Why is Winchester White Box .223 ammo so hard to find?

[Therapydude]

Why is Winchester White Box .223 ammo so hard to find? Every ammo dealer I've looked at on the internet is sold out. Does Winchester have a government contract for the war, thereby limiting civilian sales? I've been running 62 grain in my Colt LE6920 (1:7 barrel twist). Any suggestions for a suitable replacement for cheap, reliable, non-Wolf training ammo?

 

[f4t9r]

Just bought some at Walmart in white box they only had 3 boxes
also bought 223 in remmington for 3.97 a box pretty decent stuff . I stay away from wolf

 

[jacketch]

I haven't been able to find any WWB .223 for several months.

 

[ocabj]

http://www.ammoman.com/webstore_223.htm

Ammoman.com has Lake City SS109 Green Tip M855 $149 per 500 shipped.

 

[Zundfolge]

Could it be there's a war on?

 

[Technosavant]

Winchester (Olin Corp.) holds many contracts for supplying our government with ammo. Since .223/5.56 is the primary round used, it is not in large supply from Winchester.

They are located in East Alton, IL (not far from here), and local news occasionally reports their making of new contracts.

 

[Therapydude]

Could it be there's a war on?

Uh, that's kind of why I mentioned that possibility in my original post.

 

[jeff-10]

The Outdoor World near my house, close to Ft Lauderdale, has cases of it.

 

[nitesite]

Well, there are practically no 55-gr FMJ cartridges currently being fielded to our US Military forces, and that's what WWB is.

I would venture a guess that US commercial loading operations have been shifted to the heavier penetrator bullets to fulfill government contracts for faster-twist M16-A3s and M-4s.

You might still find 55-gr Winchester Q3131A (manufactured by IMI in Israel for Winchester) on some of the various online sites or at gun shows, usually priced about $4/box. It is Milspec, unlike the Wal-mart WWB or Remington yellow box UMC. But it's not NATO spec because there is not an inspector signing off on every lot number.

Still, it's really good stuff. Don't let the appearance of the brass turn you off. It's not polished as well as commercial ammo but Q3131A is damn good.

 

[Bartholomew Roberts]

Actually much of the Winchester 55gr is produced by IMI and IMI has shifted production to meet military needs - so there is a bit of a shortage in the civilian market.