Winchester XP3 Ammo

[Dark Mavis]

On my past few elk hunts, I've been shooting Winchester XP3 180 grains out of my 300 WSM. I've been happy with their performance, but I always have a hard time finding this particular ammo for sale. It seems to always be out of stock at the places I look online for it, and I've looked at a lot of different sites over the past few months. Cabelas, bass pro, Natchez shooters supply, ammo to go, just to name a few.

If anyone could give me a few ideas on where I could possibly find some of this ammo in stock I would appreciate it.

I've shot the Winchester accubonds, and federal premiums loaded with partitions, so I may have to go back to those due to availability. If anyone has a favorite factory ammo that they shoot out of their 300WSM for elk, I would take suggestions also. I'm just tired of having to ration ammo for target practice, and Ive only got a box and a half of shells left. That's not going to last the rest of summer, much less the rest of hunting season.

Reloading isn't an option for me right now either, because I have to many bad habits already. Just not enough hours in the day to do all of it.

And if anyone that works at Winchester reads this, build another factory or two, please. We all need more ammo.

 

[Dark Mavis]

Bump this up.

Looked online again for about thirty minutes today. Still no luck.

 

[Tim McCoy]

You could try talking to a custom ammo maker, like Superior Ammo, and see if they can locate the bullets and load some up.

http://www.superiorammo.com/

 

[greyghost]

Winchester still shows the product on their web site but they have not been available for over two years.

Lots of good loads out there to replace it but I would take a look at the Federal Fusion 180g load.

 

[Sawfish]

Reading between the lines, I expect the XP-3 line to be phased out in favor of bullets along the line of the WW 95/5. All of the bullet/ammo manufacturers are hedging their bets on what the current administration might do regarding the elimination of lead in hunting bullets.

 

[Dark Mavis]

Sawfish, I don't really know what Winchesters situation is, but I just assumed with the run on ammo the past few years everyone was buying the stuff up before I could find it. Also, my opinion is that the XP3 bullet is a little more difficult to produce, so they are phasing them out to produce higher quantities of easier to produce bullets. (PowerPoint, ballistic tip, 95/5, etc.) I can't even find accubonds or E-tips for my 300 WSM. Kinda frustrating that they list all of that in their catalog but it stays on backorder.

Greyghost, I've looked at the fusions before and have considered them. Quality product at a very good price. I just haven't heard a lot of reports on how they perform on elk. Lots of guys shoot deer with them here in LA. I'm sure they will perform just fine, just haven't made up my mind about them.

 

[Tim McCoy]

I'd be careful with Fed Fusions for elk. They are advertised as a deer bullet, and work great on deer. We've used them on 8 cow elk with shots just behind the shoulder the past several years. We've had a couple almost grenade. Killed the elk, but had a larger bone been hit it could have been bad. 75% of the recovered bullets from Cows were perfect mushrooms, about 1/4 of the recovered bullets has a serious loss of bullet integrity. A few exited. The two issues were with the 140 gr 280 loading at 175 yards and 130 gr 270 at 225 yards. Both perfect broadside shots with excellent placement. Rattled me a bit. We'll be using a tougher bullet for cows from now on. I guess my assumption was they would perform like a bonded bullet. If you were at 308 velocities, a 180 gr Fusion would probably work fine, with a Mag, you could have issues, based on what I've experienced in smaller calibers.

 

[Sawfish]

Both Graf's and Midway are showing a number of different 300 WSM loads in stock. Graf's is showing 180 gr. Nosler Partitions and 180 gr Trophy Bonded in Federal Ammunition, and the 180 AccuBond in Nosler brand. Time to heed the words on Mick Jagger. "You can't always get what you want, but you can always get what you need"(LOL). I use the Partitions in my .308 Norma Magnum and .300 Weatherby Magnum, and I can tell you that they will kill an Elk just fine, as will the underrated Speer Grand Slam bullet. Good luck.

 

[Dark Mavis]

I gave up on Winchester, and picked up a few boxes of Federal Premium ammunition. I went with the 180 gr trophy bonded tip bullets. They have consistently been in stock everywhere I looked the past few weeks, and they are reasonably priced compared to some of the other "premium bullet" loadings. Gonna send a few down range this week and see how my rifle likes them.

 

[Sawfish]

I gave up on Winchester, and picked up a few boxes of Federal Premium ammunition. I went with the 180 gr trophy bonded tip bullets. They have consistently been in stock everywhere I looked the past few weeks, and they are reasonably priced compared to some of the other "premium bullet" loadings. Gonna send a few down range this week and see how my rifle likes them.

Winchester just announced a rebate on XP-3 ammunition. Go figure!