Winchester White Box 333 .22lr Issues

I have three boxes of the hollow point copper plated bulk Winchester ammo, but I haven't managed to even fire 100 rounds yet due to having so many issues.

I just bought a new M&P 22 last week, and I've had it at the range four times. I've shot 150 rounds of CCI Blazer and 400 rounds of CCI Mini Mags through it so far with zero issues (yes I cleaned it after each range trip). Each time I've tried to use the Winchester ammo, I've had several fail to eject, and a few fail to feed. I've tried a couple mags each trip to see if it's going to get better as I break the gun in more, but it hasn't gotten better.

Today I took my Marlin 795 rifle to see if the ammo did any better in that. I used to use Winchester bulk in my rifle to go squirrel hunting, and never had any issue that I can recall. I fired 22 shots out of the rifle and had two fail to eject and one fail to fire. So I guess it's not just my new handgun that has issues with the ammo if my old faithful rifle can't handle it either (though it did do better than the handgun, as I was able to shoot quite a few rounds in a row without an issue before I got the first failure).

I noticed that some of the rounds seemed like the bullets were loose in the casing, so I decided to sort through what I had left and just see how many rounds had a problem.

With each round, I'd first try to twist the bullet. If it spun more than a quarter turn, it went into pile 1.

Next, I'd try to wobble the bullet in the casing. If it moved more than a tiny bit, I'd put it in pile 2.

Finally, pile 3 would get the remaining rounds that didn't spin or wobble.

Out of 242 rounds I had left:

28 had bullets that spin in the casing
187 had bullets that wobble in the casing
26 seem to be fine
1 had a dented lead nose

I checked 100 of the CCI Mini Mags that I have left and none of the bullets moved in the casing at all.

I haven't cracked into the other two boxes of 333 yet, but based on all the hits I'm getting from searching for Winchester White Box failures, I'm not expecting much out of them.

With my supply of CCI quickly disappearing at the range, I fear I may not be able to fire my new toy soon unless I can find more ammo or figure out a way to salvage the Winchester that I have. I read one thread where someone claimed that putting Remington oil on the rounds helped them to feed and eject better, has anyone tried that? I know I've seen people say those "choot em" Swamp People bullets are coated in wax, so maybe it's the same theory with a light coat of oil on the bullet?

Or maybe it's time to invest in a revolver.

The Winchester 333 and 555 boxes of hollow point ammo are about the only thing my M&P22 doesn't like. I've just stopped trying them. Everyone's favorite is CCI (MiniMags, Blazer, etc.) but I also do well with all of the Augilla, Winchester M22 & Wildcats and the Remingtons works ok with my pistol but I have had quality issues with many rounds not firing on the first or second try. I heard that if you use some 600 grit sand paper and smooth the feed ramp a bit, it has helped some guys with the feed issue. I just changed the ammo I use. Everyone says it is hard to find but if you run Gunbot in the background and watch the "Official" thread in the 15-22 forum, you can get enough at a decent price to keep you shooting (maybe not building a stockpile but keeps you shooting).

Do not "oil" the bullets. All 22 lr are coated with "lube" of some sort, wax? adding oil has a tendency to pick up even more dirt/dust, increases FTF, FTE, etc. Also I do not know what it "could" do to chamber pressure. I realize that 22 lr has been difficult to find but if it does not work stop using it. Trade it to somebody for something else, sell it. I have been using Fed, Rem, win m-22 with out problems. I have not seen a 33,555 for sale in more than 18 months locally. Be Safe,

I had problems with winchester superx in my ruger bearcat. Many of them will not even chamber. It seems that some of the winchester bullets are slightly larger diameter than the other brands and if your gun has a tight chamber tolerance then they may be jamming.

Just found this post. Have not yet used the 33, but have used the 555. Fired it in my 18-3, Marvel .22 LR 1911 conversion. Worked very well in the 1911 conversion. At times tight fit in charge holes of 18-3. Handled that with periodic brushing of the charge holes of the cylinder w/ a brass brush. Has worked perfectly in my Ruger 77-22 bolt action. No failures in the 18-3 or 77-22. Fired one box of 555 through the 1911 conversion. In the course of that afternoon of shooting had maybe 8 instances of a round that was difficult to seat in the chamber. Do not remember any failures to fire. On target accuracy with the 18-3 and 1911 conversion was good, fully within the norm one would expect shooting plinker quality ammo. Didn't do precise target shooting w/ the Ruger 77-22. Used it in the woods/field. Hit what it was aimed at. Can't ask for anything more than that.

Mine eats anything from Winchester. The only problems i've had were with 1 of the 375rd box of CCI Mini-Mag and with a box of Golden Bullets. Both boxes gave me a bunch of FT fire and bunch of FT extract. The CCI was the only box ive had of CCI that did that. All other CCI ive shot since then have given 0 problems. The Golden Bullets are hit and miss, as some of the boxes have done it but not all of them. As for golden bullets, i'll never own another box of those those.

The Winchester 333s & 555s never worked well in my CMMG 22LR upper. Every 5 rds would fail to feed mostly due to the flat shape of the bullets. I have zero issues with round nose Winchesters.

All Winchester ammo is garbage. Sums it up.

Eric

I hit the range today and brought the 26 rounds that I had sorted out that didn't wobble or spin. They all fed, fired, and ejected properly. Now 26 is a pretty small sample size, but it was all the good ones I could find out of what was left in the box! Also, before sorting the ammo, I hadn't fired 10 straight shots through my M&P 22 without having a fail to eject or feed problem with the Winchester stuff. So 26 shots without failure was good enough for me to determine that the way the bullet is seated is the problem.

Next trip, I'm going to bring the wobble rounds and see what I get out of those. I suspect that they will have feed issues, but if I can salvage the larger portion of the box (there are way more that wobble than there are that spin) then it's worth my time to sort through the other two boxes I have. Otherwise, I guess I'll just sell them to someone with one of those guns that "eats everything" that I hear about.

Have almost 2k rds on my new M&P 22 pistol and the ONLY thing it does not like is thunderbolts and M22.....have tried at least 10-12 different types and gr.'s of .22 , brands were Winchester, Remington , cci , Federal , Elay and Armscor ......

Winchester called yesterday in regards to my complaint from a couple weeks ago. They are sending a UPS driver to pick up my ammo and they are going to inspect it. It sounds like they're just going to cut me a check for the ammo instead of replacing it.

I'm a little bummed, because even frustrating ammo is better than no ammo.. But hopefully this and others who have sent ammo back will help them realize that they have a quality control issue.