Thanks for sharing. Ron Spomer explains the concept well. Whether it will be as successful as the .22LR only future will tell us.
Re: A new rimfire cartridge by Winchester
Posted: Tue Nov 05, 2024 10:07 am
by timmy
There's little doubt in my mind thst a better cartridge than the 22 LR can be designed.
It is possible that this new Winchester cartridge is just such a design, or perhaps not.
Heeled bullets that are outside lubricated have been obsolete for many years. One thing that mitigated against them was bullet lubrication and making the bullets as velocities increased -- the low velocity of 22 LR and even the increased velocities of faster rounds like Stingers and others show that the limits of the heeled outside lubricated bullets don't confer a substantial performance penalty.
But the largest factor here is that the tremendous number of 22 LR ammunition produced for the tremendous number of 22 LR shooters and the tremendous number of 22 LR rifles and handguns. This means that 22 LR enjoys a huge advantage in production numbers, which makes the ammunition so affordable. Very few people will have the new Winchester round chambered in new guns and thus the economies of scale will not discount the new ammunition like it does for 22 LR ammunition.
The USA is the 800 Kg gorilla iin the gun market. Many shooters have 22s, but the devoted gun afficianados have thousands of rounds stashed away (especially when there is a threat to gun rights that is percieved) and such are buying bricks (500 rounds), cases (10 bricks) or even pallets of 22 LR at a time. This accounts for much of the sales volume, not the shooters who buy an occaisonal box of 50 at the local sporting goods store.
This is a good idea, but good ideas have been tried before in the low cost rimfire market, like 22 Auto, 22 Magnum, 5mm Remington, and 17 Hornady.. 22 Magnum still hangs on and is somewhat of a niche product, but from my perspective, this new cartridge has a tough job ahead if it can even hang on, but frankly, I cannot see it or anything else taking the place of 22 LR.
Re: A new rimfire cartridge by Winchester
Posted: Tue Nov 05, 2024 8:33 pm
by eljefe
I am tempted to pull a .22LR projectile and crimp a .223 40gr projjie and see how it goes