I have some Nosler Fail Safe bullets i have had for a while. They are 180gr .308. Anyone have any experience with these? And any idea of load data for the '06 and/or .300 win mag? Could one use load data for Barnes X bullets and be safe with these? I cant find a Nosler book with them in it.
They used to be marketed as the Winchester Supreme Fail Safe - I believe they came 25 bullets packed in a small black box. Winchester had a separate sheet for loading those bullets back then (they behaved somewhat like the old Barnes X you mentioned). I had the sheet at one time, I will see if I can find it.
I believe they're in Nosler #5 in the front of the book, and it should say something like, start w/ minimum loads when using Failsafes, and Partition Gold bullets, something to that extent.
If they're the Combined Technology version, the bullets have been covered with pollution. If they are the original Winchester version, they are coated with Lubalox.
Used that bullet in a 308. Great, great performance on bigger game.
Failsafe are one of the premium controlled expansion bullets that have been discontinued, undoubtedly, because they were too expensive to manufacture. I believe each bullet had 5 components, as opposed to the current XP3 that replaced the Faisafe, which has I think 3 components.
The bullet opens similarly to other copper front bullets like Barnes X. I shot elk with it out of a 7.5 Swiss (twin brother of .308) and it was a one shot kill. I read some comments that is pencils through deer but I had no such experience. It is designed for deep penetration so I would think it might be better for elk and moose than deer.
All in all, excellent bullet in my opinion. I have a box of them and its a shame they were discontinued.