User Panel
Posted: 12/1/2005 8:31:14 AM EDT
Please add your personal experience with WINCHESTER Q3131 M193 ammunition to this thread. When you do, please give information about: 1) Firearm used in 2) Approximate number of rounds fired. I am trying to solicit only information about your PERSONAL experience with this ammunition. If you haven't used it, then please don't clutter up the thread. Information about proper functioning (or lack thereof) is obviously the most important, but factors such as the accuracy or other peculiarities you've noticed are informative also. If you have had problems with this ammo which were severe enough to cause you to stop using this ammo, then please describe them. And one more minor request: keep your reviews objective. If you vote that you've had problems with the ammo, then please be so kind to let us know what those problems were. Simply voting negative will not help anyone. |
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Shot around 500rds in a carbine match (and won) and a practice session or 2 out of a CMMG uppered M4orgery. Flawless so far.
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I have run about 200 rounds though my AR (mutt gun) no problems. Saving the rest for a ranny day.
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Thanks Zhukov - now ar-jedi is going to start the ammo porn...
Not had any probs with it - like it better than 193. |
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heh heh heh. actually, i had a motive other than you might think... lots of folks don't know the difference between Q3131 and Q3131A (or even that the non-A Q3131 exists -- again), and might need a little hand holding so they don't start posting Q3131A info here despite Zhukov's bold letters up top in the lead off position. so i'm hoping that before the A info gets posted, someone sees my pics and says "wtf is that stuff?" before pecking at the keyboard. ETA #1: maybe another note of interest... this thread is targeted towards NEWLY PRODUCED Q3131 (i.e., with WCC 04, WCC 05, and presumably soon WCC 06 headstamps) -- examples of which are in the pics above. this thread does not address the OLD Q3131 which was produced up until about 1999-ish, and had a few spotty lots towards the end of that run. ETA #2: much more info on the NEW WINCHESTER Q3131 can be found in the following (lengthy) thread: ar15.com/forums/topic.html?b=3&f=16&t=254094 chrono data is on page 2. pulled bullet info is on page 7. more chrono data is at the bottom of page 8. ar-jedi |
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You mean A and non-A? |
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thanks! sorry, wife was saying something while i was typing this important post and my head exploded. corrected. ar-jedi |
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Is this for recent vintage Q3131, or also for Q3131 from years ago? I've not even seen the former, but have shot plenty of the latter without any problems (and still have some).
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DANGIT!
Who the hell voted "I've had problems with this ammo" and didn't bother telling us why? |
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Shot through a Bushy XM15E2S 16" barrel. Been through 300 rounds and no problems. Great stuff.
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read the post directly above yours perhaps? ar-jedi |
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AR-Jedi;
Explain it how you will, we know why you really put the pics... |
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Great ammo, no flash,clean, bought a couple thousand to stash for SHTF, couple thousand more just to have "fun" with.
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460 rnds. fired with no problems. Still can't find any info on the bullet used. Any one find out if this bullet frags or not. Are they using their regular wwb bullet or a m193 clone?
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No problems, My gander mountain sells it. 1/7 twist 16" Colt barrel, 100 rounds, all went bang and hit in a 2.5-3 inch group at 50 yards. I like it, good stuff.
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1) Bushmaster 16" carbine
2) shot a couple hundred older Q3131, have 520 rounds of brand new stuff I haven't shot yet |
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Shot 500 rds in my 16" Bushmaster, works great and looks good too. Going to shoot up the
Q3131A and keep this and the XM-193 for rainy day stuff from now on. |
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My dad and I ran about 500 rounds of this stuff this morning. Worked fine and was damn accurate.
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I picked up a good deal on a number of cases a few years back. I shot up a little over one case, and then switched to cheaper stuff for plinking. This is Q3131, lot HN20.
I have used it in my Bushmaster XM15 E2S, my Armalite M15 A2, AR180B, and Colt HBAR. Other than the occasional malfunction you get with almost any brand, I find it to be pretty reliable. |
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New production Q3131 (you can find this at Gander Mtn) 05 production w/ NATO stamp on brass.
Stuck cases on 4 rounds and poor feeding. |
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tying in the following relevant thread for follow-up: ar15.com/forums/topic.html?b=3&f=16&t=263230 ar-jedi |
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160 rounds of 04 and 05 headstamped ammo through RRA Elite. Not a hiccup. More accurate than I expected.
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I bought only 40 rounds to try, and all forty went down range without any problems. The rifle used was an Armalite M15 flattop 16 inch midlength chromelined barrel with an Aimpoint comp ML2 in an ARMS Trilock mount. Accuracy was comparable to the Q3131A that I have shot in the past. I will purchase more of this ammunition.
