.223 super short mag

[DeadeyeChrista'sdad]

Tell me about it, ladies and gentlemen.
It looks extraordinarily fast.
Saw three rifles and 41 boxes of ammo at the Muncie gun show which had been sold sight unseen. Vendor said purchaser told him (over the phone) that he'd seen a coyote turned inside out at 400 yds by one.
Possible?

 

[patience0830]

The SSM cartridges have intrigued me since their inception. Inside out is an exaggeration, I'm pretty sure, but the concept of the short fat cartridges seems sound. I've seen a couple of pictures of head shot coyotes using the .243 WSSM that were very impressive. They will fit in AR 15 actions, I believe.

 

[Mgderf]

Most every example I've seen of any caliber "super short magnum" appears cartoonish to me.
I've always wondered about trying to force that much burned powder and gases through such a tiny neck.

 

[edwea]

I would imagine barrel erosion would be extreme. Not a good candidate for extended sessions at the firing range.

 

[johntheplinker]

I would imagine barrel erosion would be extreme. Not a good candidate for extended sessions at the firing range.

I've heard that before about the SSMs, one big reason they didn't catch on better is because of very short barrel life.

 

[AGarbers]

I was shopping for one a few years ago but I kept seeing comments that the WSSM cases didn't feed reliably. This is all hearsay, so take it as such. As far as turning a coyote inside out, I ain't buying it. Perhaps with the proper angle in the paunch, there could be entrail pushed out, but I've had that with .50 muzzleloaders and .44 magnum rifles which are both at the other end of the spectrum in velocity.

 

[NKBJ]

Fifty is nifty.

Boo on coyotes. Boooo(m)!
anything you can hit with that has enough cubic inches per second displacement.

 

[patience0830]

Rifle Cartridge Deathwatch: Winchester Super Short Magnums -

https://www.ballisticstudies.com/Knowledgebase/.25+Winchester+Super+Short+Magnum+WSSM.html

https://www.browning.com/news/tech-terms/wssm-winchester-super-short-magnum.html

 

[patience0830]

And the cheerleader.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.th...h-243-wssm-winchester-super-short-magnum/amp/

 

[DeadeyeChrista'sdad]

I was.gonna make a Denney wisecrack, but those links were truly helpful. Thanks.

 

[clayshooter99]

My buddy has 6 or 8 rifles in WSSM and WSM. They are all Brownings and this one that have been shot (I think 4 of them) all shoot really well. Biggest problem is consistently finding factory ammo (Winchester has went several times now for nearly a year without producing some of them) and when ammo becomes a problem the price goes high. Just two years ago some of this stuff was regularly 60+ per box. Another thing is extreme muzzle blast...we were coyote hunting one night and he shot with the 243 WSSM and the side of my face felt like I got slapped with the muzzle slightly in front of me and about 2 1/2 feet away. I dont own any of them yet, but if I was shooting 300 plus yards on a regular basis I would have one. Wife and I kill all our deer and antelope with 223's and 243 Win.

 

[patience0830]

I was.gonna make a Denney wisecrack, but those links were truly helpful. Thanks.

Just trying to help. Worth what you paid for it.

 

[two70]

I own a .243 WSSM, a .25 WSSM, and a .358 WSSM. Both the .243(Model 70) and the .25(A-bolt) were specifically built around the WSSMs and feed perfectly. The .358 is a conversion from a .300 WSM Savage and it feeds most of the time but has a occasional hangups.

The claims of burning up barrels quickly are largely overblown in my opinion, as they usually are. If you intend to do high volume prairie dog shooting, competition shooting or mag dumps through an AR chambered in .223 WSSM then you will likely go through a few barrels(not to mention wracking up quite the $$$ in ammo). If you don't shoot an extremely high volume and keep the barrel relatively cool, your barrel will last a long time.

IMO, the WSSMs offer a lot of performance in usually short handy rifles. I wouldn't recommend taking the plunge if you rely solely on factory ammo but if you reload a WSSM is worth considering. My 3 WSSMs have been easy to reload and tend to be highly accurate. Both the Winchester and Hornady brass are high quality, normally available and last a long time.