This year marks the 75th Anniversary of World War II and to honor those firearms of old Winchester has some new throwback ammunition. With packaging appropriate for the time period as well as correct grain weights, pressures and components they are now proudly announcing their WWII Victory Series.
For 2018, two caliber offerings will be available for sale. You can get Ball M2 .30 Caliber (.30-06 Sprg) suited with appropriate pressures for the M1 Garand and Ball M1911 .45 Caliber (.45 ACP/.45 Auto) for your model 1911 variants. A short and sweet specification listing reads as follows:
- .30-06 Sprg. | 150 Grain | 2,740 FPS | X3006WW2
- .45 ACP | 230 Grain | 855 FPS | X45WW2
The ammo will come in period authentic cardboard and/or small wooden box packaging. On multiple facings of the wooden boxes are unique historical facts and scenes.
Winchester will have two more calibers added to this line of WWII Victory Series sometime in 2019. Those caliber offerings will be M19 12 Gauge with true brass hulls and Ball M1 .30 Caliber (.30 Carbine) for your Winchester 1897 shotguns and M1 Carbine rifles respectively if you have them.
Winchester elaborated on this new series of ammo with this statement:
Winchester pays honor to the 75th Anniversary of World War II, with its one-of-a-kind, commemorative Victory Series, featuring collectible packaging and ammunition in .45 Auto and .30-06 Springfield. Winchester played an instrumental role in supporting the brave service members fighting overseas in the most significant event of the 20th century.
To truly support this introduction of the WWII Victory Series ammunition, Winchester even brought with an actual Winchester M1 Garand to SHOT Show Range Day for media to shoot and get completely nostalgic on firearms from World War II.
I personally own an M1 Garand and have shot modern ammunition that was advertised as being tailored for it. After shooting Winchester’s period appropriate ammo though, I firmly believe theirs has been loaded correctly. With simple iron sights, an approximately 5″ gong could be hit either from a bench or off-hand very easily with extremely light recoil.
If you have some older firearms from World War II or would just love to collect the packaging, the WWII Victory Series shold be right up your alley.