225 Winchester - The Falling of a Great Cartridge

In the world of small calibers there are many of choices but the one caliber that has been able to stick around as the undisputed champion of the small calibers has been the 22 caliber bullets. Within the 22 caliber cartridges there has been a large number of cartridges for the 22 caliber bullets that have added variations to the performance of the 22 bullets, the 225 Winchester is just one of them. In 1964 Winchester released what at the time was considered to be an odd looking 225 cartridge to replace the older 220 Swift cartridge. Winchester decided to re create the Model 70 bolt action in both the sports and varmint types, to help bring the new 225 Winchester cartridge to the U.S. market. While the 225 Winchester cartridge is officially has what is called a semi trimmed case it is a rather large rim for its type of cartridge. The rim of the 225 Winchester cartridge is exactly the same as the 30-06 rim diameter yet feed just like a rimless cartridge when fed from a box magazine. This made chambering rifles with standard bolt faces could easily be chambered for the 225 Winchester cartridge.

Although the 225 Winchester cartridge had no limitations to really keep it from becoming popular the 225 Winchester did fail to become the commercial success that Winchester had hoped for. The stiff competition that the 225 Winchester cartridge was what really kept the 225 Winchester from achieving any form of high popularity. The real cartridge that had a huge hand in keeping the 225 Winchester cartridge buried was the 22-250 Remington cartridge. Just 1 single year after the introduction of the 225 Winchester, Remington decided to release its 22-250 cartridge for commercial markets. The 22-250 Remington cartridge was won of the most famous wildcat cartridges ever to hit the market and with a more commonly designed case other firearms and ammunition manufacturers went with the 22-250 Remington instead of the 225 Winchester. This kept the 225 Winchester from reaching its peak popularity, the 22-250 Remington has a strong reputation for long range varmint shots and overall great performance, the 225 Winchester simply could not top the rock solid position that the 22-250 Remington had already built. With the exception of the 300 Savage Model 340 no other commercially available rifle was ever chambered in the 225 Winchester. In one of the oddest ironic twists in the shooting sports world the 220 Swift cartridge that the 225 Winchester was going to replace, is actually gaining popularity recently while the 225 Winchester cartridge is actually facing obsolescence. Winchester still lists the 225 Winchester cartridge in their catalogs but they no longer offer unprimed cases or the cartridge. Meanwhile J.D. Jones over at SSK Industries made an impressive run of 225 based cartridges for some of the custom made Contender pistols, and these require a supply of 225 cases to survive, but only the future will hold the answer for the use of the 225 cases or even the 225 Winchester cartridge. Even with the 225 Winchesters low popularity there are still those who reload the cartridges for the 225 Winchester, so the actual idea of the cartridge going extinct may never truly become a reality but it may come up against some really hard times, showing some interest across the market for the 225 Winchester cartridge would help save this unique cartridge from the grave.