I am baffled why some think that the Sharp is supposed to replace and/or be better than the venerable .22LR. It is rather different tools for different jobs.
If you can hunt game in your state with either round then you have a choice. If so a .22 would likely be the economical and time-proven choice.
However in locations where it is a violation to shoot lead bullets in a hunting situation the .22LR is off the table. A .21 sharp with copper bullets would then move higher on the list of chamber options for a new rifle.
You hit the nail on the head. The 21 sharp is a marketing brilliant move. Basically all federal land designated as a flyway or any of the national wildlife refuges on water, lead has been banned for years. And the feds are even giving away lead free ammo for big game hunting at some refuges.
Image Details Why choose lead-free hunting ammunition? Lead ammunition loses weight as small pieces strip from the front of the bullet or shot as it passes through an animal. These fragments are found farther from the wound channel than you may expect, and many are too small to see with the...
www.fws.gov
California has about 40 million people but only 300,000 or so hunters, that said, they are required to use lead free in most of the state. That is 300,000 rimfire shooters that have no other place to buy ammo.
For those who may not know the attempts to produce rimfire ammo in 22 long rifle simply has not gone well. I tried the little tin bullets and accuracy was worse than any I have ever seen, you need a different barrel and twist for that stuff.
Other states that have partial or all lead bans are
1. In Iowa, non-lead ammunition is required to hunt all game animals except for deer and turkey on selected public hunting areas in both northcentral and northwest Iowa.
2. The Minnesota DNR issued an emergency order in 2023 to prohibit the use of lead
ammunition during special hunts held on certain state lands
3. California which requires the use of non-lead ammunition for the taking of all wildlife with any firearm, and was fully implemented on July 1st, 2019.
4. Fish and wildlife agencies in Arizona, Oregon and Utah have adopted voluntary programs
which provide hunters with incentives to utilize non-lead ammunition or carry entrails from
harvested animals out of the field in certain areas.
5. New York and Vermont have banned the sale of lead fishing weights weighing one half ounce, or less.
6. Massachusetts’ Fisheries and Wildlife Board,
Maine’s LD 958(2023), and
New Hampshire’s SB 89 (2013), have all banned the use and sale of jigs and sinkers weighing one ounce or less.
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These land bans for hunting and fishing on any public property will only increase. Winchester made a brilliant move to get out ahead of the crowd on this one.
We also know that since it has been nearly a year since the announcements in the NRA magazines, Guns and Ammo and other other outfits have made the announcements that testing has proven the rounds to be hotter and extremely accurate. There are U Tube reports showing the 37 grain version of that ammo well above 1,800 fps, , when compared to the 32 grain Stinger in a similar barrel, only gets about 1,450 fps, even though they are advertised at 1,600 fps. Keep in mind my 22 mag rifle with a 40 grain bullet should get about 1,950- fps, so this new round is far above the 22 lr and crowding the 22 mag.
If the other bullet weights do the same, the added cost of ammo is probably worth it. I bought one box of 100 21Sharp today for $15.44 or 15.4 cents per round. They are rated at 1,500 fps.
I bought them just to shoot in my regular 22s and measure the accuracy and velocity for myself, I do not care what the gun rags say or anyone who is selling stuff. There has been speculation that the slightly smaller bullet might do well in short handguns for the reason that they are loaded hotter in terms of velocity than typical 22s. As anyone who creates ammo knows, a slightly smaller diameter bullet allows a round to be loaded hotter and still remain at a safe chamber pressure. Some of the early self defense ammo companies used that exact process for their hottest self defense loads and many do today. For example, they may load a bullet that is .355 or 356, normal for a 9mm, they may load them in 38 Special Plus P or 357 mag cases. And in doing so get more velocity and power but the smaller diameter bullet has less resistance, and pressure levels remain safe. And because those loads are used at close distances, 25 yards or less, any accuracy issues are not of concern because they do not show up until the bullet is well away from the gun.
Hopefully I can report on that issue in a couple of weeks. And as to the new 21 Sharp round, with all the movement toward lead free hunting ammo in so many states, there is no doubt it is coming more and more on federal and state lands, so Winchester is smart to jump in and establish market share. Keep in mind that Winchester has patents on this ammo, no other company can compete with a close design for 15 years or so, so they have a bit of a monopoly in a country where lead hunting ammo will be restricted more an more each year.
I have lots of 22s of all types and I shoot many suppressed, thousand of rounds. And I will not be replacing them. But it this new round offers the performance I saw on U Tube, I might consider a gun in that caliber, just for grins.
