Winchester .223 Remington 55gr Varmint X Review

Check out this review of the Winchester .223 Remington 55gr Varmint X bullet designed for predator and varmint hunting.

Today I completed my second video review testing Winchester’s .223 Remington 55gr Varmint X bullets. While they did perform well, they did not work quite as well as Hornady’s V-Max bullets in the testing.

For the test I used a Sig Sauer M400 FDE enhanced rifle. The rifle has an 16″ barrel with a 1:7″ rifling twist and is topped with a Leupold Mark AR 1-4x20mm scope.

Using my chronograph, the Winchester Varmint X bullets had a mean velocity of 2835fps, a standard deviation of 24, a high velocity of 2879fps, a low velocity of 2783fps, and an extreme spread of 96fps. Winchester advertises a velocity of 3240fps for the Varmint X, but I obtained velocities about 400fps slower, most likely due to the fact that I was using a shorter barreled rifle with a faster rifling twist than their test rifle.

After firing a few of shots at a steel plate to get a feel for how the Varmint X bullets shot, I fired four five shot groups off of a bench rest for accuracy. My smallest group size was 1.3″ and the average size of the groups was 1.5″. Between the groups I shot for accuracy and the shots I fired to test the velocity, I shot 40 rounds of Varmint X ammunition and I did not experience any malfunctions whatsoever.

While I obtained very good results during this test, the 55gr Varmint X bullets will likely perform even better in rifles with a slower rifling twist and a longer barrel than my Sig Sauer M400. All in all, the Varmint X bullets performed well enough to use for predator hunting at reasonable ranges, though Hornady’s V-Max bullets did slightly better out of my rifle.

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To learn about some of the many cartridges designed to improve upon the .223 Remington and 5.56x45mm NATO and still function in an AR platform, as well as how the cartridge stacks up next to some other high velocity cartridges that are popular for varmint hunting, check out the articles below:

.300 Blackout vs 7.62×39: Everything You Need To Know

223/5.56 vs 300 Blackout vs 308 Winchester: Which Is Best?

6.5 Grendel vs 6.5 Creedmoor: Which 6.5 Is Right For You?

6.8 SPC vs 6.5 Grendel: What You Need To Know

450 Bushmaster vs 458 SOCOM vs 50 Beowulf: Battle of the Big Bore AR Cartridges

22-250 vs 223 vs 204 Ruger vs 220 Swift: Clash Of The Speed Demons

224 Valkyrie: Should You Buy One?

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NEXT: 5.56x45mm NATO vs .223 REMINGTON

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