Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles Winchester Silver tipped bullets

A few years back someone gave me some silver tipped Winchesters bullets. I'm not one to collect stuff, so I'm gonna load up some shortly for a deer and black bear hunt. I have some that have double cannelure and some with one. Same weight, 180 grain flat base. I know the cannelures only serve to crimp and two, well, different seating depths, but just wondering if Winchester used then for a added jacket core lock. I sectioned one and see the aluminum cap and jacket runs down and stops at the first cannelures, an aid in expansion? I read that they come apart just like a cup and core bullet but wondering if the 180's might do better on deer and bear. Considering bears hide and fat and tougher bone, they might fair well. Ain't gonna hot rod a load considering it's gonna be shot out of my Remington 760 .30-06.

They've killed a lot of stuff.

Years ago the old timers swore by Silvertips, I shot mostly Power Point 180's for whitetails. Back in the day 180's were the bullet of choice for deer hunting, it was thought that they "bucked the brush" better than lighter bullets. Lately if I'm using a .30 cal. I shoot 165gr. bullets, they provide excellent accuracy and superior killing power.

reading over a bunch of posts from '21 here... success and failure stories.... epically this one. Too much variation in performance.

https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbt...winchester-silvertip-bullet#Post16430297

My dad always used them in his 30-06 for elk in the 60s and 70s. He never complained of losing an elk he shot at.

I've used them in .308" and .375". Impression is they're softer than Power Points and Core-lokts. Not as soft as Speer BTs. They expand reliably even with slight resistance. Not something to drive much over 2700 fps, and not something for steep quartering away placement. JMHO.

Any 180 load I ever used drives at 2700 fps. You had Speer 180 come apart ? The lighter ones the core came out of the jacket but not until the core fully expanded in wet TP books.

It was a Speer 270 gr .375" driven to 2650 MV. Hit a fairly big whitetail, didn't get through the off shoulder, and was in pieces. Probable impact velocity 2500 fps. Like the bullet fine, but loading it to 2450 MV now. Friend had similar experience with the .308" 150 gr. from a .300 Sav. Not sure MV but likely sub-2700 fps.

In my experience with Silvertips, sometimes the deer drops within 5 yards and sometimes you need to chase them across 2 counties. Mostly they work, mostly. I liked them in 30-30s.

I’m getting ready to toss em ! 🤣

I surely wouldn't, at least shoot them. More trigger time is never a bad thing.

I don’t like wasting other components, besides l don’t shoot a lot, range is to far away.

Can’t understand how any bullet that l can crank down in a vice and barely come apart separate through soft tissue/bone like a deer or blow up ?

I think that there were two generations of Silver Tips. If I have the story straight, the originals were advertised as (and were) deeper penetrating than PowerPoints. The 2nd generation ones did not, although Winchester (in the standard way that bullet manufacturers operate) never rescinded the original claim nor told consumers of the change.

I haev nothing against Silvertips; easily the neatest looking hunting bullet ever made. I may have used a Silvertip .308 for my first deer about 1963.

The late Bob Hagel, certainly among the best of the gun/handloading/ hunting writers and bonafide true experts had some unkind things to say about Silvertips for a hunting bullet. He had plenty of experience.

Odd they would not be improved. Unless the 1st ones were so popular that the 2nd were mass produced to the point of bad QC.

I used my Lee Hardness tester and the Winchester Silver Tip and the Remington Corelokt are off the chart for lead hardness at the base and near the tip. Guess it needs to be that soft BHN would be like below 8, pretty soft.

I used four different Silvertips on game. The first was a 1960s vintage .308/180 gr. It expanded readily and penetrated through the several smallish white tails I shot with them, broadside heart/lung shots. The second was an 80s vintage .270/140 gr. Fragmented in the heart lung region in a broadside shot on a midsize whitetail. Didn’t hit the far shoulder. Further testing it failed to fully penetrate an 8” pine. Third was a 60s vintage .270/130. I found no evidence of expansion on a neck shot 110 pound doe. She dropped. Third was a 60s vintage .250 savage/100 gr. Good expansion full penetration of the neck of a whitetail. So, they have been inconsistent in my use. I currently only have one box left, .30-06/150 loaded with my standard Garand load, in case I hunt with it.

Old70

very inconsistent bullet. Wonder how the lead in Rem CL and Win ST are basically the same but the CL is reliable with the same core hardness as the ST. Weird. Got to be a harder jacket then the ST's.

your 60's bullet... one or two cannelure? and the 80's, one or two ?

My grandpa used them religiously in his 99 savage 300 savage.