Walmart Federal 9mm. (New warning)

[bg226]

Picked up several boxes of Federal Champion 115gr Ball from Walmart. Product: WM5199. It was cheap ammo at $9.50 per box, but I noticed a warning on half of my boxes. The warning said not to use in pistols with ported barrels or recoil compensators.

The muzzle numbers on the box say: 1125 FPS / 323 ft-lbs.

I thought I would share.

 

[Allentown]

1125fps is not exactly super slow.... they should produce enough recoil not to jam a ported gun..

Then again..i had a ported glock 19 that was total junk..would jam on all but +P..will never buy a ported weapon again.

 

[Purgatory]

Interesting. I'll have to capitalize on that deal. Certainly curious about the warning. Never heard of this before. Won't be an issue for me, but I'm interested to hear why it may cause a problem in compensated guns.

 

[rcmodel]

I think the ported barrel warning is because that load is using plated jacket bullets, not real jacketed bullets. That is how they can sell them so cheap.

The plating is very thin, and could be scraped off by the ports, creating a metal splatter hazard to bystanders.

rc

 

[The Lone Haranguer]

The only hole I need in my barrel is the one bored through it, where the bullet comes out of.

 

[SGW42]

I saw the same warning on a box Blazer Brass .45 Auto last week.

Shot all of the ammo and tossed the box, otherwise I'd go and make sure.

 

[EdLaver]

This ammo is not very powerful, it wouldn't cycle in my Taurus Slim, caused several jams, and wouldn't lock the slide back on the last shot. It would not lock the slide back on my Beretta 92fs, and it caused jams in my Beretta CX4 Storm which has never jammed on me in the years I have had it.

 

[Dr_2_B]

I saw the same warning on a box Blazer Brass .45 Auto last week.

Well, the litigation legacy strikes again.

 

[LiveLife]

I had a ported glock 19 that was total junk..would jam on all but +P..will never buy a ported weapon again.

Porting is generally for shooting higher charge loads to reduce the muzzle flip.

If shooting standard factory pressure loads or mid-range reloads, you can drop in regular factory barrel ($150) or Lone Wolf barrel ($100) and compensated slide cycling problem solved.

 

[Bix]

I shot this stuff in a three gun match on Sunday and it failed to knock over a popper at ~15 yards. After putting six rounds into the thing, the RO called a stage failure, and they had to go adjust the target.

The guy before me dopped it with a single round from his 9mm - believe he was using white box.

 

[valorius]

I used to have a mag-na-ported S&W hybrid 59/6906 that reliably cycled every thing i threw at it.

 

[doc540]

Thanks for the head's up.

I'll keep buying WalMart's WWB.

I did notice the last few boxes of WWB I bought didn't have orange-type brass bullets, but kind of silver/gold bullets.

hmmmmm.......

 

[ACP230]

The Federal stuff worked fine in my Browning Hi-Power and Colt Combat Commander in 9mm.
Haven't shot anything but paper with them yet.

 

[KurtC]

I've never had a problem with Federal American Eagle, but the Champion line is seriously underpowered. It often fails to send the slide rearward enough to chamber the next cartridge.

 

[FatPants]

Ive probably shot a little more than 3000rds of the WM Federal 9mm. The only issue I have had is the bullet jacket coming off the bullet when it leaves the barrel. I've done some reading on other forums, and it seems to be a common problem. I did notice it had considerably more muzzle flash out of my PF-9 than UMC, and RWS.

 

[Ben86]

This thread feels familiar, I think last time it was about blazer brass...hmm.

I've never had a problem with federal champion 9mm in any of my guns. They seem to have enough charge to me, I can hardly tell the difference between shooting it and my gold dot ammo. I see it for what it is though, a low powered target load. I don't think they are plated, although the jacket is pretty thin. It is clearly labeled: fmj.

Also, I don't think the WWB is as hot as winchester makes it out to be.

 

[klash545]

thats funny,just monday i ran another 150rds through my 19C....walmart federal is the only 9mm i use and have never had an issue with it

 

[Lvl21nerd]

My CZ-75b (only 9mm i have) has about 600 rounds through it, and the only hiccup it ever experienced was with a dud WWB round...i shoot strictly Federal Champ FMJ and RWS FMJ 9mm now without any problems

[federal is cheapest at my local wallys, and WWB and RWS are about the same price, so i buy 2 boxes of Fed and 1 box of RWS every time i make a run for ammo]

 

[possum]

thanks for sharing, though i don't have any ported guns i will keep that in mind, also that is a pretty good deal, i will have to use my mom's discount card and stock up on 9mm when i get home.

 

[Manco]

I did notice the last few boxes of WWB I bought didn't have orange-type brass bullets, but kind of silver/gold bullets.

hmmmmm.......

Silver?! Every box of WWB I've ever bought had bullets that were jacketed by the usual "gilding metal," a brass that is almost all copper with just a little zinc in it. I have seen some WWB bullets that looked like they were jacketed with the same type of brass alloy as the case (like Remington's Golden Saber), though. I wonder if your silver/gold bullets are jacketed with "brass" that is mostly zinc (obviously to save on cost). By the way, do your boxes of WWB say that the ammo is made in the USA or elsewhere? (just curious)

As for Federal Champion, I haven't used it yet and am kind of reluctant to. I think I'll let everybody else keep on experimenting for a while yet. That might sound bad, but I mostly work on rapid fire these days, so I'd rather keep my odds of having a squib load that obstructs the barrel down to a minimum (I should be able to react in time, unless I get fixated on the target, but why chance it with extra-cheap ammo?). Hmmm...so far it seems reliable in this regard according to reports, so maybe I will try some to see whether it is underpowered, as some say. If/when I do, I'll report on any differences I notice, including metal fouling.

 

[Skylerbone]

Watched a couple with a brand new PX 4 run 300 rounds through without failure, both had shot on only one other occasion. Saw limp wristing and a number of other issues but no ammo failures. Grabbed their brass to reload and it was CLEAN, inside and out like nothing I've seen before.

I don't shoot factory stuff myself.

 

[bg226]

Shot 200 rounds, zero malfunctions. Light recoil and dirty.

 

[Lvl21nerd]

Federal isnt THAT dirty bg226...its much cleaner than WWB at least

 

[Skylerbone]

Are we talkin bout the same stuff? Came in a black an reddish box. Were it not for my obsession with shiny brass, I wouldn't have even tumbled it. I've picked a lot of brass off the range in my day but this stuff was Wonka's Golden Ticket compared to GW's lead/wood teeth. It could have passed for unfired factory once the primers were punched.

Again, I'm not familiar with factory offering labels for the most part, help me out. Also, would someone break out their kinetic hammer then cross section a bullet and give us all the scoop on the jacketed or plated debate?

 

[Ben86]

I've collected a few of these federal champion bullets after firing them and they do have a full metal jacket. It's thin, I've recovered a few that had the jacket peeled back after colliding with another bullet, and it does cover the whole bullet. I have noticed that these bullets are strikingly shorter than the WWB bullets, but supposedly weigh the same. I wish I had a scale to weigh them. WWB bullets don't have an enclosed base, so maybe that accounts for their length.