

After testing several different brands of ammunition using the same 17gr v-max bullet, and seeing differences in accuracy and point of impact, it sure seemed to me like there must be some difference in the loads. After seeing the reply from CCI, I decided to do some investigating of my own. My investigating leads me to believe that there is indeed a difference in the loads, and either the CCI rep was incorrect in their reply, or they might have been correct at one time, but the situation has changed since then.

Your box is from the "new" stock. Here is a comparison of the old and new packaging, with the known good (old) stuff on the left:
Click to expand...

My first two boxes had the old label, the last box had the new label. No misfires yet with either.
 
Just to add to this thread, yesterday I shot a box of the "new" label and ended up with three misfires. No misfires from the Federal Premium or the Win Super X that I also shot that day.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom