bad winchester ammo- any recalls?

[Ranger99]

had a bit of time today to try to zero
a scope on a handi.
i used some winchester white box 240gr.
jsp 44 ammo i had since i didn't have
any loaded. one of the shots split the
case head through the primer pocket
up the side of the case 1/3 of the way
up. there wasn't any damage to me or
the rifle that i can see other than a
bunch of soot on the breech and on
the underside of the scope, and a
shiny line on the chamber wall. i'm
fairly sure it would have taken a handgun
apart in a cylinder with exposed case heads.


has anyone had this happen or heard of this?

[tacklebury]

You should contact winchester, because they may have an issue that's unknown as of yet.  There was a .22LR and .223 winchester recalls earlier.


http://www.winchester.com/Product-Service/Pages/Contact-Us.aspx

[Bigeasy]

Ranger99   I have loaded for the 44 mag for years, but have also used quite a bit of that Winchester load at times as the price used to be decent, and it was a good way to acquire brass.  Never had an issue with it.  Very accurate and reliable in a variety of handguns and rifles. May very well be a bad piece of brass slipped thru QC, especially with the way they are cranking out rounds these days.  Contact Winchester with the lot #.  They will probably send you a pre-paid mailer for return of the ammo, and a fresh box or two of new stuff.  Did it sound / feel like an overload when you fired it?

Larry

[Ranger99]

it didn't feel like too much boom,
but the gas jetting out the top
was weird since i'd never experienced
that and wasn't quite aware of what had
happened. glad it was a stout handi,
and not one of my handguns
the ammo isn't recent manufacture,
maybe 10 years or so. like you said,
back when it was affordable. i've never
had any problems with my remington-
cased reloads. i realized the problem when
i broke the gun and the case was stuck.
the receiver and the bottom of the scope
were heavily sooted from escaping gas.
nothing like eye and ear protection huh?


i had planned to contact win. about this,
i just didn't know if there was a recall
or warning that i may have missed.


i've had neck splits way back with fed
new 30/30 before i'd started loading,
and some off-the-wall .223 mishaps,
but i never had anything like the case
head separations you read about, or
any case head failure like this that
had dire possibilities.

[Bigeasy]

Yea, a case letting go will get your attention....  I have always had that in the back of my mind when shooting bull pup rifles that place your face right on top of the chamber.  Unlike some semi-auto's with unsupported chambers, revolvers fully support the case, and I bet if you had fired it in one, the gun would have held up OK, as long as it was a case failure issue, and not and over pressure issue.

Larry