Just wondering if any industry people have had a chance to grill a Winchester rep on their Power Core strategy and get a non-speculation-based perspective?
From their site, it appears to be six bullets loaded for 12 different cartridges (seven and thirteen if you count the "Razor Boar XT" line that appears to be exactly the same except for the powder and includes 7.62x39). It's been available for several years now, and there's virtually no chatter about it on the web. It's out of stock most places that list it, except in California.
It seems like Winchester's entire strategy is to "be priced right and be there". Slightly more wordy... be $10-15/box below factory loaded ammo with Barnes, Nosler or Hornady bullets, and rely on their distribution to make sure they are in every Walmart that sells ammo in a lead-free hunting zone. They will for sure get the kind of hunter who goes to buy a box of ammo for the season, buys whatever's cheapest, uses half a dozen rounds to sight in at the range, and brings home a deer or two and maybe a couple pigs for the next few years with that same box.
But to a rifle loonie, it might as well not exist.
I've found comments that it's designed to replicate the performance of Power Points, which are well-liked by reloaders. They may not be the highest-performance stuff, but they get it done for most hunters in most situations and are a great choice among cup-and-core options. A monometal replicating Power Point performance would be especially great for people shooting lower-powered calibers, wanting the toughness of a monometal but maybe wanting reliable expansion at lower speeds. If that's the case, it would definitely be a technically differentiated product, filling a niche in the market that is currently available for an innovative company to go after.
If I bought a box of the factory ammo, I'd go to the range and see how it groups in my rifle. If it's good, take it out and shoot some pigs. If I like how that works, try it on stuff with longer legs. But a box of 20 might get me through the year. If it didn't shoot that well, pass it along to someone else to try or use it up practicing field positions. I probably won't buy a box, though. I'm a bit of a control freak, and it would bug me that I couldn't tweak it looking for that little bit more. And the price per trigger pull burns.
On the other hand, if they sold component bullets, I'd buy at least one box of 50, and quite possibly use up many of them seeking to optimize the load in my rifle. Once I had results I was happy with, assuming I did, I'd buy a few more boxes just so I'd be sure to have them on hand. In a short period of time, they'd have sold me many more of the bullets than they are likely to sell me in many years as loaded ammo. Of course, hand loads costs less to shoot, so I'd likely shoot more of them.
There are plenty of people who would stick with the known products because they are known, but there are plenty of other people who would try the new stuff just to see what it's all about. And if it worked well, they'd tell everyone.
Winchester sells brass, primers, powder and bullets. Not making their hot new product available to reloaders, so it can get dialed in and be made to work by the best shooters in the most rifles who shoot the most rounds, and used in more than the 12 cartridges they load at the factory, almost seems like they are trying to prevent it being too successful.
So I'm wondering whether any of the pros in the room can pass along input from Winchester, or have knowledge of relative volumes of product moved in loaded ammo vs. components that would explain Winchester's decision to not make the new bullet available in component form as being a logical business plan. Or are they just trying not to pee on the campfire of their business partner Nosler?
From their site, it appears to be six bullets loaded for 12 different cartridges (seven and thirteen if you count the "Razor Boar XT" line that appears to be exactly the same except for the powder and includes 7.62x39). It's been available for several years now, and there's virtually no chatter about it on the web. It's out of stock most places that list it, except in California.
It seems like Winchester's entire strategy is to "be priced right and be there". Slightly more wordy... be $10-15/box below factory loaded ammo with Barnes, Nosler or Hornady bullets, and rely on their distribution to make sure they are in every Walmart that sells ammo in a lead-free hunting zone. They will for sure get the kind of hunter who goes to buy a box of ammo for the season, buys whatever's cheapest, uses half a dozen rounds to sight in at the range, and brings home a deer or two and maybe a couple pigs for the next few years with that same box.
But to a rifle loonie, it might as well not exist.
I've found comments that it's designed to replicate the performance of Power Points, which are well-liked by reloaders. They may not be the highest-performance stuff, but they get it done for most hunters in most situations and are a great choice among cup-and-core options. A monometal replicating Power Point performance would be especially great for people shooting lower-powered calibers, wanting the toughness of a monometal but maybe wanting reliable expansion at lower speeds. If that's the case, it would definitely be a technically differentiated product, filling a niche in the market that is currently available for an innovative company to go after.
If I bought a box of the factory ammo, I'd go to the range and see how it groups in my rifle. If it's good, take it out and shoot some pigs. If I like how that works, try it on stuff with longer legs. But a box of 20 might get me through the year. If it didn't shoot that well, pass it along to someone else to try or use it up practicing field positions. I probably won't buy a box, though. I'm a bit of a control freak, and it would bug me that I couldn't tweak it looking for that little bit more. And the price per trigger pull burns.
On the other hand, if they sold component bullets, I'd buy at least one box of 50, and quite possibly use up many of them seeking to optimize the load in my rifle. Once I had results I was happy with, assuming I did, I'd buy a few more boxes just so I'd be sure to have them on hand. In a short period of time, they'd have sold me many more of the bullets than they are likely to sell me in many years as loaded ammo. Of course, hand loads costs less to shoot, so I'd likely shoot more of them.
There are plenty of people who would stick with the known products because they are known, but there are plenty of other people who would try the new stuff just to see what it's all about. And if it worked well, they'd tell everyone.
Winchester sells brass, primers, powder and bullets. Not making their hot new product available to reloaders, so it can get dialed in and be made to work by the best shooters in the most rifles who shoot the most rounds, and used in more than the 12 cartridges they load at the factory, almost seems like they are trying to prevent it being too successful.
So I'm wondering whether any of the pros in the room can pass along input from Winchester, or have knowledge of relative volumes of product moved in loaded ammo vs. components that would explain Winchester's decision to not make the new bullet available in component form as being a logical business plan. Or are they just trying not to pee on the campfire of their business partner Nosler?