Winchester W Train & Defend Ammunition

Winchester White Box is so . . . white. Bland. Non-descript. While millions of gun owners consider minimalist WWB the sina qua non of range ammo, the ammunition company reckons new shooters need a little spizzarkle. Especially new female shooters, for whom a bit of low-recoil bling is just the thing. Not to mention range and defense ammo that matches. [Note: I’m not making this up. Check out the press release after the jump.] And so Winchester’s developed their W Train & Defend 9mm ammunition. To ensure newbies choose the correct cartridge for the correct application, the company’s tagged the boxes T and D (naturally) and stuffed the hollow-points into nickel-plated shellcases. I’m thinking the cost differential will be another clue, but the presser neglects to put a price on style. The company promises .45 and other caliber T&Ds in the future. Watch this space . . .

East Alton, IL – -(Ammoland.com)- With the growing number of ammunition choices at the retail counter confronting the influx of first-time gun owners, Winchester Ammunition has created the new W Train & Defend brand which provides a straightforward process when choosing training and personal defense rounds.

The W Train & Defend ammunition system is designed to provide threat-stopping power with less recoil to the shooter.  The system pairs its range-ready Train rounds with technology-driven Defend rounds, both designed to limit the recoil felt by the shooter. This system provides a perfect solution for new shooters, especially women, who are interested in training to become proficient with their personal defense ammunition.

“The influx of new female shooters to the outdoor/shooting sports category is significant and we are committed to making their experiences positive when it comes to selecting the appropriate gear, which includes ammunition,” said Brett Flaugher, vice president of sales, marketing and strategy.

“After an extensive amount of research, we believe this line of quality products will serve a community of new shooters and others who are excited to learn more about target shooting and personal defense, as well as responsible gun ownership.”

The Train rounds of the W Train & Defend system are identified with a prominent “T” on the package. Winchester developed these training loads not only with reduced recoil characteristics, but lead-free primers for improved indoor range acceptance. Packed in 50-count boxes, the Train offerings themselves are also distinguishable from their Defend counterparts with brass shell cases and full metal jacket bullets.

The system’s ballistically-matched Defend rounds are also easily identifiable on the shelf, featuring a prominent “D” in a 20-count package. The high performance rounds were developed for threat stopping power. Utilizing Winchester’s advanced bonding technology, the Defend ammunition features jacketed hollow point bullets and nickel-plated shellcases, making them easily distinguishable from the training ammunition.

The packaging for W Train & Defend ammunition includes relevant data such as bullet type and weight, the caliber and whether the rounds are for training or defense purpose, providing straightforward information in an easy-to-read format.

The W Train and Defend system includes the following offerings:

W Train & Defend – T (Train)
Caliber Weight Type Velocity Rounds
380 ACP 95 gr. FMJ 950 fps 50
9mm 147 gr. FMJ 950 fps 50
40 S&W 180 gr. FMJ 925 fps 50
38 Sp. 130 gr. FMJ 925 fps 50
W Train & Defend – D (Defend)
Caliber Weight Type Velocity Rounds
380 ACP 95 gr. Bonded JHP 950 fps 20
9mm 147 gr. Bonded JHP 950 fps 20
40 S&W 180 gr. Bonded JHP 925 fps 20
38 Sp. 130 gr. Bonded JHP 925 fps 20
For more information about Winchester W Train & Defend brand and all Winchester Ammunition products, visit www.winchester.com, or connect with Winchester on Facebook at Facebook.com/Winchester.
About Winchester Ammunition
With a company heritage dating back to 1866, Winchester Ammunition was there for the taming of the American West, the Allied Forces’ victory in World War II and through the years, millions of fond memories made in the great outdoors. Known as The American Legend, Winchester is a global leader in sporting, law enforcement, military and personal defense ammunition production. Winchester continues to raise the bar with new products like Long Beard XR and Winchester Defender personal defense ammunition.
For more information about Winchester Ammunition, visit www.winchester.com, or connect with The American Legend™ on Facebook at Facebook.com/WinchesterOfficial.

48 COMMENTS

    • Silly boy, women don’t shoot high powered handguns. It might chip their nails.

      /sarc is redundant, I hope.

      • Hmmm…every woman I ever took to shoot all prefered a 1911 in .45. Except my ex. She is partial to CZ-75s in 9mm. And she prefers lever guns to AR’s. I think she has a Marlin 30/30 as her house gun.

      • “/sarc is redundant” – Yep. Years on the interwebs helps build a interpreter 🙂

        My wife actually handles .45 just fine. She just doesn’t like my 1911, says it’s too big to hang on to comfortably…..heh…..

  1. OMG Becky, your brass is like, super shiny. You’re such a betch. I like, can’t even shoot in the lane next to you, like, ever.

