Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Bullet history, bronze points and silver tips?

I had a bunch of .270 bronze points. I sold them last summer.

Bought a XTR M70 257Rbts when the distributor I worked for got it's 1st shipmnetof the new XTR M70 Fwt's in, "to use as a sample to show dealers"...

We only carried 2 choices for Rbt's ammo, a WW White Box 100gr PSP ST & a RP 117 gr RN. My gun shot the WW ST's bigtime lots better than the RP RN's and I stayed with them until they were discontinued. The RP RN's never shot any better in my gun than about 1 1/2 to just under 2" groups, good enough for minute of deer but not a confidence builder. Even my early handloads in Hornady's would give me close to an inch groups.

The WW's were Hyper accurate, easy DRT's on WTails with good pentration. My longest kill ever was from a hip braced off hand one shot kill on a Pronghorn in Wyoming on a Weaver factory trip at 444 steps from the guides 36" inseams.

OTOH it took 5 shots to finish off my 1st wild hog, a 125/135lb'er who soaked up 2 behind the right shoulder in the crease at 60+ yards, + 2 in the briskit's cowlick at under 50 feet, and the finisher under his left eye at about 25/30 feet....using the same WW 100gr ST's I'd alway used on WtTails. After that goat ropin' I moved back to my old reliable do all 270 & 150gr Speer Hot Cores anytime hogs were on the menu.
Ron

Back in the 80's, I believe, Winchester came out with their "Supreme" factory loads that came in a black box. I started using the .30-06 loads with 180gr. Silver Tips since I was going to college and didn't have time to reload. I shot several elk with those loads and they worked very well. After graduating college, I started reloading again and bought a box of 500, 180gr. .30 cal Silver Tips from Midway. I killed probably half a dozen elk with those as well and was always impressed with their performance. Never had occasion to complain. After that, I started messing around with other cartridges and rifles, so haven't used them since the early 90's, but I would not hesitate to tote the ol' -06 with those 180gr Silver Tips for elk once again.

The biggest whitetail I have ever shot I took with a Remington bronze point - 150 grain at 2800 fps from the .308. The shot was broadside to the ribs just behind the shoulder. Deer was running full speed, at about 80 yards and it dumped him. But when I dressed the deer, I noticed that the bullet didn't even make it to the other side of the chest cavity. Lungs were mush, but no part of the bullet pierced the other side. That was the last time I used them for hunting.
I believe Remington copied the Canadian Industries Ltd. Copper Point Expanding which came out some years before. I watched my brother shoot a black bear, placing the 180 grain .303 CPE bullet in pretty much the same place as my deer. Curiously, that bullet failed to expand at all, punched a .303 size hole right through. Was a long tracking job and another shot to finish the PO'd bear.
I'm glad both bullet designs are obsolete.
CIL went on to invent the nylon insert "Sabre Tip", which was better but sill somewhat erratic, which was then copied and perfected by Norma in Sweden as their plastic point and Nosler in the USA as the Ballistic tip.

My Dad killed a lot of game back in the '60s. Rem 760 in 30-06. 150s for deer, 180s for elk, W-W Silvertips for all hunting. They were really special...made with actual silver alloy.

I was about ten years old and tagged along as Dad attempted to track a double lunged cow elk in dry dusty conditions. The foaming blood trail eventually stopped and we never did find the cow.

I suspect due to inadequate expansion.

But Dad swore by the bullets and would never use anything else. He has not been to the hills in a couple decades, but was telling me recently that the Silvertip was the only thing to use on game. He was sorely disappointed when I told him they had been discontinued long ago.

He never has believed me when I tried to explain that it was just another lead core bullet with a shiny coating over the tip.