Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting Winchester silvertip

Simple question.Is the Winchester supreme 180 gr. ballistic silvertip a good bullet for Elk? To me it looks alot like a Nosler bullet.Thank you.

No....

It's a Nosler ballistic tip, so some people would say yes, it is a good elk bullet, but I personally wouldn't use it on elk.

I've hunted elk for over 40 years and killed a ton with that bullet. I never had a bull go over 25 yards after he was hit. I'll have to admit though that the last ten years I've been trying newer bullets and and they kill just as dead. Don't know why I switched...other than to try something new and improved!

Personally I like the old non existant Winchester silvertip bullet better..........

The old-style Silvertip left one heck of a shocking wound channel in a deer from my .358... wow.

My personal opinion is that your question is somewhat cartridge-centric. In other words- a 225 Ballistic Silvertip (if such exists) from a .338 would probably flatten the hell out of an elk. On the other hand, a light-for-caliber Ballistic Silvertip, run fast from a small cartridge, would probably be a very poor choice. But that's just a guess on my part, for elk I choose a fairly stout bullet every time just for the margin of safety it adds.

And there you have it.

I'd say it would be OK if you avoided angle shots where a lot of elk had to be penetrated or big bones broken. For take em as they come elk shooting I would use a stronger constructed bullet.

i would say no, and suggest a 180gr partition - take out all the guess-work.

i would say no, and suggest a 180gr partition - take out all the guess-work.

I concur. A ballistic silvertip isn't constructed as well as other bullets but it will work; especially if you keep your velocities down somewhat (below 3000 fps). What I will say is this: If you have 3 boxes and want to hunt elk with them in open country you'll have a 98% chance of them working perfectly. If you're going elk bullet buying, they're not the best. Accubonds, Partitions, A-Frames, Sciroccos; Interbonds, etc. are more consistent performers in most situations.

I do not like ballistic silvertips.. For some reason I don't get much of a blood trail. This is both with a 7mm rem mag and my .308

Patrick I know that there are better bullets better suited to take down animals the size of bull elk. I am not a big fan of "ballistic tip" bullets on big game, especially those the size of a mature elk.

Nosler Partition or "Gold" and Accubond bullets, Trophy Bonded Bear Claws and Swift A Frames, all premium bullets mind you. A premium bullet is the cheapest insurance policy a hunter can have in their magazine.

Only shot one animal with a Winchester Silvertip. A fawn. With a .243. The bullet was found in several dozen pieces and nearly a quarter of the animal was bloodshot.

I have a box of 308, 180 grain Silvertips from the 60's. Well really 19 almost a full box.

I have exactly two boxes (40 rounds) of 200 grain Silvertip in .308. I bouhgt it last year at a gunshop in Idaho that was having a clearance on older ammo.

I have seen a lot of failures with Silvertips over the years, when they get one that really works, the first damn thing they do is fix it and then it no longer works..The latest ones that I have seen used by our hunters come apart like a handgranade, even on Impala..I have a bunch of balistic silvertips in 250 caliber but have not shot game with them, guess I need to do that.

Over the years they have been excellent to horrible with horrible being the norm..Winchesters bean counting balistic boys suffer a real lack of experience and tend to over engineer their bullets..

By the same token Remington came out with the corelokt and left it alone because it really worked and as far as I know they never changed it until recently when they bonded the core to the jacket and that has to be a good thing...

I have never seen or had a Rem. Corelokt fail, I am sure one has and I'll hear about it, but it is one of the best bullets I have ever used..

I still use the 180 gr. RN corelokts in the Sav. 99, 308, and still have a few 250 Sav 100 gr. RN Corelokts (Peters), They both have worked on deer, elk and antelope for years..They preformed well in Africa also.

Yep, I hunt with Core Lokts they have always worked great for me. Maybe I'll save those old Western SuperX Silvertips for vampires. Don't they require a silver bullet?