21 Sharp, a new rimfire caliber from Winchester
The new Winchester 21 Sharp ammunition is similar in size to .22 Long Rifle, but features jacketed or monolithic conic bullets, faster and more powerful than .22, ideal for small game hunting and sport shooting competitions
21 Sharp, a new rimfire caliber from Winchester
Introduced by Winchester Ammunition on the US market in mid-September, the new 21 Sharp may very well be the most important innovation in the field of rimfire hunting and sporting calibers of the past decades.
Already available in north America as a caliber for several Savage Arms Mark II and B-series bolt-action rimfire rifles, Winchester's new 21 Sharp is meant to revolutionize the way rimfire calibers perform in hunting and sport shooting situations, particularly where the use of lead-based ammunition is banned or heavily restricted.
While dimensionally similar to .22 Long Rifle, Winchester's 21 Sharp ditches the typical heeled, Outside Lubricated lead or lightly plated round nose bullet profile of its illustrious predecessor, in favour of a conical non-heeled bullet available in leadless and jacketed lead variants.
Ammo manufacturers have tried with little success to incorporate lead free projectiles into use in the venerable .22 Long Rifle cartridge; notably, none of them ever met the accuracy and on-target performance that a lead projectile can provide due to the original .22 Long Rifle design.
Winchester's new 21 Sharp, on the other hand, was purposefully designed to provide top performance with lead-free projectiles rather than accommodating them later, and is available at launch in four different loads.
The 25 grain copper composite bullet load, available like all others in 100-rounds boxes, reaches up to 533,4 m/s (1,750 fps) of muzzle velocity, and a muzzle energy of 230,4 joules (170 ft•lbs); the 34 grain Jacketed Hollow Point load has the same muzzle energy, but is a bit slower at 457,3 m/s (1,500 fps) of muzzle velocity.
On the other hand 37 grain black copper jacketed lead bullet load will reach up to 407 m/s (1,335 fps) and 197,9 joules (146 ft•lbs) at the muzzle, while the 42 grain FMJ load – the heaviest of the bunch so far – will go as fast as 405,48 m/s (1,330 fps) at the muzzle and reach up to 223,7 joules (165 ft•lbs) of muzzle energy.
This means that 21 Sharp can boast a significantly higher ballistic coefficient than that of .22 Long Rifle, making it perfect for both small-game and mid-game hunting – where legal – and for those sport shooting disciplines that require highly accurate, long-distance shots with rimfire calibers.
More specifically, 21 Sharp stands a great chance to replace the venerable .22 Long Rifle as the king of PRS Rimfire, but only time will tell whether the new round will catch the sympathy of hunters and sport shooters, and the interest of gun manufacturers in offering their rifles in Winchester's new little rimfire powerhouse.