.223 WSSM ?????????

J

Jason_Schmidt

New member
Local store is having a sale on a model 70 in .223 WSSM. A friend is buying one as I type this for $250 it also comes with a Simmons scope. I 'm not a Simmons fan but this seems like a pretty good buy what do ya all think?

Also What re-chamber options would there be with that bolt face?
 
Hey Jason

Dang. $250 for a M70 AND scope? NIB? That sounds like a shurnuff good deal to me. I am not a Simmons fan but for that money you can always put a better scope on later.

I think one reason those WSSM cals are getting cheaper is a pretty obvious- they aint selling. A friend of mine got a Browning A-bolt in 25 WSSM for a good deal too. Same deal- sat on dealer's shelf too long. Cut the price just to get rid of it.

They all have a rim diameter of .535 inch. The same as rounds such as the 7 Rem mag and the 300 Win mag. If this gun is a short action, and I suspect that it is, then my guess is that unless you want to go to a wildcat or one of the other WSSM rounds, you are stuck. Even more so if they discontinue making ammo for it, and my guess is that unless some miracle happens and suddenly they start selling, this is what is going to happen.

Anyway if I had one I would make sure that I had several years supply of brass on hand just in case. Personally, I think the WSSM rounds are doomed. I may be wrong- I hope that I am- but I dont think so.
 
Short action, big case, Nothing you can rechamber to. This caliber is basically a dead issue and that's the reason dealers are dumping them so cheap. If you do buy just get a good supply of brass and you should be shooting for years til the barrel goes then you can always rebarrel to the same thing.
 
Browning has stopped chambering rifles in the 223 WSSM, so there are NO new rifles coming out in this caliber - that is the official death knell of the .223 WSSM.

The caliber had very serious accuracy problems... the 12" twist meant that you limited to the 64gr soft points and the 60 grain plastic tipped bullets - at a time when large case 22 bore shooters are going to 75gr A-Maxs, and 80gr SMKs.

So it was a "gee wizz" caliber that had a horribly short barrel life, even with the chrome lined barrels, and accuracy was typically 2" to 3" at 100yds.

You couldn't get it rebarreled, cuz the standard stainless barrels had less than half of the barrel life of the original barrel (600 rounds??), so by the time you worked up a load, the barrel was close to the end of it's life.

It was a bad idea by the class of folks that are slowly ruining the gun business... people that have an MBA from Harvard business school, but never owned a gun. It's all in the marketing for them.


.
 
I field tested the round in a Browning A-Bolt... nice rifle but the round is very hard on coyote pelts... a .243 does less damage...it is loud...is difficult to manage... and I didn't think it grouped very well. I have heard that the Winchesters were even more erratic than the Brownings in this caliber. Finally, the round is expensive and will never be commonly available. www.cdnninvestments.com is running a special on Browning A-Bolts in .223 with the special short action and priced under $400. I'd advise spending a bit more money on something like that for predator hunting.
 
There are a lot of rumors about this cartridge being hard on barrels, not being chambered any longer, inaccurate, etc., some true, some not.

Browning is STILL chambering for the 223wssm (go to the website and look);

the chrome lined barrels have the same life as a 22-250;

accuracy in my son's Browning Abolt is excellent. It WAS horrible in the Winchester Shadow he had.

It is hard on pelts, but what do you expect when you push a 55gr bullet to 3,850. Slow it down if you want to save pelts.

Enjoy the round. It is the king of .22's!
 
My cousin got one (the Win.)when they first came out and I suppose I should ask what you shoots through it fo reloads, but he stopped using his other rifles for coyotes and bobcats. Heck he even loaded a Nosler Partition for deer last year -and took it cleanly.
 
I have one one of the Winchester in a Super Shadow, a Wally World special. Mine shoots great, easy MOA from the rest and with a cheap Tasco 6x24.

Shoot flatter than anything I own. I didi buy LOTs of cases to reload for it because I expect ammo to be hard to get in a couple of years.

Everything I have read about the barrel life has basically been that is no harder on barrels the a 22-250.
 
I would buy it at that price. I have the same gun and paid 400 for it. Great shooter, even with the Simmons scope. Do you think maybe they are trying to get rid of the winchesters b/c they are coming out with new rifles in 08, and not the caliber itself? I'm sure if winchester continues to make rifles, the 223 WSSM will be included in the line up.
 
I bought a Win 70 shadow for $350 new off Gunbroker, and so far it's been good. Accuracy right around an inch, best so far. I haven't played with bedding or any of that. I've been shooting 60 gr. V-maxs at around 3450 fps and some 65 gr. Sierra BTs at about 3300. And it WILL shoot 65s - at least as well as the lighter bullets in my gun. I figure it'll take me 10 years to wear it out, if at all. By then, a barrel won't be a big investment on a $350 rifle. I have a 4-12x AO Bushnell on mine. My son has one as well, and killed three deer with it last year with 55 grain factory loads. Two bang-flop kills on does and a 150+ lb. buck that ran about 50 yards.
 
Shoot, I'll throw in an extra $50.00 plus shipping for that. If there was one near me I would buy it for that.

There's lots of great wildcats on the WSSM, not to mention the .243 and .25.
 


Write your reply...
Back
Top