Win 223 Rem 45 GR. JHP Varmint High Velocity

[Sven]

Anyone have experience with this Winchester 223 ammo?

Fast stuff - 45 grains at 3600 fps.
Says speced out for 1 in 9 or slower twist barrels

40 round value packs at Walmart.

 

[MissileCop]

Good stuff, from my experience.

It's actually one of the few that my Mini-14 enjoys. With the 45grs., I can be pretty consistent with a 1.5 - 2" group at 100 yards with them. But then again, every Mini is different.

Have never had any failures with it, in either my Mini or my AR.

 

[Dave R]

They mean the part about 1/9 twist. I shot some from my SAR-3, which has a twist of 1/8 or so. Maybe 1 in 3 came apart in flight. The rest were pretty accurate, though.

 

[cordex]

Sven,
My AR didn't like it (which is odd, it usually doesn't care what I feed it). Sometimes it would smash the bullet back into the case. I think this is probably because of a lack of crimp.

Would be decent for a bolt-rifle, I'd wager.

 

[Elarski]

I've used it in both my AR and my Ruger MkII. It has proven to be accurate and reliable...except for that one time. I was shooting my Ruger, and was about 15 rds. through the box, and the next shot felt stronger than the rest. I then saw some smoke coming from the floorplate...uh oh! WTH! I "attempted" to open the bolt, but it didn't budge under normal pressure. Praying the bolt handle didn't come off in my hand, I yanked on the bolt handle, and it opened. I extracted the spent case, and it was intact minus the primer (never found it). I inspected other cases, and none showed signs of excessive pressure. Like I said,that was the only bad experience I've had with this ammo. Good Luck.

 

[Coltdriver]

I have not used that ammo but I will make a quick comment on the twist because I have recently studied the topic for .223.

You can get away with a 1/14 twist on a light .223 round like this one. The .223 chambering was developed around a 55 grain NATO round. I even think the early colt/AR (M 16's) had a 1 in 12 twist.

The faster twist is needed to stabilize a heavier round.

Bushmaster really popularized the 1 in 9 twist for .223. It is excellent for up to a 65 grain round and works fine even on these light 40's.

You can see why some of them came apart with a 1 in 8 twist as noted witht the SAR.

 

[uglygun]

very early AR15s had 1:14 twist barrels if I recall correctly, weren't quite appropriate for really cold weather if I remember and the twist was tightened to 1:12. Then the various 1:9, 1:8, and 1:7s developed as rounds became heavier or obsessively long(M856 tracer...).

 

[JohnMc]

cordex is right on the mark. It'll get easy sub 1" groups from my CZ bolt gun (I forget the twist rate) and I've seen 1 hole groups from my buddy's Ultralight Arms bolt action.

JohnMc