Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Savage Collectors Winchester Silvertips

I'm wondering what type of performance has been seen on game, with the savage calibers,and silvertips. I haven't shot a deer with one of these. A coworker really liked them in his 270. Said the combo killed a deer deader than any ought six ever could. I picked up a box of older Western 303 silvertips. And two boxes each of later Winchester Western, Silvertip and softpoint, 300s. I think I could find the guy and get some more of either 300. I bought what he brought to the show. Said he had more at home. I got the idea from reading the boxes that the earlier westerns may not have been designed to be as frangible as the later ones were?

Love the Silvertips. In .300 that's all I hunt with. Pretty much bought up a lifetime supply a few years back. The 150gr Silvertips are what my Dad used and that was good enough for me. The last deer I shot with one had about a 3 1/2 inch hole where it went out the back side of the rib cage. Deer dropped DRT.

I have several boxes of 190 gr. 303 Sav. silvertips of the Winchester brand. The red and silver box. I find them to be second to none on deer. I have killed 4 with them. Two neck shots. 1 from the back of the neck with an exit under the chin grapefruit size. And one from the side of the neck with no exit hole. Both DRT. The other two were lung shots and they both went less than 25 yards. TIFWIW.

I have shot 3 deer with 303 silver tips, 1 with a 300sav. silver tips and 1 with a 250sav. all did a great job!

One thing that I should have stated and forgot to put in the above post is that you're not gonna get 1/2 groups at a hundred yards with them. Not to worry though. They shoot minute of deer just fine and kill things dead. Not sure how much deader critters can get with more expensive "premium" bullets. I've always found that they've stopped breathing by the time I start gutting them.

I always thought that Silvertips were dual purpose: one purpose is for the game animal you're hunting , the other is for the odd vampire you might encounter whilst out and about. (Those tips are silver, no?) Me, I'm waiting on them to bring out the Goldtips, and my-oh-my wouldn't Platinumtips be the cat's ass?! Uncle Sugar seems to go in big for Depleteduraniumtips a lot these days. When are we gonna get some?

It's nice to have favorites. We all do. The fact of the matter is they pretty much all work ok. I think the psychological factor of having a favorite and knowing in your heart that it's the best bullet for the job counts as much as anything.

(When forced to use factory ammo in a .30/30, I seek out 170 grain Silvertips, mainly because that's what my old man swore by and they worked for me a few times too.)

Been there, done that. They poke little bitty 1 1/2 inch holes in really thick armor. Other than that they're good for nothing. Unless you're hunting tanks they're worthless. For live game I much prefer Silvertips or standard cup and core bullets. And don't ask me how I know how a Depleted uranium sabot round will shoot from an M60A3 tank main gun, go through a paint conex and a concrete maintenance bay and out and about on the German landscape. Four days later we found the projo. Officially it never happened.

Thanks fellas! Good info all. Also got a box of 300 Rem. Bronze Points. Hope to get a tag and try something out.

Geez.. silver is for werewolves, it only makes the vampires madder.

Used silver tips in non-Savage rifles back in the day until I had one fail to penetrate a shoulder and I chased it a looooong ways. My bad, didn't put the bullet where it belongs. But I use Partitions now just to cover those "oops" moments.

Aw, come on! I thought that everyone knew that those tips are really aluminum. That's why they can get iffy if you try to bust up a shoulder. Quite often they just flat explode and don't penetrate when that happens. They work great on soft tissue but they're not that great when they hit heavy bone. Way old school tech but they do work great if you put them in the right place.

Did you have a fellow by the name of Billy in your crew?

No. He was on my other brother Darrel's crew. They were doing a misfire drill with a live round up the tube. The misfire drill worked just fine. "on the way."

Here is a bag of 23 loose Super Speed .303 Savage I just found. Previous owner said he thought they'd be correct in a bear box maybe. Anybody know which box? Also, anybody know if the Super Speed loads should all be 190s?

I'm kind of on the fence on actual collector boxes. I've been accumulating a few over the last couple years. I try to at least buy a few at a time in order to bring the price down, so here is another one that's Savage related:


Brad

When I think back on the piles of what is now 'collectors' ammo that I shot away...

I shot up a bunch of Savage ammo once, to get the brass. It shot like crap as I recall. (.30/30's and .250's.)

Those Super Speeds would go in any blue and yellow 30's-50's ammo box. Or, put them in your gun and shoot them. 'Til you get done searching out a mint empty box to put them in you might realize that their true worth is in how well they shoot.

By then Winchester and Western were only making the 190 grain load, no? Remington was offering 180's as well as 190's too, I believe.

I was thinking I'd pull the bullets and reload them with new powder and primer. I was more interested in the time frame so thanks for the response. My experience with shooting old ammo as is has been sketchy as far as consistency goes.

22 HP I'll be keeping as is and unfired of course.

Thanks for the Destroyer reference the other day...song brought back some good memories from a time way back.

Brad

If it were me, I would shoot those .303's as-is. Super Speeds were darn good ammo and from the looks of those I'll bet they'll still work fine. They were all non-corrosive, too.

Yes, I too would keep those HP's as they are.