Walmart shotshells inferior?

[luckystrike]

nether of my 870s liked winchester universal, my 1100 bolt charged back about an inch and a half when using win uni haha.

I dont have any shotguns anymore but I never ran into a problem with fed or remington loads

[anti]

Not only is that an error, it's a huge QC issue as well...

Yeah I see what you mean... but that has nothing to do with the quality of the materials used... unless whatever loading machine they're using malfunctioned.

[tamalpias]

Funny how people say FUD (I forgot what that means but I know it's not good).
If you think for one second that Walmart doesn't cut a deal with the manufactures to produce inferior ammo to keep prices down then your in la la land. Of course they do. I've heard this for years. Nothing wrong with it except it's not quality. Think of it as Harbor Freight ammo;-) You get what you pay for.

So according to you these companies are willing to lose their reputation for selling inferior products?

I have shot thousands of rounds of trap and hunted with these ammo and they have worked as well as any other brand I buy.

[sd_shooter]

Federal is ok, Winchester not that great (soft hulls)

[anti]

So according to you these companies are willing to lose their reputation for selling inferior products?

I have shot thousands of rounds of trap and hunted with these ammo and they have worked as well as any other brand I buy.

Well, I'd say the quality of at least some of the components are probably lesser than premium ammo in smaller quantities. The hulls seem to be a bit weaker than most. It's not to say it doesn't work fine for most people, though. I usually always have four cases of the stuff for skeet and rabbit/bird hunting when I don't feel like breaking out the more expensive stuff.

[NapalmCheese]

what are some of the differences that you would find at wally's comparied to the same box found at a lgs.

not to sound mean, but i have never heard of any

I'll reiterate:

Walmart is a big enough buyer that they could, conceivably, have Federal and Winchester manufacture a 'Walmart' line of ammo. So far as I know the 100 round bulk packs are a Walmart only thing. if they did this Winchester or Federal could very well use components of lesser quality than in their normal line. I wouldn't be surprised if there was more out of round shot, more clumped shot, more variation in powder charges and therefore more variation in velocity than the ammo that is not destined for Walmart bulk packs.

That being said, there's nothing wrong with the ammo if you are using it for practice or something, it's just not going to be as high performance as some other ammo. I don't hunt with it, but I know people that do.

[raven290]

I've shot about 6000 Winchester Universal out of my Super Nova in the last year. I haven't had any problems with them. They didn't pattern as well as AA or STS but they were a lot cheaper and the pattern wasn't that bad.

[44fred]

The differences are quality vs cheap components, quality control etc.
Why would you find it hard to believe that Winchester or Remington or whoever would have a hard time making different quality products? They already do outside of Walmart stores. BTW it's not just ammo. Some products are Walmart exclusive just like Sears, Best Buy, Nordstrom etc.

[John Joseph]

Just get a box or two of each and see how they perform in your shotgun, then buy the value paks accordingly.

[acorn]

Walmart is a big enough buyer that they could, conceivably, have Federal and Winchester manufacture a 'Walmart' line of ammo. So far as I know the 100 round bulk packs are a Walmart only thing. if they did this Winchester or Federal could very well use components of lesser quality than in their normal line. I wouldn't be surprised if there was more out of round shot, more clumped shot, more variation in powder charges and therefore more variation in velocity than the ammo that is not destined for Walmart bulk packs.

Funny how people say FUD (I forgot what that means but I know it's not good).
If you think for one second that Walmart doesn't cut a deal with the manufactures to produce inferior ammo to keep prices down then your in la la land. Of course they do. I've heard this for years. Nothing wrong with it except it's not quality. Think of it as Harbor Freight ammo;-) You get what you pay for.

BS, Where did you here this from all these years? Do you have any legit evidence to this other than you "have heard this for years"?

Have you ever considered that Walmart gets it cheaper due to there buying power and how much they sell?

[mjsweims]

When it comes to shot shells I've determined it's the gun and not the ammo.

Disagree strongly.
It is usually the operator not the tool that causes the problems.

[ScottB]

I have used thousands of rounds of "value pack" ammo from Wally World and before that I used to buy Federal "Top Gun" 15-20 cases at a time on sale. I usually buy the Federal loads and believe me, its the same stuff. I reloaded for years and its all the same. When I shot competitively, in registered and club shoots we used new Winchester AA or similar and frankly, if there was a difference it was hard to tell.

[NapalmCheese]

BS, Where did you here this from all these years? Do you have any legit evidence to this other than you "have heard this for years"?

Have you ever considered that Walmart gets it cheaper due to there buying power and how much they sell?

I have nothing to say that they do, but as I stated, it's conceivable that the Walmart exclusive value packs are a different run of ammo. Is it really that hard to believe that they might do this? Walmart demands a lower price at a certain volume, Olin says we can meet that and there you go. Have you ever heard of someone with a brand new 870 express having extraction problems with any other Winchester ammo?

There are a number of simple tests you can do to find out for yourself. Buy a value pack and select 10 shells. Cut them open, dump the shot charges and weigh each one. Check for the roundness of the pellets. Check for any coatings on the pellets, check for any pellets that are clumped together in big globs. Now dump the powder charges and weigh each one. Now look at the wads and the bases. Buy a box of Winchester promo shells from somewhere else. Pick 10 and do the same thing. Compare notes, report back to us.

I'm curious, but don't really care if you compare and tell us. For informal shooting, if I happen to be near a Walmart that sells ammo (non around me) I'll buy the value packs if I need ammo. For formal shoots or hunting I'll buy premium ammo.

No go cut some shells open.

[bigbearbear]

Hey guys, has anyone cut open both a Walmart exclusive shotshell (eg. Winchester Universal or Federal Multipurpose) and compare them to similarly priced but non-exclusive versions like Federal TopGun or Winchester Super Target?

I wonder if we'll find any difference?

[acorn]

I have nothing to say that they do, but as I stated, it's conceivable that the Walmart exclusive value packs are a different run of ammo. Is it really that hard to believe that they might do this? Walmart demands a lower price at a certain volume, Olin says we can meet that and there you go. Have you ever heard of someone with a brand new 870 express having extraction problems with any other Winchester ammo?

There are a number of simple tests you can do to find out for yourself. Buy a value pack and select 10 shells. Cut them open, dump the shot charges and weigh each one. Check for the roundness of the pellets. Check for any coatings on the pellets, check for any pellets that are clumped together in big globs. Now dump the powder charges and weigh each one. Now look at the wads and the bases. Buy a box of Winchester promo shells from somewhere else. Pick 10 and do the same thing. Compare notes, report back to us.

I'm curious, but don't really care if you compare and tell us. For informal shooting, if I happen to be near a Walmart that sells ammo (non around me) I'll buy the value packs if I need ammo. For formal shoots or hunting I'll buy premium ammo.

No go cut some shells open.

You are the one making assumptions and trying to pass them off as fact. Go do your own test and report the results back to this thread with some credible evidence to support YOUR claims. I'm not saying it's not "conceivable", anything is "conceivable". You are the one making a claim so back it up!!

My 870 express had ejection problems with Federal, Winchester and Remington ammo. Do some research on what shotgun mostly has this issue and report back to us with your findings. My Benelli M2, Beretta 390, 1950 Wingmaster, recently sold Baikal MP310 and even my CHINESE Hawk 982 does not have issues with ANY ammo. So thats my experience with Walmart ammo. What is yours, other than shell dissection?

Is it really that hard to believe that just maybe Walmart gets their ammo packaged for them in bulk packs for lower cost due to their buying power just as Costco does on many of their bulk products? Or is that not dramatic enough for you?