Winchester “White Box” 9mm 115gr JHP in Clear Ballistics gel.

[5pins]

How many have speculated about the performance of the bargain brand ammo out there? I know I have. There have been times in the past that I carried such ammo for one reason or another and info on their performance was mostly nonexistent. Well, I had the opportunity to try some Winchester 115gr JHP’s in Clear Ballistics gel. Hopefully, this will be helpful for individuals who, for whatever reason, choose to use or must use this type of ammo. Guns used are a Sig P229 with a 3.9-inch barrel and a Beretta Nano with a three-inch barrel. Two blocks of 16 inch Clear Ballistics gel shot a distance of 10 feet. Two rounds into the bare gel, two through heavy clothing, and two into the bare gel with the short barrel Nano.



Round one from the Sig P229 into bare gel penetrated to 11.5 inches and expanded to .59 inches. Some of the jacket pedals came off between the eight and nine-inch mark and the bullet weighed 113gr. The crony didn’t pick up the velocity. Round two had a velocity of 1108 fps and also penetrated to 11.5 inches and expanded to .61 inches. This bullet didn’t lose any jacket material.



Round one in heavy clothing impacted at 1127 fps and penetrated to 13.75 inches with an expanded diameter of .53 inches. The second round had a velocity of 1126, penetrated to 13.5 inches and expanded to .52 inches.



The first round out of the 3 inch Nano had a velocity of 1078 fps and penetrated to 12.5 inches and expanded to .54 inches. Round two had a velocity of 1064fps, went 11.75 inches and expanded to .56 inches.

 

[sgt127]

I appreciate you doing this.

I am pretty sure One would be well served to buy a case of cheap decent ammo and shoot a lot of it rather than buy a couple boxes of $1.00 a round “Super-duper-extreme special” ammo.

And never be quite sure exactly where it hits or how reliable it is in ones gun.

I’d prefer a tad more penetration but, that’s not bad performance.

 

[mokin]

Nice test. Much better performance than the ammunition reviewers would have us believe.

 

[Sistema1927]

Not too shabby for budget ammo.

 

[Cocked & Locked]

Looks impressive to me.

 

[Zaydok Allen]

Not necessarily the best performance ever, but not too shabby either.

Thanks for all the tests. It's good info to have around.

Any chance you're going to test Speer Gold Dot 124 gr +p? Or 230 gr 45 acp gold dots?

 

[hemiram]

I've shot a lot of this, I grabbed about a dozen boxes a while back when it was on sale, and the results look similar to what I've seen when I was able to look at bullets after shooting at a friend's house. He has a huge back yard with a nice shooting set up and only one close neighbor who is deaf as a rock. I've had no real problems with it, other than about 1 out of every hundred or so rounds being out of round to the point they won't chamber.

 

[Deus Machina]

Not bad for one of the old traditional designs.
Any plans to test the 147gr? That's all the cheap JHP I can find around here, and I suspect this design needs more speed to expand than the 147 can get.

 

[danez71]

Not bad for one of the old traditional designs.
Any plans to test the 147gr? That's all the cheap JHP I can find around here, and I suspect this design needs more speed to expand than the 147 can get.

WWB 147 JHP


WWB 115 JHP out of a few different short barrel compacts

 

[5pins]

Not bad for one of the old traditional designs.
Any plans to test the 147gr? That's all the cheap JHP I can find around here, and I suspect this design needs more speed to expand than the 147 can get.

I don't have any plans at this time but it's one I would like to try.

 

[Old Dog]

I've been shooting Winchester "White Box" handgun ammo for years. I've used the 9mm 115-grain JHPs to break in any number of new pistols; likewise the .45 ACP 230 grain JHPs ... the 9mm and .45 ACP ball ammo has been a range staple of mine for years. Decent performer in JHP, decent accuracy in FMJ. During the years I haven't reloaded, the WWB ammo has been a major portion of the rounds I've fired downrange, and frankly, I've no complaints.

 

[wally]

With any handgun, as long as penetration is adequate, where you place the shot on the target is far more important than which bullet it happens to be. 11.5" is borderline under penetration in bare gel. IMHO seems good ammo if you ascribe to the philosophy that you should always practice with what you carry and aren't "made of money".

 

[Deus Machina]

WWB 147 JHP

Thanks, Danez! Actually better than I expected. I suspect the barrel length had something to do with that.

As for the rest, yes, placement is king. I'd only buy FMJ if I could expect myself to shoot as well under pressure. But even if I ever did, a good reliable JHP isn't going to do any worse, so I might as well pay a little more for the extra insurance.

 

[Kendahl]

A couple of years ago, ShootingTheBull410 tried this during his search for the best 9 mm ammunition out of a 3" barrel. He found that it met FBI standards for penetration (12" to 18") but that expansion was somewhat inconsistent. His conclusion was that you could do a lot worse than white box.