I tried out Winchester Ammunition’s W Train & Defend ammo at the Texas International Firearms Festival (now scheduled for November 14th and 15th 2015). The ammo dudes loaded a mag with four rounds of 9mm Train ammo and one round of 9mm Defend ammo, mixed in behind my back. The challenge: ID which round was the more expensive Defend ammo. Nope. Couldn’t do it. So, as long as you’re OK with the Defend round, the concept is sound: train as you mean to fight. Guns & Ammo thinks so. The dead tree mag’s revived its formerly moribund Ammunition of the Year award to honor T&D. By their own admission [press release after the jump] the selection process was about as independent as you’d imagine . . .
“Our staff and contributors met privately to discuss, compare notes and debate in a ‘roundtable’ fashion, every new product introduced within the last calendar year. No one person guided the group in the direction of a single product or company, and no advertisers were invited,” said Eric Poole, editor of Guns & Ammo.
“If no one had hands-on experience with a product, then we didn’t consider it. We are setting the new standard of what it means to win an award of excellence in this industry.”
Yeah, no. The Truth About Guns set that standard with our Readers’ Choice Awards, where YOU the firearms consumer and enthusiast choose the products you considered worthy of a gong. [Click here for the 2013 TTAG RC Awards.] Oh, and ammo too. Last year it was Lehigh Defense .45 Colt Maximum Expansion. This year, who knows? That’s up to you.
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Winchester W Train & Defend Named Ammunition of the Year
Winchester Ammunition is proud to announce W Train & Defend has been named 2014 Ammunition of the Year from Guns & Ammo.
For the first time in a decade, Guns & Ammo has brought this award back to life by showcasing brand new products that prove to be excellent and innovative.
“Our staff and contributors met privately to discuss, compare notes and debate in a ‘roundtable’ fashion, every new product introduced within the last calendar year. No one person guided the group in the direction of a single product or company, and no advertisers were invited,” said Eric Poole, editor of Guns & Ammo.
“If no one had hands-on experience with a product, then we didn’t consider it. We are setting the new standard of what it means to win an award of excellence in this industry.”
The W Train & Defend system provides a perfect solution for new shooters interested in training to become proficient with their personal defense ammunition. It pairs range-ready Train rounds with ballistically-matched threat-stopping Defend rounds, each designed to limit the recoil felt by the shooter and to promote confident load selection for each caliber offered. In 2015, .45 Auto will join this line.
“When our new products win awards such as Ammunition of the Year from Guns & Ammo, it is a testament to our commitment to manufacturing excellence and new product development,” said Brett Flaugher, Winchester Ammunition vice president of marketing, sales and strategy. “Our team works extremely hard to bring new, innovative products like W Train & Defend into the industry. We are honored to receive this award, which proves we’re doing something right.”
About Winchester Ammunition
Winchester The American Legend is a global leader in sporting, law enforcement, military and personal defense ammunition production. Winchester continues to raise the bar with new products like Deer Season XP, Long Beard XR and W Train & Defend personal defense ammunition. Visit www.winchester.com or connect on Facebook at Facebook.com/ WinchesterOfficial.
But 22LR wins caliber of the year (again).
This is sort of a “meh” round for me, it has become a range ammo when I can’t get anything else. Dirtier than most ammo I shoot, and in 9 mm the only ammo I can remember that led to failures in both my Beretta Nano and a Glock 26. Pretty underpowered which I know is one of their low recoil selling points.
I picked up 200 rounds and had about 75 FTF’s with my XDm. If I needed training on what to do when a round does not fire, I may buy this again. However I think snap caps would work better and have the side benefit of being a cheaper alternative.
Wait, so is this endorsed by George W. Bush? He’s retired now, hence the gold “W.”
Ah, I’ve had a more exciting morning from my “friends” at Guns & Ammo.
I got a message via Facebook from Guns & Ammo’s Internet editor threatening legal action for calling the Taurus Curve a turd…
http://www.gunssavelife.com/?p=14745
John
Day-um.
We’ll post this.
Wow.
No opinions allowed?
Keep up the good work. Who even reads Guns & Ammo these days? It’s a wonder they are still in business, oh that’s right they are sponsored by all these manufacturers. The R51 comes to mind…
“I got a message via Facebook from Guns & Ammo’s Internet editor threatening legal action for calling the Taurus Curve a turd…”
TTAG’s review might give them an aneurysm…
I grabbed a bunch of the 9mm “train” ammo in 147Gr as cheap suppressor food… Absolutely filthy stuff, way worse than standard WWB and not even comparable to my AA#2 loads. Shot fine but weak, velocity was around 850 from a 5″ barrel.
Exactly. Really filthy stuff, wasn’t it?
Everybody picks on Winchester white box but I have always found it to be reliable, and there are still plenty of departments that issue the 147 JHP for use in their full-size duty pistols. Does not reliably expand out of shorter barrels, and it certainly is an older generation bullet design but it seems to do the job from a standard length barrel.
Federal HST is my carry round now, but I have plenty of boxes of WWB in 9 and 40 for the SHTF bag
We had issues in our testing (p226 tacops with octane 9Hd) of it being super dirty, loud, and a lot of blowback of particles into the shooters face. Was not pleasant to shoot.
I find that Field Time Target and Training 180 grain FMJ .40 reloads shoot to a virtually the same POI as my 180 Winchester Ranger 180 grain JHP .40. I can get the Ranger for $.50 / round from the LAPD Academy and the FTTT ammo for $.24 / round with a membership discount.
Pistol rounds with similar weights and velocities tend to shoot to a similar POI anyways, at least in my .40 cal Glocks and Smiths and Sigs, given a range of 10 yards or less. This whole thing isn’t a new concept.
Still, might be a good combo for novice shooters.
I bought 1,000 rounds of Speer 115-gr. FMJ. It’s loaded fairly hot, I hear. Used it all through Ayoob’s LF1 course. Not dirty, no misfires, jams, etc., in 600 rounds that week. I’ve shot it round-for-round with one of my carry loads, 115-gr. Federal +P+. In my Glock 19, I can’t tell the difference in recoil between the two.
And G&A’s Gun Writer of the Year Award goes to — Dick Metcalf! C’mon down, Dick, and get your prize.
Innovative… marketing gimmick. The American Eagle 180gr 40 S&W is rated at 1000 FPS and the 180gr Hydra-Shok is 1000 FPS and the HST 1010 FPS.
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