New rimfire cartridge 21 Sharp

[TheM1DoesMyTalking]

A new rimfire cartridge called 21 Sharp was officially introduced today by Wichester. There have been rumblings about it for several months as SAAMI data started to be published.

It sounds like their intent is to move away from the "heeled" 22LR lead bullets that are not optimized for manufacturing or ballistics and make it easier to produce copper/lead free bullets with slightly higher BC than 22LR.

Apparently they kept the brass and chambers the same size and reduced the bullet diameter to .2105. That way a rebarrel is all that's needed to switch.

Does anyone have experience with this new round? Is anyone rushing out to buy a barrel or new rifle? Have you seen 21 Sharp ammo on the shelves anywhere?

Do you think this is the beginning of a new era for rimfire, or do you think this will flop because it's too hard to compete with 125+ years of 22LR dominating the market?

 

[LeftyWilbury]

if winchester announced it yesterday, don't expect to see anything on a shelf for months, if not a year. and if it costs more than $3-5/box for 50 rounds, then it'll fail.

 

[PistolPete]

I read about it. Seems geared toward lead free, which really doesn't appeal to me in a rimfire, especially since they aren't fragmenting anyway. Heeled lead bullets never seemed to cause me an issue.

I am seeing (and fight at every turn in these meetings) more and more state and federal agency folks wanting a lead ammo ban for the sake of raptors. This 21 Sharp could be a response to the industry hearing those same rumblings.

I'd really love to see an extended 22 LR case, the length of a 22 mag, but which could also fire 22 LR, L, S. Then load a LR case with a fat 80 gr subsonic HP in a fast-twisted barrel... now that would get me excited.

 

[TheM1DoesMyTalking]

if winchester announced it yesterday, don't expect to see anything on a shelf for months, if not a year. and if it costs more than $3-5/box for 50 rounds, then it'll fail.

Yeah, I reach for rimfire because it's inexpensive, plentiful (except for shortages every so often) and fun. I agree that it will be hard for 21 Sharp to be successful if it doesn't have a lot in common with what has made 22LR so popular. Some shooters take rimfire much more seriously and compete in smallbore/NRL/etc with it. Their tolerance for pricing for match ammo is much higher than mine.

 

[MThuntr]

if winchester announced it yesterday, don't expect to see anything on a shelf for months, if not a year. and if it costs more than $3-5/box for 50 rounds, then it'll fail.

NRA American Hunter write up states MSRP: $15-25/100 rd box

 

[Pokerface]

Always love to see new cartridges and firearms, but I just can't see this making it very long . Any of the .17 rimfires out there need more support if anything like the .17 hm2 if you want a switch barrel or just go with the .22 WMR that already rules... Joe

 

[Axlrod]

https://www.rimfirecentral.com/threads/21-sharp-i-was-wondering-when-someone-would-do-this.1310291/?post_id=13490236#post-13490236

Please Welcome the 21 Sharp | Winchester Ammunition

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