" BLACK Copper Plated" ammo

[gaptrick]

Long story short, but probably not, B-I-L called saying Dick's had copper plated 22LR @ $35 per 555... not good enough to blog about, but what the heck...


Got there and found all that was left were blocks of 1000 round packs, for $70.00ea marked as... They hooked, I bit. Hell, I already drove there...

Marked as...

Winchester 22LR
Black
Copper Plated

Never putting "black" and "copper plated" together, I bought them. A 40 year experience in the metallurgical end of business, "black" and "copper" were never paired until today when I got to the parking lot and opened the box to see what I bought...

only to find the lead bullets were "black"... nothing close to "copper". Black (oxidized?) lead in brass casings.

I had an issue with this and brought them back to the counter only to find they were staunch in their policy of no refunds, no returns. At this point I went as far as to purchase a 100 round pack of Remington 22LR ammo that was also marked as copper plated ( that WAS) to show the counter and use as a comparison. They agreed that I was taken, but could offer no resolution other than contacting Winchester and Dick's CS to address their alleged (by me) attempt to misrepresent their product to the uneducated buyer.

Just thought I'd throw it out there. I paid $70.00 for $45.00 worth of ammo and it doesn't sit well with me. Don't call something copper plated when it clearly is not. "Black Copper...?" please... I can take this to my metallurgist on call and have her give me the value of copper that was applied to this bullet, but I'll wait for Winchester's direction on this.

I'll keep all posted with the results and what happens. I expect Winchester to make things right. If not, I suppose I'll put them on my list with Dell Computers and do my best to get the message out there that there is a possibility, with ALL the competing products sitting on the same shelf, that Winchester may not be the best bang for the buck.

This small wheel can only squeak so much, but I'd hope that when the wheel is done squeaking all would wish they'd have purchased a drum of grease....

[Brian D.]

I see your point but two larger issues in my mind:

1) Since Dick's made a point of no longer selling "evil black semi auto rifles they lost my business mostly. (Keep reading.)
2) Does this ammo you bought go bang and operate your firearms properly. When Dick's opened a Field and Stream store near me I was almost out of .22 long rifle and they had 1400 count buckets for $70. My boycott was temporarily lifted.

To heck with how the maker described the product it functions my semi auto guns and ignites just fine.

[TJW815]

Is this by chance the "m-22" ammo? Black box, fancy lettering? They say the black coating is to assist in at configuration rifles. I have a couple boxes of it that I have not tried yet.

[Morne]

FYI - there are black oxide treatments for copper. Personally, i have no idea why you'd do that to a bullet jacket but it is possible.

[AlanM]

Why not Google "black copper oxide" and see what you come up with?

http://www.winchester.com/Products/rimf ... 22LRT.aspx

[BobK]

Why not Google "black copper oxide" and see what you come up with?

http://www.winchester.com/Products/rimf ... 22LRT.aspx

Seems to me the OP does not have an issue with Dick's. They sold him a commercial product that contained exactly what the manufacturer said it would contain.

Also unclear why this is any issue with Winchester. The product seems to contain exactly what Winchester describes.

[Sevens]

I have had enough M-22 to know for a fact that the crap I bought was -NOT- what Winchester advertised or intended because I've never experienced a worse rimfire ammo product, and that includes old Remington Golden Bullet from 80's... the previous "GOLD STANDARD" for crap rimfire.

M-22 is horrendous and the quality control of that stuff should be the baseline for how bad you can do and yet still ship it in to the hands of consumers.
And THAT... well after a large scale and very public recall of specifically that product.

Crap ammo. Avoid at all prices.

[Brian D.]

I have had enough M-22 to know for a fact that the crap I bought was -NOT- what Winchester advertised or intended because I've never experienced a worse rimfire ammo product, and that includes old Remington Golden Bullet from 80's... the previous "GOLD STANDARD" for crap rimfire.

M-22 is horrendous and the quality control of that stuff should be the baseline for how bad you can do and yet still ship it in to the hands of consumers.
And THAT... well after a large scale and very public recall of specifically that product.

Crap ammo. Avoid at all prices.

Now THAT is good information to have.

[Sevens]

Probably, more than anything simply a sign and by-product of extremely ramped-up production at the cost of quality control. My range bud and I had so, so, -SO- many fails to fire that we started yanking slugs to see just how bad the priming compound was slathered in there and it was a JOKE. It's supposed to be 100% around the inside circumference of the case head if you want the ammo to run and some junk ammo typically has 20-25% just missing. This stuff was WORSE on many of the ones we pulled apart. Less than half of the inside of the case head. With (bad) luck, you could load a 10-rd magazine and get 10 fails to fire if they weren't clocked where priming compound was present.

The funny kicker was that I was loading up a magazine from a bulk pack of M-22 and I noticed a piece of empty .22LR brass in there. No shock, quite often you will eject brass even in to your ammo supply, right? Ummmm, NOPE! This was an unprimed, unloaded, no powder, no bullet piece of new, pristine brass without a firing pin hit on the case head, and it was loaded in to the end product and sealed in the package and shipped to the wholesaler and then retailer and then sold to me.

A pristine, new an unloaded cartridge case is half a dozen production slots BEFORE final packaging in the process. Frankly, it would have made more rational sense to me if a human fingernail, an earring or a Frito Corn Chip had been sealed up inside the box... than a new cartridge case that had never been through the production process ending up there.

Awful product.

[TJW815]

I have had enough M-22 to know for a fact that the crap I bought was -NOT- what Winchester advertised or intended because I've never experienced a worse rimfire ammo product, and that includes old Remington Golden Bullet from 80's... the previous "GOLD STANDARD" for crap rimfire.

M-22 is horrendous and the quality control of that stuff should be the baseline for how bad you can do and yet still ship it in to the hands of consumers.
And THAT... well after a large scale and very public recall of specifically that product.

Crap ammo. Avoid at all prices.

One word, Thunderbolt..

While it does fire fairly reliably its like cleaning cement out of the barrel of you use more than a few rounds of it.