Winchester’s New Deer Season XP Copper Impact Ammo

Three years ago, Winchester announced a new bullet for deer hunters in an ammo line called the Deer Season XP (extreme point). I later used it with great success, and posted a review here. And now they’ve got something new, called Deer Season XP Copper Impact.

Like Deer Season XP, this new ammo features bullets with oversized polymer tips, designed to promote rapid expansion. This allows them to begin causing damage to the target animal more quickly than conventional bullets. The regular XP ammo uses lead-core jacketed bullets, which I have always preferred… but which also have a tendency to shed weight as they pass through an animal, which can inhibit penetration.

Enter the Copper Impact version, which uses an all-copper bullet to improve weight retention. I fired several rounds in 30-06, and was rewarded with hit after hit on a steel target at 100 yards, about the size of a deer’s vitals.

I’m looking forward to trying these on whitetails, considering how well the lead-core version has treated me.

Russ Chastain

Editor & Contributing Writer Russ Chastain is a lifelong hunter and shooter who has spent his life learning about hunting, shooting, guns, ammunition, gunsmithing, reloading, and bullet casting. He started toting his own gun in the woods at age nine and he's pursued deer with rifles since 1982, so his hunting knowledge has been growing for more than three and a half decades. His desire and ability to share this knowledge with others has also grown, and Russ has been professionally writing and editing original hunting & shooting content since 1998. Russ Chastain has a passion for sharing accurate, honest, interesting hunting & shooting knowledge and stories with people of all skill levels.