The .30-caliber XP3 expanded at an impact velocity as low as 1800 fps.

That bullet, by the way, has the same B.C. as the Nosler Ballistic Tip of the same caliber and weight. Ballistic coefficients and weights for the three other XP3 bullets Winchester plans to introduce in plenty of time for the 2006 hunting seasons are .437 for the .30-caliber 150-grain XP3, .496 for the .270-caliber 150-grain XP3, and .500 for the 7mm 160-grain XP3.

Chamberings and bullet weights scheduled for release in 2006 are 150 grains in .308 Winchester; 150 and 180 grains in .30-06, .300 WSM, and .300 Winchester Magnum; 160 grains in 7mm WSM and 7mm Remington Magnum; and 150 grains in .270 WSM and .270 Winchester. Other loadings will become available as hunting seasons come and go. I am really looking forward to trying the XP3 in a number of other cartridges, especially the .338 Winchester Magnum and .375 Holland & Holland Magnum.

Comparing The XP3's Accuracy
The XP3 is plenty accurate for big-game hunting. I compared the accuracy of the new .300 WSM 180-grain loading with four other Winchester loadings of that cartridge in a Browning A-Bolt rifle, and it held its own with the others in average group size. The details are listed in the accompanying chart. I was not surprised to see the new load shoot accurately, but I was surprised to see how closely all five loads compared in accuracy.

The .30-caliber XP3 retained 100 percent of its weight at an impact velocity of 2700 fps.

No load exceeded two inches at 100 yards, and four of the loads averaged 1.50 inches or less. Of course, this probably speaks as well of the test rifle as of the ammunition; the Browning A-Bolt Mountain Ti I recently added to my battery seldom shoots poorly with any load. It might also be of interest to note how close the five .300 WSM loads were in velocity. Maximum spread between them was only 52 fps with a mere 15 fps spread between four of them. Such uniformity among mass-produced ammunition is pretty darned remarkable and speaks quite highly of Winchester's quality control program.

Shooting holes in paper with a new bullet tells us a thing or two about its accuracy, but the real proof is in how well it performs in the field. Two other hunters and I were able to do just that last October while hunting elk in New Mexico. We all took nice bulls, and two of the kills subjected the XP3 to tests at opposite ends of the performance spectrum.

I shot my bull through both shoulders at about 95 yards, and the bullet exited the offside hide. Since impact velocity had to have been around 2800 fps at that range, it was about as severe as a bullet test can be. The elk was quite large, and to see an expanding bullet blast through so much heavy bone was indeed impressive. One of the other hunters proved how well the new bullet would expand at long range. He placed his bullet close behind the shoulder of a bull at 250 yards, and it too exited the offside hide. We were unable to recover his bullet for examination, but extensive internal damage told us that it had expanded quite satisfactorily at an impact velocity of around 2400 fps.

I knew during that hunt way back in 1992 that Winchester had a winner in the Fail Safe bullet. I'm just as certain today that the company's new XP3 represents the next generation of bullet for the dedicated hunter.