223 WSSM Ballistics

223 Winchester Super Short Magnum:

The 223 Winchester Super Sort Magnum is a centerfire rifle cartridge developed in partnership with Browning Arms Company and Winchester ammunition.

It made its debut and was formally introduced to the shooting public in 2003. The new .224″ short magnum cartridge was first chambered in Winchester’s Model 70 bolt action rifle.

The 223 WSSM is a centerfire rifle cartridge based ultimately on the 404 Jeffery class case, shortening and necking down a 300 WSM to twenty-two caliber and sharpening the shoulder angle to 28 degrees.

This gives the 223 WSSM cartridge a definite boost in case capacity.

The 223 WSSM cartridge achieves true wildcat performance at the factory level, providing varmint hunters and shooters with a very high level of .22″ caliber performance.

This is the first cartridge where hand loaders will have the option in a cartridge to load their own to performance beyond that of the 220 Swift or load at more modest barrel saving levels of 22-250 Remington velocities.

The 223 WSSM factory loadings show a velocity of 3,850 feet per second for a 55 grain bullet. While this is only slightly more than the Remington 22-250, which shows a velocity of 3,680 feet per second, barrel life for the two rounds will not be the same.

The 223 WSSM chamberings in Browning and Winchester rifles have chrome bores to slow throat erosion. And because they do, the 223 WSSM will have an extended barrel life beyond that of the 22-250.

The 223 WSSM is certainly a handloading, varminters, and wildcatters dream cartridge.

In Hornady’s sixth edition of: Hornady Handbook of Cartridge Reloading (<–more recent 10th edition), wherein the opening description of the 223 Winchester Super Short Magnum they stated “We examined the throat of the rifle with a bore scope after approximately 350 rounds and the erosion was significant.”

This cartridge is hard on barrels.

The 223 WSSM is such a revolutionary cartridge that, Hornady when making the above statement, they also said in the same handbook of the same page–Note: In the following data we were able to reach 4,600 fps with our 40 grain V-MAX. Our trajectory tables only cover that bullet to 4,400 fps.

Clearly in the Hornady statements, they, as bullet manufacturers, had never seen a commercial rifle cartridge produce such high velocities at SAAMI safe chamber pressures.

It exceeded anything prior by 200 feet per second.

This clearly made the 223 Winchester Super Short Magnum, the fastest commercial .22″ caliber centerfire cartridge on planet earth.

The 223 WSSM cartridge is only hard on barrels when handloaded to extreme velocities, all factory ammunition for this cartridge does not reach that point.

Because the velocity is high on the 223 WSSM cartridge, anyone new to varminting is going to find out quickly their rifle barrels will carbon foul.

This cartridge should not be fired in any rifle barrel more than 3 shots between total barrel cleanings and the barrel should be allowed to cool between each shot to maintain top notch accuracy.

For a beginner just getting into the world of long range varminting, the 223 WSSM cartridge is highly recommended as it offers excellent down range trajectories with plenty of bullet energy for very effective, distant kills.

223 WSSM Ballistics:

The 55 grain 223 WSSM factory loads reach 3,850 feet per second with 1,810 FT/LB of energy at the muzzle. At 100 yards, velocity and energy slow to 3,438 FPS and 1,444 FT/LB.

Rifle barrel length: 24 Inches.
Ammunition: Winchester 55 grain Ballistic Silvertip bullet.
Bullet diameter: .224 inch.
Bullet weight: 55 grains.
Bullet ballistic coefficient: .276.
Rifle zero: 240 yards, 1″ mid-range rise.

Rifle barrel length: 24 Inches.
Ammunition: Winchester 64 grain Power Point bullet.
Bullet diameter: .224 inch.
Bullet weight: 64 grains.
Bullet ballistic coefficient: .233.
Rifle zero: 260 yards, 2″ mid-range rise.

For even more, check out our centerfire rifle ballistics chart.