Thread: Winchester (USA) 22 40 gr subsonic vs Winchester (Aus ) 40gr Subsonic

With all the ammo shortages these days its hard to get the ammo you want sometimes. Australian made Winchester 40 gr subsonic is no longer being made but American Win 40gr sub is available.
By all accounts and reading about the American ammo it appears to be suffering from a bit of quality control and most people are complaining that it doesn't compare with the old Aussie round.
I bought a box the other day to compare the two and thought I would post up the results here so here we go.
I still have a small supply of the Aussie subs which are in the white packet then later a blue box, the USA made ammo comes in a plastic container with the slide lid.

I took them out today to run through the chronograph and see how they would group but conditions were less than ideal with misty rain and a bit of wind. I decided to set up the target at 25 yds due to the conditions.
First up the USA made subs went through the chrono at 1113 , 1093, 1148 , 1134 fps for an average of 1122 fps quite a bit faster than other subsonic rounds I have used.
The Aussie subs went through at 1023, 1057, 1030, 1042 fps for an average of 1038 fps, a lot more consistent and more in the subsonic velocity range.
USA made ammo had an ES of 55 fps while Aussie made ammo had ES of 34 fps.
The difference between the two comparing the highest speed and lowest speed was 125 fps and the difference between the two averaged speeds was 84 fps.

I have used the Australian made ammo since it first came out which was in the mid 80's (?) and have fired hundreds of thousands of rounds and never had a dud or one go supersonic as far as I can remember. The USA made ammo was different and several in the few I have tried were on the verge of going supersonic.
I only shot a 5 shot group with each as weather wasn't nice, the USA made 21mm group and the Aussie did 14 mm. Rifle was a Krico 5 shot B/A.


USA made Aussie made

I took both rounds out the other night for a night shoot after rabbits and possums, I ended up with 16 rabbits and 3 possums. The American ammo killed rabbits well and one of the possums as did the Aussie stuff. I did have several American made rounds that were once again close to supersonic in noise.

Some of the rabbits from the night shoot

Rabbits shot with USA made ammo

Rabbits shot with Aussie made ammo

The Aussie subs have a good reputation for double there size mushrooming effect which can be seen in the next photo, if they bullet hit bone they still tend to break up but when soft tissue is hit good mushrooming usually results, I haven't as yet recovered a USA made bullet to compare them.

Aussie subs

The next picture is of numerous bullets taken from Rabbits, possums, wallabies etc some are subsonic rounds and some are supersonic rounds but you can see how some break up and others mushroom well depending on what they encounter in the animal



So for this so far limited trial I think that these American made rounds aren't as good as the Aussie made rounds, they are faster and have a louder report, accuracy for a hunting round is OK ( might be able to improve on that on a better day). At about $13 a box I think it needs to be improved on.
If noise isn't to much of an issue these USA made rounds will be OK for general hunting purposes but the inconsistent speeds won't help with shooting tight groups. But if you have limited ammo to choose from I would still use them.

Compared the 42 grain aussie subs yet?

Originally Posted by caberslash

Compared the 42 grain aussie subs yet?

No haven't found any yet to try, I will when I do.

Originally Posted by caberslash

Compared the 42 grain aussie subs yet?

This is the heavier one of the two or is that 45gr?
If its the heavier one I tried some a while back. Very limited test not even a packet.
I actually don't remember how it grouped but I do remember it is the only ammo ever to not reliably function in my 10/22. Something like 3 out of a 10 shot mag wouldnt cycle the bolt properly. Probably very acceptable in a bolt, pump or lever action. Think I gave up and put it aside for just that

I rate the 42s over the 40s by a large margain.
good writeup.

Quite a collection of mushroomed projectiles, cheers for the write up

@muzza have you ever seen used stuff branded "aussie ammo" it was in white box with blue writing with map of oz on it...lead semi pointed eg had dimple in end.... bought it in late 80s and it was the shit.... my old remington loved it,possums and goats not so much,as they died quick smartly.
never seen it since or even an empty packet it anyones collection.

wish we could still get it.....lol

Originally Posted by csmiffy

This is the heavier one of the two or is that 45gr?
If its the heavier one I tried some a while back. Very limited test not even a packet.
I actually don't remember how it grouped but I do remember it is the only ammo ever to not reliably function in my 10/22. Something like 3 out of a 10 shot mag wouldnt cycle the bolt properly. Probably very acceptable in a bolt, pump or lever action. Think I gave up and put it aside for just that

There is a 42 gr version of the 40 gr which are a bit hard to find at the moment, the Aussie made 40 gr sub is the best ammo i have used for pest control. I used a large amount in 10/22 's and found it functioned very well , it wasn't till about 5000 rounds between cleans that the odd miss feed and non ejection would occur.

Originally Posted by 223nut

Quite a collection of mushroomed projectiles, cheers for the write up

Yeh when on the pest board I used to find plenty of spent bullets when skinning rabbits and possums, it's interesting to see how they perform on game. As I said before there is a marked difference in the mushrooming effect is when different tissue etc is hit.

cleaning out the hp with a small nail makes a HUGE difference to how much they will open up... we did it for years before powerpoint came on market,some times we would go further and slit lips of projectile too. ok if using 10 rounds for bunnies,but not practicle when using 500rounds a night.

My go to bullets were always Winchester/hushpower subsonic, powerpoint and pmc zapper which had the same terminal effect and shot to the same point of aim.
Deffo werent the same projectile but couldnt tell the difference in the field.

So no Aussie made winchester. 22 anymore, or just the 40gr subs?

@Dama dama think it's all goneski from a couple of years back
Probably a bit of the last of the stock that took a while to come through before we were stuck with the US stuff

OK. That sucks. I used aussie 22 for decades. Oh well, CCI goes good.