Winchester 22 long rifle ammunition recall

heard about this recall some time ago, but only recently realized I had not posted it on the blog.

Back in late June, Winchester announced they were voluntarily recalling certain .22 long rifle ammunition they had manufactured due to a design defect.

Quoting from the recall notice...

"Olin Corporation, through its Winchester Division, is recalling several lots of rimfire ammunition:

SUPER-X® HIGH VELOCITY (Symbol X22LR) and POWER-POINT® (Symbol X22LRPP)

Lot Numbers containing Letters: XN, YA, YB or YC

Through extensive evaluation Winchester has determined the above lots of SUPER-X HIGH VELOCITY (X22LR) and POWER-POINT (X22LRPP) 22 Long Rifle rimfire ammunition may contain double powder charges. Double powder charge weight ammunition may cause firearm damage, rendering the firearm inoperable, and subject the shooter to a risk of personal injury and/or death when fired.

DO NOT USE WINCHESTER SUPER-X HIGH VELOCITY (X22LR) or POWER-POINT (X22LRPP) 22 Long Rifle RIMFIRE AMMUNITION WITH LOT NUMBERS CONTAINING LETTERS XN, YA, YB or YC. The ammunition Lot Number is imprinted (stamped without ink) on the outside of the right tuck flap of the 50-round box."

Even though this is old news, there are still hundreds of boxes of ammunition still in circulation or in someone's ammo box out there, and it never hurts to cross-check all ammunition for something this serious.

CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE RECALL NOTE ON WINCHESTER'S WEBSITE.

On the website, there is an illustration on where to look on the Winchester ammunition box to determine what lot number it was a part of.

All other ammunition manufactured from Winchester is not affected by this recall.

-end-

The electron is faster than the sword

Too many times I've heard people in public say they can't believe how things are going in government. Why certain people who work in government can't do this or do that, look at all those idiots on the TV, and man, they have just about had enough!

I have noticed these same people who go on and on that they have just about had enough are never quite ready to do anything... but they're thinking about it really hard!

So, today, how about taking that first step?

Click this sentence to locate and write your representative.

Click this sentence to locate and write your senator.

Even if you have nothing to say right now at this moment, click on those links now, and when they open in a new window, bookmark them for when you do.

Think about it. How many emails do you send a day? How long does it take you to type out an email?

Composing one more email isn't going to break your daily schedule.

When you have something on your mind concerning a matter the federal government needs to take action on, when you read in the newspaper or see on the evening news something that needs serious attention, or if you see something in the general government process that bothers you, write!

If certain political parties can talk to animated snowmen as part of a debate on who should be in charge of one third of the United States government, a well written, intelligently composed email from a real human being ought to be worth something!

And if you really want to make in impact, write a letter on paper. Yes, an old fashioned letter in an envelope with a stamp attached. A handwritten letter still carries more weight because you invested a great deal of time in the process. Penmanship counts, though. No chicken scratch.

What to write about? My favorites are gun control. Federal Deficits. Social Security. Finding out a individual's outlook and/or view on the war. Questions about their general views on "hot button" topics.

Even if everyone just writes one letter, that's one more step forward each time. Progress means never standing still.

-end-

Ammo Basics: Jacketed and Hollowpoint

Another difference in ammunition is whether the bullet in the cartridge is a jacketed or hollowpoint variety. All ammunition can be sub-divided among one of these two categories. Although both are very popular, each kind has its own specific specialty.

Both hollow point and full metal jacket ammunition is sold all the time at all hunting and firearm stores. Both kinds feed reliably through the firearm they are designed for, and both generally have a similar "kick" in the firearm when discharged. So what is the big difference between the two?



Full Metal Jacket bullets mean the bullet on top of the cartridge is completely covered in a metal case. Basically a solid piece of metal, the Full Metal Jacket bullet is not meant to expand in any way when it strikes a target.


The following photo is a closeup of a .40 caliber round of ammunition with a full metal jacket bullet and a .38 special caliber round of ammunition with a full metal jacket bullet.


Although they look different from one another and come on different sized cartridges, both are designated as full metal jacket bullets.

When a full metal jacket bullet strikes a target, by its design, it attempts to pass straight through the target and continue on. For thick or large targets, or for targets located behind an obstruction, Full Metal Jacket ammunition would be the kind of bullet you want to use. But Full Metal Jacket ammunition, although fantastic for penetration of targets, does not do the same kind of damage to a target as hollow point bullets do.


A hollow point bullet has a open tip at the end. Some varieties have a small cavity, other types have a deep indentation, and other kinds have additional components inside the opening. The purpose of all these is to cause the bullet to expand when it reaches the target.


A hollow point, when it reaches a soft target, will flatten out and expand. This is due to fluid entering the hollow point tip and pressing the walls of the bullet outward. This fluid entry also causes the bullet to spin and tumble as it moves through the target. Usually the bullet takes a mushroom shape when it expands, and causes considerably more damage as it moves through the target in its wider form. The initial expansion of the bullet also transfers the overall energy of the discharged bullet throughout the target.

Hollow points do not have as large a risk of ricocheting as full metal jacket ammunition, but do not tend to penetrate as much as full metal jacket ammunition does. These are both due to the design of the bullet. Since they expand immediately on fluid impact, they are less likely to proceed completely through their intended target.


There are sub-varieties of hollow point and full metal jacket ammunition, but I will review them in later blog entries. There are also many passionate discussions on the merits of hollow point versus full metal jacket ammunition on their respective effectiveness on stopping assorted targets. That is also for another blog entry.

No matter the type of bullet, there is absolutely no substitute for practice. Practice hitting your target, and make your hits consistent in critical areas at the target range. No fancy ammunition will ever be able to do that for you.

A bit of trivia: The Hague Convention has banned hollow point bullets (expanding or fragmenting) in all warfare situations and all declared wars... ideally to stop the suffering of soldiers in combat. But hollow point bullets are the favorite of police and private citizens worldwide for the massive damage they can cause to a target and also for their reduced risk of over-penetration.

-end-

The big migration from huntersmark.com

This is just a migration of all my blog posts from Huntersmark.com to blogspot over the course of the next week month.

I'm going to tweak the dates to show them as they were originally posted in sequence as they appeared in the original website, remove entries that refer to events that have expired, and adjust for the blogspot layout design, but all other content and entries will remain the same. Its the huntersmark.com website, but without the storefront.

If you want to visit the store, just go to huntersmark.com. We are still in the process of opening to the public, but can special order most firearms and can make transfers throughout the country.

Comments and discussion welcome!

-end-