Ammunition And Magazine Report
 

Hello all,

I wanted to share my experience with two items with you. First of all, when I came to my range today I bought a box of Whtebox Winchester BEB ammunition. I include the link here so you know which ones I mean.

They performed really bad, in all of my magazines, and the magazines are ok now (thanks GT ;) )so I am sure it was the ammunition. When chambering the first round it felt like it wasn't going in smoothly, the toggle just didn't feel right. I could not shoot a complete series of 8 without jams. The funny thing is I used conical Winchester ammo before (super X or something the one in the silver box) and they performed fine. So this particular stuff must have something special about it.

Another thing I tried out and can't recommend is this particular magazine
I ordered it because I wanted to have a cheap one that could keep loaded all the time and wouldn't have to worry about the springs wearing out. I don't want to do that to my good magazines. Turns out this one doesn't even go in the gun! So if you're considering a new magazine, stick with the mecgar ones and don't go for this one

Oal
 

Hi:

If you loaded all 8 rounds into the magazines, what you are describing is what happens when your ammo is too short.

You had that "binding" feeling with the first three rounds or so, didn't you.

Modern ammo is loaded to a length not in spec. with the original. Proper OAL for the round nose is 1.169 to 1.73 inches.

Your conical ammo should be loaded to 1.15 inches to work properly.

Sieger

Alas I dont have the ammo anymore so I can't measure it :(

The feeling was more when I pulled the toggle back to put the first round int he chamber, it was like it wasnt going in smoothly and I had to pull with more force to get it past a resistance when it moved from the magazine into the chamber

Just read in the current issue of the Am.Rifeman, that Winchester is the main supplier of 9mm ammo to the military, so it may continue to be difficult to find for us civilians. TH

Oal
 

Hi:

That's the perfect discription of an OAL problem. If you just want to shoot the pistol with this ammo, try loading only 5 rounds or so and see how it functions.

Sieger

Thanks, I might try that. I still have 6 or 700 cartridges in my drawer though but you know how ard it is to get anything these days :) so if I have to use that kind of ammo I might just load fewer.

Remington FMJ 115 gr. versus American Eagle FMJ 115 gr.
 

Yesterday, I shot 2 different ammo brands with my 1937 S/42
Later, when I put some AE leftovers into the Remington box I found out that the AE ammo is "longer". I compared 2 rounds and saw that the Remington ammo is really slightly shorter. It seems like the Remington bullet is shorter or deeper pressed into the shell. Both brands performed without any trouble at all. I shot about 140 rounds.
I always thought that a shorter bullet would cause feeding problems but I had no problems at all.
On Saturday I ordered 600 rounds Winchester white box ammo (115 gr FMJ) at Cabelas. I hope they dont give me a hard time with feeding problems. (As mentioned in this thread before).
The AE ammo has aprox 1180 feet per second, I dont know the data of the Remington ammo, but I felt no difference. Is the Winchester ammo "softer"?

I try and find a round that my luger likes; although I am less of a shooter than many folks.

I have also taken the chance and bought a thousand rounds and they worked fine ;)


Ed

Hi Ed,
what ammo did you buy? Winchester white box 115gr. ?
Andy

I have the exact same problem every time I use Whitebox Winchester in my luger.

Looks like JHP, or flat head FMJ.

Conventional round ball FMJ 115gr white box Win should work.

Well, have been shooting conventional round ball Winchester Whitebox for a couple of months now, and I must say it works without problems in the S/42 refurb. It took a short while for the magazine to get 'used' to the winchester rounds, but this happened quite soon (only had a few issues with the first couple of mag loads). Holdopen doesn't work as consistently as with S&B 124gr but that's not really an issue.

Even the relatively short S&B subsonic worked well, which was a bit of a surprise, as I had expected lots of feeding issues. I have to say that I never load more than 5 rounds, range regulations.

In defence of the Winchester Whitebox: Even the 32-round drum mag, loaded to full capacity functioned flawlessly with it (with special permission to 'break' the 5-round rule).