I just picked-up a couple of boxes of RWS 5,6x52R ammo that was being sold at 60% discount. It's loaded with the Vollmantel 4,6g bullet. That must be 70 or 71 grains. Hopefully it will at least make for some decent practice ammo in my Savage 99 if nothing else.

Can someone tell me what this bullet is good for? I couldn't find it on the RWS webpage so it's most probably out of production. My guess is if it's not specifically a target bullet bullet then it must be designed for hunting birds - Capercaillie or Blackgame etc. Am I on the right track? Could it be used for Roe?

cheers,
- stu

Well, it's just like any other Full metal jacket bullet. I think they still offer it for .22 Hornet and .404 Rimless. It's called VM or VMS. They recommend it for small furred game and like you said, for birds ( in .22 version) and for tough skinned big game (.404). The 5.6X52R caliber sure is powerful enough for Roe, but i wouldn't use FMJ bullets for it.
RWS Munition page (german)

Nope, the FMJ (or VMS in German) is not intended for Roe. RWS' manual describes it as intended for small game such as Fox, (Badger), Capercaille etc. (Oops, I think I just ended up giving the same advice as Pric65, sorry...).

Pity I missed you and James on the range today. Apparently you guys had left just an hour before I finally showed up...

- mike

Illegal in France.
The practise ammo usually comes in 50 rounds boxes.

quote:

I just picked-up a couple of boxes of RWS 5,6x52R ammo that was being sold at 60% discount. It's loaded with the Vollmantel 4,6g bullet

Stu,
this must be a very old ammo, then the FMJ is still out of produktion vor many years. There´s only the the 4,6g TMS (Spitzer soft point)) listed, for 72.-€ /box of 20 rounds.

The FMJ is only for fox and varmint, it should not destroy the fur.

I figured this was more or less a normal FMJ but I was being a bit hopeful that those RWS engineers had found a way to make the bullet more useful for me! I had already found the RWS page with info on the VMS 3g but nothing on the 4,6g.

I have no idea how old this ammo is but it's obviously “old stockâ€. Cost after discount was only Sfr.19/box, so if nothing else I can afford to shoot it off at the range and keep the brass for loading with my large supply of Hornady 70gr softs.

I ran the micrometer of these bullets last night. They seem to mic closer to .224†rather than .227â€-.228†that would be normal for the 22 HP. So they may not shoot for me anyway

Does anyone know what the nominal CIP specs are for bullet diameter in this cartridge? My Hornady bullets definitely mic right around .227â€.

quote:

Originally posted by mho:
...Pity I missed you and James on the range today. Apparently you guys had left just an hour before I finally showed up...

- mike

Yes definately. My car was full of goodies in case I did bump into you. It was last second planning on my part. Maybe this week.

quote:

Does anyone know what the nominal CIP specs are for bullet diameter in this cartridge?

The CIP bullet diameter is 5,79mm/.228".

Martin

Thanks Martin.

I'm still wondering about this because the bullets mic'd .224 right in front of the case mouth.

I guess it doesn't matter. I'll see how they shoot in a couple of weeks at my next range session.

cheers,
- stu

Stu, it can sometimes be hard to measure the diameter of a bullet seated in a case. It is quite common for factory rounds to be seated quite deeply - catering to all options of throat lengths. Depending on the bullet used, this may mean they are seated to the start of the ogive - which may not be very apparent simply from looking at the finished round. That could explain why you get a sub-caliber measurement in front of the case mouth. To really know, you'd have to pull the bullet and measure again, but that is hardly worth the effort. Your rifle will tell you....

- mike