Backwards Winchester white-box round

[Solarian]

I thought some of you may get a kick out if this defective 357SIG round.

I was out shooting with a friend and his HK USP Compact 357SIG locked up. Well, this backwards round became lodged in the chamber (the bullet was pressed backwards and at a slight angle). He immediately handed it to me, being a little unexperienced and never having had so much as a failure to feed out of this reliable pistol. The pistol would absolutely not budge, no way to retract the slide no matter how hard I pulled. Not wanting to put too much stress on the extractor, I had to move the extractor outwards around the rim of the cartridge before we could take the thing apart and punch the round out of the barrel. No one at the range had seen such a thing (maybe some of you have), we were all very shocked. After this, he'll be more careful inspecting his ammunition before loading.

He plans to send this back to Winchester. If he does, I'll post their response.

 

[Mr. Mysterious]

Let me be the first to say: W O W

I'm sure that Winchester will be quick to send him an apology and a gift. I remember reading about winchester have a couple bad primers and when they found out about it they sent the guy like 10,000 or something.

I think that I read that on here, but I'm not sure. If I butchered your story whomever, I'm sorry.

But back to that .357sig... that is crazy!

 

[Devonai]

I've encountered one or more deformed rounds out of a 100-count White Box, but nothing like this!

 

[George Hill]

He didn't notice this when he was loading the magazine?

 

[Solarian]

That's exactly the first thing I asked him, "Didn't you notice this?" But, no, he didn't notice it. After all was finished, I gave him a little advise on on things to look for when inspecting ammo before loading.

 

[WhoKnowsWho]

Didn't someone else post a backwards loaded round a while back too? 9mm I believe?

 

[esheato]

The worst is those double ended wadcutters. I can never tell if the bullet is loaded the correct way.

 

[AUadvisor]

It's obvious this round has been reloaded. Just look at the case.

 

[Delmar]

I don't know at all the round has "obviously" been reloaded. Even when I blew the picture up, it looks like an unfired case. Most fired cases in my experience, will show a slightly greater diameter just ahead of the case web, and I see nothing of the kind in this picture.

That said, I bet that load, if you could have gotten it to fire would punch a really clean hole in the paper

You guys get all the neato-torpedo oddballs. I once got a batch of Norma brass which was perfect in every way-except no flash hole drilled in any of the cases (oops). Hey, it happens.....

 

[1911Tuner]

AmmoPoots

Delmar said:

I once got a batch of Norma brass which was perfect in every way-except no flash hole drilled in any of the cases.
----------------------------------------

Which just goes to show that in ANYthing can go wrong during mass-production. I've never encountered a loaded round with a missing flash
hole, but I did find a few in a batch of new brass that I bought several
years ago.

I've test-fired all unknown and unproven lots of ammunition from that
day to this whenever I intend to use it for carry ammo. (5 rounds per
hundred from a case lot, or 3 rounds per box of fifty, chosen at random through the box)

Luck!

Tuner

 

[harrydog]

I found exactly the same thing in a box of Remington UMC .45 about a year ago. I gave it to the rangemaster but I wish I would have sent it to Remington along with a letter of complaint. I might have gotten some free ammo that way!

 

[DigMe]

Hmm.....357sig wadcutter. Who woulda thunk.

brad cook

 

[clubsoda22]

hmm...what if it had chambered....i vote for nothing unusual. Maybe a flyer in your group.

 

[Sean Smith]

Um, are you serious? It's obvious this round has been reloaded.

OK, tough guy. Based on what?

 

[Jax]

Hmmmmm....

Seems to me this is likely Winchesters response to the new-fangled HK way of loading mags... cartridges backwards...

(per the HK SHOT Show catalog cover threads)

Jax

 

[Solarian]

Umm, AUadvisor, yes I am serious. I don't appreciate being called a liar and accused of having social deficiencies, and for what? Posting an interesting round that actually DID come straight from the box pictured, never fired and brand spankin' new.

AUadvisor, didn't your mother ever tell you to be quiet if you haven't anything nice to say?

Jax, yes, I was thinking the same thing. Maybe, for a good laugh, it should be sent to HK per their catalog cover.

Yep, if it hadn't been at a slight angle it, I guess it probably would have fired just fine and he wouldn't have known a thing. But, this way we get to marvel at the round and maybe my buddy will get some ammo out of the deal.

 

[treeprof]

On the plus side, a minimal risk of dreaded 357 SIG "set-back" when loaded like that.

 

[Ron_Miami]

I once found a 45acp round with a backward seated bullet. It was a Remington 230 fmj.

It was during an LFI class, Ayoob asked to keep the cartridge for his collection of defective factory rounds.

It just proves that each round carried for defense should be inspected carefully.

One range I used to use had a poster by the Secret Service showing defective rounds and what to look for before carrying them.

 

[WheelMan]

I found a .44 magnum upside down in a box of Winchester white box. Not the bullet mind you, but the entire cartridge upside down in the Styrofoam tray. No, it's not really a problem but it was funny because the rim had torn itself a bigger hole in the Styrofoam so it would fit. That's a machine for you, if it doesn't fit it just presses harder.

 

[TCD]

That's a machine for you, if it doesn't fit it just presses harder.

Well that usually works.... although I'm hesitant when it involves primers and powder etc

 

[copycat]

Not sure if it's true, but I've heard that the Winchester white box is manufactured by Seller and Berloit(sp?). Recently I've had lot of out of spec S&B rounds in 7.62x25mm.

 

[Dienekes]

As a firearms instructor I used to come across odd-ball rounds in the factory boxes from time to time--all right out of the case. Don't recall any bad semiauto rounds, but I do have a collection of bad factory revolver ammo, .38 spl. and .357. Mostly primers in sideways, upside down, or not at all. Some bad/crushed crimps, etc. At least one of the .357s was loaded backwards just like yours.

As far as I'm concerned, just because you paid premium and it came out of a factory box doesn't guarantee that it will chamber or fire. I used to tell people to really inspect their duty ammo and preferably chamber-check each round to have some assurance that it was good to go.

In comparison my handloads (single stage press, thank you) are probably better. The only failures that I have very occasionally had on mine were primer failures, and upon inspection the primers usually fizzled because there was either no priming compound in them or way too little to light the powder.

Just never say never.