.225 Winchester

The .225 Winchester cartridge was created in 1964 by the Winchester Repeating Arms Company. Based upon the .219 Donaldson Wasp cartridge, it is a semi-rimmed cartridge, which was an oddity for a cartridge introduced at the time. It was intended as a replacement for the .220 Swift cartridge, which despite being a very powerful varmint round, had a reputation for wearing out rifle barrels prematurely. The .225 Winchester was initially chambered in factory rifles by Winchester (Models 70 and 670) and Savage (Model 340). All commercially produced rifles chambered in .225 Winchester were turn-bolt operated actions.

The round never achieved great popularity and was soon eclipsed by the .22-250 Remington, which was introduced commercially the following year. The .22-250 Remington was already a popular wildcat, a non-official custom cartridge, and, as such, many more people were familiar with the round. Winchester ceased production of any rifles chambered in .225 Winchester in 1971. Very limited production of loaded ammunition and brass cases are continued by Winchester. Reloading dies for the round are still produced by Hornady and RCBS.

Ironically, the .220 Swift, which the .225 Winchester was intended to replace, has remained popular and has experienced a renaissance in recent years.

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Cartridge:rifles