      • How did you react to that? It’s never happened to me, and I’m not sure if I’d be able to control my anger. I’m more comfortable shooting .45 ACP than 9mm, and it’s my belief women would prefer them, as well. Such a long, slow, controllable recoil. I could shoot .45 all day long; not true with nines.

        • I shot mostly 9s and it depends on the weapon and the ammo for the recoil. Smaller compact more recoil, larger heavier little to no recoil. .380 almost no recoil with my Bersa. Several factors come into play.

        • I didn’t have time to react, I was about 10 yards behind the line at the time and the intructor and range officer were on her almost immediately.

      • I’ve been “swept” a few times as well, but it was with 9mm handguns, so I would have been OK had there been an actual discharge.

    • What’s funny is that I actively want the “girly girls”, no offense intended, to actually start interjecting that way, in the still idyllic but commendable idea of an American society where guns are normal and owned by, y’know. Everyone.

      What you intend as a sarcasm, I think of it as a honest dream.

  2. On the upside, for shooting(….plinking???) suppressed, the 9 is in 147gr and loaded quite subsonic. I’m counting this as a win, if the price is within normal range. And I believe this is their second attempt at “train and defend”, they labled it something else previously, like sxp or something like that….I forget. Why not just call them all “bobos” that “go bang every time you pull the trigger” and cover the boxes in “BNG”(bold new graphics!)

  3. WTF is ‘spizzarkle’? Do the Defend rounds also have lead-free primers? If someone had the necessary equipment, how well would it work to disassemble both rounds and reload the Defend bullet in the Train case?

    • Spizzarkle: Word sometimes used in car reviews on TTAC back in the day, IIRC it was generally a Sajeev-ism. Though maybe it was Lieberman. I forget. Like craptastic it was generally referring to something flashy and generally not a complement (though Sajeev likes horribly tacky Lincolns, so his taste is suspect…)

      Was popular for a while. Thankfully, wasn’t beaten to death like C&D did with mellifluous in a day much farther back.

  4. I, pretty much, exclusively shoot Wolf and Tula as range ammo, runs well and it’s cheap.

    I’ve always considered Win white box the fancy range ammo, now it’s super highfalutin!

  5. 925 fps for a .38 special training round? Looks like the training round has enough oompah to qualify for a duty round. Seems a bit fast. Wonder what barrel length they’re testing this with?

  6. I’m totally stealing Spizzarkle.

    I think it’s a great idea. It takes some of the intimidation factor out of feeding the gun for new shooters, new carriers, and the section of the armed citizenry who don’t want to pour over ballistics charts.

    If it gets more people to the range to shoot, and carrying safer, more effective defensive rounds its good for all involved.

    Everyone I know is going to get a matched box set for Christmas!

  7. That’s great, winchester. Now if you could start making enough WWB to where I didn’t have to walk the ends of the earth or take out second mortgages in order to get some, I would REALLY appreciate it.

  8. The 147 grain “d” ammo looks like repackaged pdx1 147 grain ammo. It does have lower recoil than 124 grain loadings (physics at work), and is a good, modern bonded hollow point. I just don’t get why they have to continuously screw around with their brands. They’ve spent the last couple years building up the pdx1 line, and white box has had a solid reputation for many years, and now this? It’s not just winchester who does this either. Hornady also comes to mind.

  9. Hasn’t Speer/CCI been doing the same thing with their Lawman line for, like, forever? I guess the difference here is that Winchester is going with the low recoil for teh wimmen angle.

  10. My wife would get that if it wasn’t for her having me load her pink range bag for her . . . . She goes to the range with other stay at home moms about once a month or so after they go out to breakfast. She likes my glock 26 over anything else and refuses to clean the guns after shooting. Small price to pay to get her to get her to get her ccw and actually go shooting.

    • Yup.

      Make jokes if you want, but if it gets more people into shooting, it’s a win for us.

      Be nice to the noobs, we all started out that way.

    • Wow, they really walked straight into that one. Apparently at no point did anyone at Winchester make that connection…

  11. Not a bad concept. Same bullet weights, same powder and charge, and same recoil from training rounds and defense rounds. Just use different bullet designs optimized for their job. Wouldn’t find feeding issues, but youd save money on training without shooting underpowered stuff.

      • I think the Speer Lawman line actually does that. I’ve had some in 9mm before — flat tipped 147 gr FMJ to duplicate the weight and profile of Gold Dot defensive rounds.

  12. Propaganda but good propaganda I guess.

    Winchester knows that with the continued importation of ammo and the easing of an ‘ammo shortage,’ that they must be in the ammo buying public’s eye. Competition will drive down prices. This is an attempt to market their ‘wares’ as exceptional and a ‘cut above.’

    Fancy boxes sells ammo…..

Comments are closed.