That’s right! Winchester is releasing a subsonic offering in .22 WMR. The Super X Rimfire Subsonic is, to my knowledge, the first and only subsonic .22 Mag round commercially available in the U.S. (Winchester Australia has been selling subsonic .22 WMR down under for years). Sending a 45 grain expanding lead hollow point at 1,060 FPS, it should be extremely quiet when suppressed. What’s the point, you say? . . .
Sure, if you want to shoot a 45 grain projectile at subsonic speeds you can do that less expensively through a .22 LR firearm. No argument there! But if you want to shoot a 45 grain pill at 1,600 fps or a 30-grainer at 2,300 fps, like you can with .22 WMR, .22 LR need not apply.
Shoot supersonic for twice the muzzle energy of a .22 LR. Shoot subsonic for hush hush use. In this way, .22 Winchester Magnum Rimfire has taken a page from the 300 BLK playbook. One gun, one caliber, now with more options.
Considering how many times I’ve been asked if I knew of a subsonic .22 WMR offering, I expect Winchester will have no issue selling this new round. TTAG will try to get its hands on a couple boxes for review ASAP.