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225 Winchester
- Thread starter Bobbidoll
- Start date
They both carry it, but alas, it's out of stock.Buffalo Arms, maybe.
It's going to be a tough one, AFAIK Winchester is the only one who loads it or makes the brass and it's on limited production status with them. When ammo gets tight limited production ammo gets sidetracked until times get better.
I've always considered the .225 Winchester one of those rounds that makes you scratch your head and say..."why??"
despite being the "velocity king" the .220 Swift had been on life support for decades, the .22-250 AS A WILDCAT had been eating the Swift's lunch in sales, for decades. Winchester finally pulled the plug, but their replacement didn't do any better, in fact, not as good.
A "semi rimmed" round, (rim dia is .473" so it works with the standard "06" boltface, but a slighly smaller body diameter than the Swift, with a little less taper, and is shorter than the Swift case, so smaller powder capacity, it always seemed to me the .225 Win was doomed from the start.
Add in the fact that within a couple years, Remington finally turned the .22-250 from a wildcat to a factory produced cartridge and that pretty much nailed the lid shut on the .225 WIn, the way it did with the .220 Swift, although much, much sooner.
They sold a few .225s, new stuff always sells some. but I, like a lot of other people looked at the .225, and passed it by.
It's not a bad cartridge, it's just one of those "orphans" today, and ammo is where, and if you can find it.
And, its truly alone, unlike some other "orphans" and niche rounds, there's nothing out there you can easily make .225 Win brass from.
I don't know if Winchester lost money with the .225, but I'm positive they never made anything near what they hoped for.
Unless the .225 you have is in the "collectable" category (or you expect it to be in the future) I'd consider getting it rebarreled to something in current production, if you want to shoot it. If you've got an M70 .225 new in the box with all papers, that's worth something to collectors. If its a shooter grade rifle, get it converted to something you can shoot, or let it gather dust, your call.
despite being the "velocity king" the .220 Swift had been on life support for decades, the .22-250 AS A WILDCAT had been eating the Swift's lunch in sales, for decades. Winchester finally pulled the plug, but their replacement didn't do any better, in fact, not as good.
A "semi rimmed" round, (rim dia is .473" so it works with the standard "06" boltface, but a slighly smaller body diameter than the Swift, with a little less taper, and is shorter than the Swift case, so smaller powder capacity, it always seemed to me the .225 Win was doomed from the start.
Add in the fact that within a couple years, Remington finally turned the .22-250 from a wildcat to a factory produced cartridge and that pretty much nailed the lid shut on the .225 WIn, the way it did with the .220 Swift, although much, much sooner.
They sold a few .225s, new stuff always sells some. but I, like a lot of other people looked at the .225, and passed it by.
It's not a bad cartridge, it's just one of those "orphans" today, and ammo is where, and if you can find it.
And, its truly alone, unlike some other "orphans" and niche rounds, there's nothing out there you can easily make .225 Win brass from.
I don't know if Winchester lost money with the .225, but I'm positive they never made anything near what they hoped for.
Unless the .225 you have is in the "collectable" category (or you expect it to be in the future) I'd consider getting it rebarreled to something in current production, if you want to shoot it. If you've got an M70 .225 new in the box with all papers, that's worth something to collectors. If its a shooter grade rifle, get it converted to something you can shoot, or let it gather dust, your call.
sorry about that , I coulda sworn it said in stock
If you reload though you could call these people next week, looks like they have brass in stock. At least it let me add it to the cart
https://www.rccbrass.com/product/225-winchester/
If you reload though you could call these people next week, looks like they have brass in stock. At least it let me add it to the cart
https://www.rccbrass.com/product/225-winchester/
armoredman
New member
I've never even HEARD of that caliber!
603Country
New member
If you can’t get the ammo, get the brass if you can. Then find a reloader like me (east central Texas) to help you work up loads.
Or, try Chad at Custom Reloads of Dallas. If anybody can supply you with 225 ammo, he can.
Or, try Chad at Custom Reloads of Dallas. If anybody can supply you with 225 ammo, he can.
The 225 Winchester was a rework of the 219 Zipper cartridge (NOT caliber, it is 22 caliber). Buy it on GunBroker, there's a bit of it on there.I've never even HEARD of that caliber!
Winchester was tired of the 220 Swift's reputation as a barrel burner and decided the old 219 Zipper was the answer (the Zipper had been fairly popular with benchresters in the 1940s). They added a rim sized for the standard bolt face and pointed bullets and went to market with it, never bothering to even ask themselves "WHY?".I've always considered the .225 Winchester one of those rounds that makes you scratch your head and say..."why??"
So they killed the 220 Swift because it was a semi-rimmed cartridge and replaced it with a semi-rimmed cartridge that was LESS POWERFUL in the era of Magnum Madness where an extra 10% in velocity was a sure seller (instead offering 10% LESS velocity).
So here we are 50 years later scratching our heads over why they would do that, the 225 Winchester is essentially dead, while the 22-250 owns the varminting category and the 220 Swift is still going pretty strong.
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