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Recent experiences in reverse chronological order:
240 rounds WWB Q3131, Lot WH03, all '05 headstamp, purchased at Academy Sports in 20-round boxes, fired through Bushmaster Modular Carbine on 1/7/06 - no failures 480 rounds WWB Q3131, Lot WH03, all '05 headstamp, purchased at Academy Sports in 20-round boxes, fired through Colt LE6920 on 1/2/06 - no failures 480 rounds WWB Q3131, Lot WH03, all '05 headstamp, purchased at Academy Sports in 20-round boxes, fired through Colt LE6920 on 12/30/05 - no failures 480 rounds WWB Q3131, Lot WH03, all '05 headstamp, purchased at Academy Sports in 20-round boxes, fired through Colt LE6920 on 12/22/05 - no failures 480 rounds WWB Q3131, Lot WH03, all '05 headstamp, purchased at Academy Sports in 20-round boxes, fired through Colt LE6920 on 12/12/05 - no failures |
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I ran 10 rounds of XM193 and 10 rounds of new Q3131 at the end of the day this weekend. The Q3131 grouped a little better than the XM193 and had WAY less flash. 20" post-ban barrel (no FS) and the XM193 was making huge fireballs at dusk but I didn't notice any flash from the Q3131. 10 rounds isn't much of a test, but it ran fine. I'll shoot more on my next range visit.
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Shot 200 rounds of Q3131 (05 headstamp) last weekend. One or two feed problems, but think this was due to new mags/springs not the ammo. Groups were surprisingly tight (about 1.5-2" at 100 yards).
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Put 20 rounds of lot #WK30 through my AR this morning, just to try a box. No difference in flash or report , did notice a small amount of carbon around the ports on my muzzle brake. I need to get some more before I go out again, then I'll shoot a bunch and compare it to the WWB from WallyWorld.
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A real AR-15 guru at the shop where I bought my Rock River AR-15 sold me on the Q3131 and told me the story about how A used to be pretty hot and now Q3131 is as A used to be. I used up 1000 rounds ASAP first weekend with my new AR, and bought 2000 more rounds to play some more. I have read many speak of minimum quantity for SHTF/ TEOTWAWKI @ around 10K rounds and am looking to buy that much Q3131. Alsom I always noticed when I was in the USAF that after just a hundred rounds or less during qualifying, our guns where very dirty. I found Q3131 fairly similar in carbon deposition on the bolt taper and powder in the action. Not a single misfire, marred one round up adjusting my front sight like they used to show us in the USAF, but thought that was pretty silly when I was done. I did however get 1000 rounds through it without cleaning, shooting on a Saturday and a Sunday. That seemed reasonable to me. What is a common interval between cleanings?
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Results from today, 1/18/2006:
120 rounds Q3131, lot WH62, '04 headstamp, purchased from Academy Sports, fired through Bushmaster Modular Carbine, no failures 240 rounds Q3131, lot WH92, '05 headstamp, purchased from Academy Sports, fired through Bushmaster Modular Carbine, no failures |
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04 & 05 head stamp some minor dings but worked fine, also some minor corr0sion on cases
will keep for shtf |
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1) Bushmaster AR15s (3 of them)
2) 1,000 rounds Flawless. This replaced XM193 for me. (ETA: 05' Headstamp) |
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I bought 5 boxes of Q3131 Lot WH03 from Academy. 40 rounds had NATO crosses, 60 did not.
What's up with the mixed brass headstamps? Paladin |
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i bought 300 rounds from bass pro in OKC and all the boxes i have opend have head stamps of 04 and 05 all had nato crosses. havnt shot any yet but will advise further when i do. |
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The boxes I purchased had mixed head stamps also. I picked out 10 that matched and shot two 5 shot groups which were really bad.
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As this is for the NEW production..
I have a case of '04 production, of which I've fired 41 rounds. No problems to report - function & accuracy were fine. |
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Shot another 300 rounds of Q3131 the other day (mixed headstamps from '04 to '06, lot WK32) and noticed that this batch seems to be exceptionally dirty (lots of crap blown back into the action, more Wolf-esque than I have ever seen before with this type of ammo). Funtionally it was fine except for one round, which looked like the bullet did not seat properly, causing the neck to be slightly rolled back and the case bulged out slightly. This round stuck in the chamber (did not go all the way in). Took a good hard buttstroke while pulling the CH to get the round out. It may have been me (probably was), but this batch of ammo did not seem to be as accurate as I've seen Q3131 in the past.
Overall, I still like this ammo very much for general purpose shooting, but thought I'd report this experience. |
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