Craig Boddington was the senior contributing editor of our modern gun and ammunition caliber dictionary. Craig was involved in the development and testing of many of these and writes from first hand experience. This dictionary was written exclusively for Wholesale Hunter with unique information found nowhere else.
GUN CALIBER DICTIONARY
Rifle
243 Winchester Super Short Magnum
The 243 Winchester Super Short Magnum (WSSM) was introduced in 2004 as part of Winchester's Super Short Magnum family. It has a very short 1.670-inch case with a .531-inch rim and very fat .5559-inch base diameter. Design criteria were that it had to exceed 243 Winchester ballistics, which it does: A 55-grain varmint load exceeds 4000 feet per second; a 100-grain "big game" load develops 3110 feet per second. The short, fat case allows a smooth, efficient burning curve that is conducive to accuracy, which the 243 WSSM has. It is thus at least as good (and a little bit better) than the 243 Winchester as a combination varmint and big game cartridge. Like the other WSSMs, however, it has not become popular. — Craig Boddington