Yep, we have yet another new cartridge on the market. This time it’s a rimfire round from Winchester. The 21 Sharp is a new take on the .22 LR. It does away with the heeled bullet design, which allows for a wider variety of projectile styles and materials. Winchester is claiming superior accuracy to .22 LR, and more efficient lead free projectiles.

The 21 Sharp Rimfire Cartridge

The new 21 Sharp uses a casing pretty much like the .22 LR. The rounds are not interchangeable though. You do need a dedicated 21 Sharp firearm to use it. The cartridge is an evolution in rimfire technology and performance. Winchester’s engineers built the 21 Sharp for enhanced accuracy with both lead and lead-free projectiles.

Other ammo manufacturers have tried using lead free projectiles with the .22 LR but haven’t been able to match the accuracy that they can get with lead .22 LR rounds. With that in mind, Winchester built the 21 Sharp rimfire to perform with lead-free projectiles from the start, rather than trying to make it work later.

The new designs let Winchester offer a wider variety of bullets, too. The 21 Sharp comes in full metal jacket (FMJ), copper matrix and plated-lead options. Jacketed hollow point (JHP) bullets will be coming later and Winchester promises extreme expansion and energy transfer with those.

21 Sharp Ammunition Offerings

Game & Target 25-grain, Copper Matrix – Winchester designed, lead-free, rimfire bullet produces sub 1.5 MOA groups at 50 yards, designed to outperform all lead-free .22 LR offerings available today.

Game & Target 37-grain, Black Copper Plated – This bullet is the most comparable to a standard .22 LR offering with improved accuracy and offers an economical round for plinking applications.

Game & Target 42-grain, FMJ – Winchester designed this high- performance full metal jacket (FMJ) bullet for those high-volume range sessions with less frequent cleanings and more time for shooting.  

Super X 34-grain, JHP – The jacketed hollow point (JHP) bullet outperforms its rival, the .22 LR, in terms of accuracy, expansion and impact energy on small game.
The concept looks good, and the specs look impressive, but will yet another new rimfire round take off? Time will tell whether the 21 Sharp offers enough over the 137-year-old .22 LR round to make a dent in the rimfire market. Savage has already announced rifles chambered for it, so if you’re curious you can try it out right now.

For more information, check out Winchester’s website at Winchester.com

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