Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters What would you do if you were gifted with...

...a 223 WSSM?

A friend who likes guns but is not much of a shooter has a near-new Winchester 70 in 223 WSSM. He still has the two boxes of ammo he bought with the gun.

He's hinting that he will sell it to me for nearly nothing - if not just give it to me when I move in a month or two.

I have no use for a .223 caliber rifle that shoots 55gr soft points at 3800+fps - especially one for which ammo is nearly impossible to find (ammoseek.com only showed 3 online sources and one said to expect mottled colors on the brass).

Reloading is possible, but getting brass must be a nightmare. Also, I'm thinking the barrel twist will not support longer, heavier, better B.C. bullets - I'm not sure when it was produced, but he's had it several years.

I'd rebarrel but I'm thinking the feed rails might be at an awkward spacing to accommodate those short, fat WSSW rounds, making it difficult to feed anything much slimmer.

What can be done to make this rifle useful again?

I would pass it along to someone else unless you want to keep squirreled away for 10+ years and then it might be very collectible.

Don’t spend a penny on it, no scope, dies, cases, ammo, nothing!

What a great long range coyote gun if you reload, the brass is really sturdy and with some care 40 rounds should last a long time. Minimum sizing for a bolt action and anneal when needed you could have 40 rounds Last a lifetime. 52gr HP should get you out to 400 plus

I acquired a M70 .223 WSSM several years ago. Have told this story before, but even though the barrel wasn't that worn, according to my borescope, it wouldn't shoot better than about 3" at 100 yards, even with factory loads designed to stabilize in the 1-10" rifling twist.

So I sent it to Charlie Sisk, who rebarreled it with a faster-twist Lilja medium-sporter weight barrel he had on hand, which was VERY accurate. (He also found the factory barrel was really loose in the action threads, and in fact came loose with less than a full turn in the barrel vise.)

As erich stated, the factory brass is VERY sturdy, and lasts a long time. I haven't use my rifle all that much, but the cartridge works superbly on larger varmint and medium big game--especially if the rifling twist is fast enough to stabilize longer, high-BC bullets.

One other comment: Winchester make a mistake in promoting the .223 WSSM as the ultimate prairie dog round, since it will indeed fry barrels quickly when shot a lot when hot. But it's a fine cartridge for somewhat larger game.

Now that I think about it, a 50 or 55gr TTSX should be death on wheels for antelope or deer!

62 gr TSX works great on deer and hogs out of my .556. As does a 60 gr Nosler Partition

You could get it rebarreled to one of the short B&M wildcats.

Not a Gun writer but what in the heck would be the point in owning a rifle that you only shoot 40 rounds in a lifetime?
Shoot it or sell/trade the thing.

In my opinion frankly Id sell off the rifle as soon as I found a 'greater fool' but I'd hang on to the ammo, I promise it will be a collectors item, if it isn't already

I'd liquidate it for appropriate amount of money OR

trade to someone FOR something I wanted.


Jerry

Your reading comprehension is lacking, though I can also see why you made the mistake. He didn't say he'd only shoot 40 rounds in a lifetime. Instead he said 40 pieces of brass "should last a long time."

Which is exactly my experience.

If it were I, and my friend wanted to give me a rifle for some reason, I'd take it. If it were something I'd use a lot, great. If it were something I had little use for I'd play around with it some, but, to me, a gift is a gift. Take it and be grateful.

Clean the barrel good and see how it shoots. If it’s a keeper, more brass will happen eventually.

If he really wants to sell it, and you’re just a convenient customer, you can pass gracefully. After all, ammo for it is hard to get.....

I agree with cra1948. It's a gift! WTF!!! It's a Model 70!!! Like was said, the brass is sturdy. Also, you have the foundation for a wildcat. Rebarrel it to something in 6mm or 6.5 on the existing case with a reasonably tight twist. If you chamber it on the existing case then you don't have to worry about the feed rails.
Speaking about sturdy brass, I'm not sure how sturdy Remington, Winchester, or Federal brass is in .270 Winchester, but that's what I used and I bet I haven't used 100 rounds of brass reloading my .270 Win. in the 50 years I've been shooting reloads in my rifle. I didn't start reloading until the early 80s for it but I had a guy that was reloading it for me with my brass until I finally started reloading it myself. I wasn't full length sizing it all those years (I do now for the last ten years or so) but still, those 100 or so rounds held up. Like was said, that .223 WSSM isn't something you'd want to shoot excessively. I feel you've got something with a lot of potential. If he gave it to me I'd keep it.

Take it, and rebarrel it for a 300 or 325 WSM for bigger game.

I'd sell it and get something I'd actually use.

None of the WSM cartridges will fit in a WSSM action.

That's one reason the WSSMs failed in the marketplace. Not only were the Browning and Winchester bolt-actions for them too short to be rebarreled to WSM (or other short magnums like the SAUMs), but you couldn't rebarrel any other bolt actions for the WSSMs.

I do believe the action is just a tad too short for those.

Now a 243 WSSM or a 25 WSSM......

Fotis,

A friend necked the WSSM case up to .35, and it works great.

Praise the Lord, someone out there is loonier than me! 😃