During today’s Media Day at the range I stopped by the Winchester booth and had a look at the new ammo lineup.

They have some interesting ammunition coming out this year. As most of you recognize when a new shooter is being trained they will do well with training ammunition but be shooting all over the place with personal protection ammunition. The student also has trouble with the recoil not only as it relates to accuracy but it can also hurt the new shooters hand. This can cause some to give up on the idea of shooting. That person may also go ahead and carry without the needed training.

The new “Train & Defend” ammo is made to solve this problem. What Winchester has done is make training ammunition with a jacketed flatnose as well as a copper jacketed hollowpoint. Sounds pretty normal doesn’t it. Well the difference is both rounds have the same weight bullet with the same powder charge so that whether the shooter fires the training ammo or personal protection ammunition the recoil is the same as is the point of aim point of impact.

In my view this is a big step forward allowing a new shooter to train with the jacketed flatpoint and carry the defense ammo knowing the recoil and point of aim will be the same. This cures the flinch many new shooters display when they shoot defense ammo. Not only is this a valid concern but from a cost standpoint they won’t break the bank having to practice with both types of ammo. They can train with the practice ammo and just buy a box or two of protection ammo and save a fair amount of money especially if they intend to practice a good deal.

Honestly I don’t know why someone hasn’t come up with this idea before. Available calibers will be 38 special, 9mm and 40 S&W. I did ask about 45 acp and was told they have no current plans to produce a 45acp selection. I could only think of one reason and that’s the lack of ability to make a practice and defense ammo load with the same bullet weight and velocity.

I did shoot some of this ammo and had the safety officer load the gun mixing types so I would know which I was shooting. It turns out I couldn’t tell any difference between the two. If you train new shooters this would be a round to consider.