# Winchester NATO brass shavings???



## Brav (Mar 1, 2020)

Recently purchase some Winchester nato 124 grain 9mm for my hk vp9. I ran 150 rounds through and felt like the gun ran a bit weird. For example, a few times the pistol slide did not lock back on the last shot. And I felt there was an unusual amount of brass shavings left in the gun. Can you guys/gals help with and explanation or tell me if this is normal? Thanks in advance!


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## Goldwing (Nov 5, 2014)

I can't explain it or tell you if it is abnormal. If you field strip and inspect the pistol carefully,(especially in the area where the brass has accumulated) you may find clues to the source. Pics will help a lot!

GW


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## denner12 (Oct 14, 2017)

Well, I'll give it a shot. Some casings are brass-coated rather than brass. Some of that coating or plating can become flecks distributed in and around the action. This is normal for shooting some types of ammo. Likewise, this may happen with rounds that have bullets plated with brass instead of copper.

I've used and run this ammo frequently in bulk and have never had any issues,(it's 10 - 15% hotter ammo than standard in the +p range) I would want to think it's a pure brass case. Is this the first time shooting your VP9, or shooting hotter +p ammo and do you ride your thumbs forward? Being the VP9 has a slide release on both sides you may be riding the slide release giving you failures to lock back on the last round.

I'd likewise shoot the ammo from another pistol to see if you can replicate your lockback issue and the shavings, but again, some shavings are generally a non issue.

Last but no least you may have a bad lot of ammo?


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## Brazos Dan (Aug 10, 2019)

I shoot Win. White box NATO 124 GR. in my VP9 with no issues. Very accurate, as well.
It's noticibly hoter than standard loads.


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## SamBond (Aug 30, 2016)

Winchester 9mm 124 gr NATO uses brass cases and bullets that have "real" jackets, not plated bullets.
They also have crimped in place primers but I can not see how that could cause brass shavings or any other problems.

It is possible there were some screwed up cases in your batch of ammo. I have found defective rounds in 9mm Win range ammo in the past. I shoot very little Win 9mm NATO so I don't have much information about those.

Sam


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## pblanc (Mar 3, 2015)

I have shot a good deal of the Winchester NATO 124 grain 9 mm Q4318 and overall my results with it have been very good. It definitely has brass cases (not coated) with crimped primers. It is loaded somewhat hotter than standard pressure (P) 9 mm Luger ammunition but not as hot as +P ammunition. Going by case pressure limits per SAAMI standards +P nine mm Luger is 10% higher than standard pressure P. The NATO loading is somewhere in between, roughly 7% higher case pressures than P.

A direct comparison between the case pressures for NATO handgun ammunition and ammunition loaded to SAAMI standards is difficult because the NATO loadings are per C.I.P. European standards and a different protocol is used yielding different case pressure readings between the two for the same load.

I would suggest taking the barrel out of your pistol and doing the "plunk" test. Hold the barrel muzzle down and drop an unfired round into the breech of the barrel. It should drop ("plunk") right in without any hesitation. If it doesn't either your chamber is very dirty or out of spec, or the ammo is out of spec. If you have a caliper also measure the case diameter of a few unfired rounds and see if they are within limits.

Although I have found this ammo to be very accurate, the one and only time my Beretta 92FS jammed up on an unfired round was with this ammo.


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## caanuride (Mar 23, 2019)

Brav said:


> Recently purchase some Winchester nato 124 grain 9mm for my hk vp9. I ran 150 rounds through and felt like the gun ran a bit weird. For example, a few times the pistol slide did not lock back on the last shot. And I felt there was an unusual amount of brass shavings left in the gun. Can you guys/gals help with and explanation or tell me if this is normal? Thanks in advance!


I'm a little late to the party here, but I have had very similar experiences with Winchester 124 grain. I bought 500 for my VP9 (when it was new) to run NATO grade, per the manual. I absolutely had an excessive amount of those brass flecks from that ammo. I did not have any problems with the VP9 cycling incorrectly, just found it difficult to clean after every trip to the range. I have had other HK's get finicky if the ammo is not strong enough, causing feeding failures. But most likely the slide not locking back is due to hand/finger placement as someone else said. Since I disliked the Winchester so much, I have used primarily Brazer Brass and some Seller & Belloit for my HK's since without issue. You will run into a batch here and there with some of the brass flecks, but nothing like with the Winchester. Hope this helps.


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