223wssm

i may be getting one in a winchester model 70, i was thinking it was the best because it can drive a 55gr bullet at almost 3900fps
 
Great rifle the M70. The 223WSSM got all the paper ballistics of a champion. It would be as good as a .243 in my mind on Coyote, and a .243 is hard to beat in this role. Somewhat obscure caliber though, but if you reload or don't mind paying for factory, it's a laser beam annihilator. Those 55gr Ballistic tips when zeroed at 300 yards will not rise above nor drop below your line of sight more than 3.1" out to 350yds. All I can say is Beam me out there Scottie!
 
RememberTheSomme said:
Great rifle the M70. The 223WSSM got all the paper ballistics of a champion. It would be as good as a .243 in my mind on Coyote, and a .243 is hard to beat in this role. Somewhat obscure caliber though, but if you reload or don't mind paying for factory, it's a laser beam annihilator. Those 55gr Ballistic tips when zeroed at 300 yards will not rise above nor drop below your line of sight more than 3.1" out to 350yds. All I can say is Beam me out there Scottie!
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that's what i was thinking
 
I have had a couple of loads for the 220 Swift over the years that will exceed 3900 with a 55 grain pill by a bit [3940]
This is a laser beam, believe me!! Sighted 1½" high at 100, it's only down about 1¾ or so at 300. Pretty flat, by any standards.

Lays a coyote mighty flat, too. Exit wounds tend to be a bit ugly with the 55 though.

I think the 223 WSSM is on shaky ground though, so lay in some brass now, while it is still relatively easy to come by.

Regards, Eagleye.
 
I have one, the 10 twist barrel of a factory winchester can be an issue. Several of the bullets I have tried never made it to the target, and as the bore got rougher it got worse. 55gr ballistic tips and Vmax seem to hold together. For coyote I would think hard about the tsx or ttsx. I use the tsx in mine, flat shooting and leaves a smaller exit hole on a coyote. I hit one with a varmint grenade, I didn't lead it quite enough and hit him mid-ships. Pretty much destroyed the pelt. The tsx/ttsx are a bit more $$ but done blow big holes in the hide. For gophers the nosler B-tip seemed to work the best for me.
 
LongBomber said:
I have one, the 10 twist barrel of a factory winchester can be an issue. Several of the bullets I have tried never made it to the target, and as the bore got rougher it got worse. 55gr ballistic tips and Vmax seem to hold together. For coyote I would think hard about the tsx or ttsx. I use the tsx in mine, flat shooting and leaves a smaller exit hole on a coyote. I hit one with a varmint grenade, I didn't lead it quite enough and hit him mid-ships. Pretty much destroyed the pelt. The tsx/ttsx are a bit more $$ but done blow big holes in the hide. For gophers the nosler B-tip seemed to work the best for me.
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Longbomber when you say they never made it to the target are you referring to breaking up on exit from rotational torque, or not stabilized at all and wobbling of distant target? 1/10" is definitely good to go at .223Rem velocities but is the WSSM rotating them upwards of 400,000 rpm on exit even with only 1/10 twist? What make bullets do you feel are blowing up?
 
Buy lots of brass if you get one...I predicted that this cal wouldn't last when it first came out, and I was correct for once....Too much out there already in hyper velocity.22 cals, to make it a contender...If you load, go for it...It is a good round....The best? Hmmmmmmmmmm
 
On paper it is as good as it gets for .224 cal cartridges, but it's very hard to claim it's "the best". It's also going to be (as has been pointed out) fairly rare. If you want a cartridge that no one else owns (and maybe that no one else wants if you ever decide to sell it) and you load your own, then it will certainly work.

I'm an old guy, and I tend to stick with what I know unless there are some really good reasons to adopt something new. I just don't see any of those reasons in this cartridge.
 
Is the 223 WSSM the 22 cal speed king? How does it compare to a 22-284? I am asking just out of curiosity, other than rimfires, I am sticking with the 220 Swift, and if I can, build a bolt rifle around the 22 TCM. However these crazy fast 22's like the 223 WSSM are interesting as he!!
 
Had one in an a-bolt for a couple years. Never felt comfortable with the amount of pressure built up in the chamber, took a bit extra force to eject a spent round.(factory shells)
 
RememberTheSomme said:
Longbomber when you say they never made it to the target are you referring to breaking up on exit from rotational torque, or not stabilized at all and wobbling of distant target? 1/10" is definitely good to go at .223Rem velocities but is the WSSM rotating them upwards of 400,000 rpm on exit even with only 1/10 twist? What make bullets do you feel are blowing up?
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They blowup from rotational forces, same as from my 9 twist 22-250. The list would be pretty long, several bullets under 50 grains gave me erratic groups, or bullets that never made it to the target. I had some hornady 52gr hpbt that never made it to 100 yards, I put up a 36x36" piece of paper at 25 yards, looked like it was hit with #9 birdshot after a couple shots. I have no trouble stabilizing 75gr berger vld or 75gr amax, 90 gr bergers were a no go, not quite able to stabilize them.
 
I've got a m70 223wssm that I've been tinkering with for a while now. So far I've just tried Nosler 50gr BT with a bunch of different powders and the results haven't been great. Not much improvement over factory ammo which wasn't geat either ( 1.5 to 2 inch groups @ 100yds). Usually out of 3 shots two are almost touching with the reloads though. I've picked up some 55gr Vmax and Sierra boattails to try out. Trigger is smoothed out and breaks at 3lbs, barrel is floated.
I think I should try a different scope also just to rule that out.
 
I know they are more $$$ but give the tsx a try. My wssm only shot two bullets well at all, and the tsx was the best. The first produciton wssm had some barrel issues, and winchester was replacing barrels on the first run, they switched to a chromed bore to get more life out of them.

Is your rifle a push feed or a controlled round feed? Mine is a push feed, but I have been looking for a CRF super short for a bit.
 
I say it wold be quite useful for coyotes but an oddball but who cares if you reload and can get a lot of brass ? Dont reload...keep moving, nothing to see here.

For me 22-250 is not far behind (I was getting pretty close to 3800 with 55's in front of IMR-8208) and a lot more practical...If I needed faster than that I would jump right up to a 22-243 Middlestead
 
dead meat said:
I would go the 22-250 or 220 swift route.
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X2. Nobody I know of that ever build WSSM based precision rifles to ever get them to shoot with match precision. Me thinks it was too much of a good thing. 22-250 or even 22-250AI for 22 cal., but personally I have a love affair with 20 cal now.
 
when i started this tread, could have bought a model 70 in 223wssm almost new for $650, i have since bought a savage axis xp in 223, up grade the scope to bushnell trophy and came with 200 rounds of federal 55hp sierra gamekings for $500, no matter what i fed it everything goes in a 2" hole at 200yds
 
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