223 wssm

[223 rem]

anyone using 223 wssm

[Yetidude69]

I dont own one but i did use a .223 and .243 wssm for wallaby and fallow shooting out in New Zealand, both very good rounds, the 243 being favoured shooting the little 55grn bullets! Fast and flat shooting:)

Only problem was the barrel life, granted both had sporting barrels, but after 1000 rounds accuracy went from clover leafing to a couple of inches!

.223 would make an awesome foxing round over here if you can live with barrel life!

atb James

[gbal]

I dont own one but i did use a .223 and .243 wssm for wallaby and fallow shooting out in New Zealand, both very good rounds, the 243 being favoured shooting the little 55grn bullets! Fast and flat shooting:)

Only problem was the barrel life, granted both had sporting barrels, but after 1000 rounds accuracy went from clover leafing to a couple of inches!

.223 would make an awesome foxing round over here if you can live with barrel life!

atb James

 

It would be almost an exact duplicate of the 243w with the same bullet (win 55g ballistic silvertip.BC .276, (drop/drift/energy):

 

223 wssm @ 3850 fps 200y 0/3.4/1147 400y -13.6/14.9/704

 

243 win @ 3910 0/3.5/1184 -13.1/15.4/729

 

I suspect the 243 would have rather better barrel life.

 

Gbal

[Laurie]

Expensive, hard to get hold of and massively thick brass. The 243 version does very little that the antediluvian .243 Win can't do, except it's rated at higher max pressure (and factory ammo is loaded to it!). I shot a 243WSSM Winchester Stealth out in well under 1,000 rounds - as Gbal says, the 223 version will be (considerably) worse.

 

Both versions give VERY hard bolt lift and extraction at anything like full pressures. Unless it's a custom build, you're restricted to the Browning / Winchester action which marries a 0.550" dia. magnum bolt face to an ultra short action and bolt length. if you subsequently want to rebarrel to a more practical design, the only way you can do so is by having the bolt-face bushed down to 0.473" and the extractor modified to suit the large number of cartridges that use this case-head dia., but even so, the super-short action won't accept designs like the 243 and 308 with a ~2.8" COAL.

 

.22-250 or .220 Swift seem more viable numbers to me. If you want a super-hot barrel burning .22 varminter, the .22 Middlestead does it on a standard action using re and fire-formed .243 brass and whose only downside is the cost and availability of limited production / custom dies. Otherwise it's a simple rebarrelling job once you've found a gunsmith with a Middlestead reamer. Simpler still is the .22-243 Win that only needs a .243 bushing die and a seating stem change on the seater die, simple neck-down and no fireforming.

[gbal]

Just to add to Laurie's comments,the 243 wssm with the 55 ballistic tip (BC.276) @ 4060 fps runs thus:

 

200y 0/3.2/1280 400y 12/14/794

 

so a little more energy,but really very little drop/drift gain over the standard 243 win (see earlier post),all at condsiderably higher pressure (as L says)-has to be as case capacity is very close.

You would have to want it bad-but why-to chose it over the standard 243w-unless you don't like much choice in factory ammo...wssm has 55,95 and 100g loads...4 of them,compared to 243 around 40,just in US...and of course,a tad more recoil.

 

A comparison of the 243wssm and 243w does yet again make clear just how little ballistic gain there is from a hotter version....150 barrel burning fps for 3.9 "rather than 4.3" drop at 300y(7.5 and 8.2 drift).

Resistable ?.....of course if 1013 ft lbs will do your job and 934 won't,then that is there too,though if you need 1013,perhaps you'd do better with a bit more anyhow...maybe from a 6.5,7mm..?

 

gbal

[Andrew]

I have a friend that has won two new Model 70 223WSSM rifles at raffles. We shot them and shot them and in the end, could never achieve the accuracy of his 22-250, or 220 Swift. In fact, I seldom saw a group under 3/4 MOA. He is so frustrated with them that he has offered to give me one of the rifles along with dies. I declined. ~Andrew

[Yetidude69]

I have a friend that has won two new Model 70 223WSSM rifles at raffles. We shot them and shot them and in the end, could never achieve the accuracy of his 22-250, or 220 Swift. In fact, I seldom saw a group under 3/4 MOA. He is so frustrated with them that he has offered to give me one of the rifles along with dies. I declined. ~Andrew

 

 

We found that using factory winchester ballistic tip ammo both would clover leaf at 100 yrds no problem! They were stupidly accurate to begin with considering it was the winchester model 70 sporter barrel, even with a quick succession of multiple shots.

If barrel life was better, id certainly be very happy to own one.

[Andrew]

 

 

We found that using factory winchester ballistic tip ammo both would clover leaf at 100 yrds no problem! They were stupidly accurate to begin with considering it was the winchester model 70 sporter barrel, even with a quick succession of multiple shots.

If barrel life was better, id certainly be very happy to own one.

We had no such luck.We shot several hundred rounds of handloads with nothing approaching consistent accuracy. We did get the occasional good group but our average was just under 1 MOA. The best i shot was 3/4MOA. Additionally, one of the rifles absolutely wouldn't feed worth a dam. Glad yours worked.~Andrew

[gaz6br]

My mate had a 223 wssm for foxing 55gr vmax it was messy to say the least

 

Gaz