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Posted: 12/1/2005 8:31:14 AM EDT
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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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200 rnds through 2 rifles so far. no problems, no anomolies. cleanup appears to be the same. lot WK12, headstamps are WCC 04 and 05, both with NATO crosses. sticks are an all-BM M4-ish 16" 1/9 carbine, and a BM lower + Denny's Recon SS 16" 1/7 upper. have not chrono'd but Q3131 *seems* to have a tiny bit more ooomph than my usual diet of Q3131A. ar-jedi   |
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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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. |
tying in the following relevant thread for follow-up: ar15.com/forums/topic.html?b=3&f=16&t=263230 ar-jedi |
| 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 |
| 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. |
| 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. |
| 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 |
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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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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