Author Topic: WSSM's? (Read 1020 times)

Lawdog · « **on:** October 06, 2003, 11:51:09 AM »

cknight98,

I have a Win. M70 Coyote in .223 WSSM. Haven't got to do the load development that I would like. Work has a way of getting in the way of these types of activities. So far mine shoots well under MOA, most of the time .75" and under. Beats the old .220 Swift by 100 fps. at least, but I'm not trying to push the limits of the cartridge. I'm looking for accuracy. There are going to be people that are going to try to tell you the WSSM cartridges won't feed right and that they are hard on barrels. They are wrong! I have had NO feeding problems of any kind. NO sign of barrel burn out or excessive throat erosion either. You can burn the barrel out on any cartridge you want by just load to the MAX all the time. I know a guy that burned out the barrel on a .257 Roberts by loading it to .25-06 velocities all the time. So far my .223 WSSM is everything I could ask for in this type of rifle. Lawdog

Lawdog · « **Reply #1 on:** October 07, 2003, 07:43:26 AM »

cknight98,

From what I understand Winchester shortened their M70 short action to accommodate the shorter WSSM cartridge. All I know is it's shorter than the M70 Coyote in .300 WSM that my brother in-laws wife has. So far I've run a just under 500 rounds thru my new toy(that's what my wife calls it). Still playing around with load development and things are going somewhat slower than I would like. Between job constraints, clients and taking care of the home front while the wife is going thru rehab getting the time to work with the .223 WSSM is hard to find. What I need is more hours in the day. Another shooter that also has a .223 WSSM is doing much more work on load development. He has more than double the rounds fired thru his than I do. He also reports no signs of excessive throat erosion. If the data for the .243 WSSM is anything like what we are finding out then I would say that Winchester has another winner with the WSSM line of cartridges. The hardest part about owning one, at least for me, is getting used to those little short cartridges. I'm used to handling Weatherby Magnums. My granddaughter is wanting grandpa to build her a south paw .243 WSSM. Reason is because "It's so cute". Lawdog

crow_feather · « **Reply #2 on:** October 09, 2003, 07:08:31 AM »

Lawdog,
Aren't those Coyotes nice rifle guns. I like the new fixed ejector, kicks cases out where I want them. I like the free floated barrel and the adjustable trigger - although the trigger was so nice that I didn't have need to adjust it. The rifle is accurate out of the box - my first five shot group (270WSM) was .85" at 100 yds. I handload everything and I bought dies for this rifle but I doubt that I could improve the ammunition sold over the counter. Sure and it is a bit heavy, but the rifle was made more for sitting than than walking the mountains. Nice part about the rifles weight is that the recoil seems mild for a "powerful" rifle. Winchester did well with this one.

Lawdog · « **Reply #3 on:** October 09, 2003, 11:27:18 AM »

crow-feather,

I like the weight of the Coyote. 9 pounds is just fine and is one of the reasons I bought it, that and the 24" barrel. My only complaint is that stainless barrel. I got a gunsmith friend researching ways to "blue" it. I'm re-stocking it with a Thumbhole Varminter blank from Royal Arms. I too like the accuracy of this rifle. It is somewhat better than my .224 Weatherby Mark V that I retired. I did push one load up to I believe near max. just to see what it would do. Although it never showed any signs of pressure I figured a 40 gr. Nosler Ballistic Tip going 4,651 fps. was fast enough but it did group just over .75". I decided to cut back to 4,100 fps. just to be easier on the barrel. Lawdog

crow_feather · « **Reply #4 on:** October 09, 2003, 04:00:05 PM »

Lawdog,
I'm suprised that it didn't fly apart on it's way down range. My 22-250 used to cut ground squirrels in half with a 55 grain at 3700 fps. A black bird would leave nothing but feathers. Imagine a varmit hit at 50 yds with a bullet travelling at 4525 fps!

C F

MF · « **Reply #5 on:** October 10, 2003, 05:52:34 AM »

CF,
I'm with ya on the 22-250 cutting squirrels in half! I've got mine loaded with 55 nosler b/t's @ 3600fps and they'll do the same thing. Works equally as well on exploding jack rabbits. I'm thinking about getting a .243wssm barrel for my encore to use as a truck gun as soon as some reloading data becomes available. Mike

Lawdog · « **Reply #6 on:** October 10, 2003, 09:02:00 AM »

crow-feather,

I did try that load on a few ground squirrels. They looked like a M80 had went off inside them. Pieces is the best description of what was left. I only loaded up some just to see what they would do on targets. Mostly I keep the 40 gr. Nosler Ballistic Tips around for my .22 Hornet. At just over 2,900 fps. they work very well in a Hornet on smaller varmints. Lawdog

GregH · « **Reply #7 on:** October 23, 2003, 09:39:08 AM »

Just got off the Hdgdon website and they have data for the 243 WSSM. It is not too impressive, but the new little Featherweight is, at least I hope.
GregH

Lawdog · « **Reply #8 on:** October 25, 2003, 08:04:34 AM »

Check out the Dec. 2003 issue of Gun World magazine. They have a good article on both of the WSSM cartridges. They were getting good accuracy even with those buggy whip, 21" barrels on those Browning A-Bolts they were using. They should have used a 24" barrel and then seen what the WSSM's could really do. The more I get to work with mine the better I appreciate it. Lawdog