Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Mule Deer & All... Winchester Fail Safe Bullet experience

Skeezix,

It's always interesting when somebody complains that bullets didn't expand. Have two good stores about that:

Was on a multi-hunter "industry" pronghorn hunt many years ago, and one of the other guys was a magazine editor using a 7mm-08 with Hornady factory loads featuring the 139-grain Interlock Spire Point. He took several shots--all hits--to kill his buck, and claimed they weren't expanding. His guide later informed us that he was hitting the buck around the edges of the heart-lung area. (Might also mention that editor is no longer in the business.)

Another was a guy I ran into at a local sporting goods store. He was with a guy I already knew, and when we were introduced the new guy immediately went on a rant about how a 180-grain Nosler Partition hadn't expanded on mule deer buck he'd killed that season. The range was 35 yards, and the cartridge the .300 Winchester Magnum.

I asked him how he knew the bullet didn't expand, and he said the exit hole was .30 caliber. I then asked him how far the buck went after the shot, and he said around 50 yards. I then asked if he'd field-dressed the buck himself. He snorted and said of course. I asked if the lungs were shredded. He hesitated, and then admitted they were. I said, fairly firmly, that the bullet expanded. He didn't say anything, just shook his head very slightly....

TSX & TTSX quickly made the Fail Safes obsolete...................got a few if anyone wants them, cheap.

277, 338, maybe some 284..............would have to check.

MM

I thought Winchester denied they were molycoated. They called the black coating something else. Lubalox I guess.

Your description of how the Failsafe worked the same as the TSX is my exact experience with the 230gr 338WM load.

The Failsafe was a damn fine bullet.

I have used them in my M70 338 Win and 416 Rem and they consistently shot under a MOA and gave superb penetration

JB,

I agree. The gentleman, "Ralph" could never understand that muzzle energy doesn't trump bullet placement. I wasn't there on that NM elk hunt, so I have no idea if the Fail Safes expanded or not. But, my belief is that they did just fine, but he didn't hit his elk in the vitals and just wounded it, because I do know that his guide had to finish the bull. I also know that the other gentleman, "Roy" was a yes-man to him and especially on this hunt because Ralph paid for Roy's hunt. So if Ralph fussed that the Fail Safes didn't expand, more than likely, Roy would back him, even with cantaloupe sized exit wounds.

But, I was on the same piece of property with them a couple years after this event, when Ralph fired seven shots with his .300 Wby at a whitetail doe starting at about 60 yds away in a wide-open green field, broke one of her legs, she ran off, he looked for her for about 20 min, got pizzed off, and left. That was the last time I hunted with him.

Tim

The 3 I recovered all expanded and lost petals, consistent with the Barnes X performance of the 90"s. They retained the majority of their weight though I haven't weighed them

I have two boxes of 308 Win fail safe 150gr. I bought them years ago but never had a reason to use them. They may be collectors items now. Good tough ammo !

Weren't the "Failsafe" bullets formerly known as "Black Talons"? I had a friend who used them in a 7 mag on an elk at around 150 yds. Took 3 shots to put it down, pencil sized exits. He may as well have used FMJ ammo.

Except in my case it actually happened, and it turns out the .308/180's I used were part of a bad batch that apparently had been recalled.

While I understand people that complain about "non-expanding" bullets often don't have any evidence for it, some of us actually know what we're looking at in an autopsy lol.

I call it a “bullet necropsy”. And yes, I’ve seen plenty of critters die despite poor bullet performance, but it was still poor performance on the bullet’s part.