Wife bought a 308 win with a 20'barrel; thought she had to have one, picked up some 180 silver tips and power points from my dad made in the 80's will they work for elk under 300yds?.

If you can shoot straight and hit behind the shoulders.. You might have some trailing to do, but they will do the job.. So will a .222, the trail might be a bit longer..

I'd be A-Ok with either in a 308. I'd bet Bullet performance will be great at those ranges.

There's a lot better choices for elk than the Silvertip or Powerpoints in the .308. Will she be hunting cows? Bulls? If cows, sure....but if a big ol bull shows up I'd have reservations. Neither is known to be the most stout bullet made.....

Best of luck on your hunt.

180g Power Points worked for my son-in-law closer to 400 yards. He was shooting into the sun and the haze/mirage from blast gases obscured our vision for a second. The cow was on the ground before our vision cleared. Basically a classic bang-flop DRT.

If the ammo was stored well (i.e. in a cool, dark, dry place) it should be fine and the shelf life will be measured in decades. Extreme temperature swings and humidity (wet) are the primary dangers to long term storage. UV rays, not so much and anyplace indoors is generally good UV protection.

If the ammo shows signs of corrosion, if the the storage was not temp controlled or there are other reasons to suspect the ammo may have been poorly stored, it should be inspected carefully before shooting it and possibly disposed of without shooting it. Most likely it is safe but a new box for the hunt might be advised regardless.

My concern would be a squib load resulting in a bullet stuck in the barrel, followed by another load. Bad news. My other concern would be inconsistent performance due to some degradation of the ammo, In any case, I would use the old ammo for practice and get a couple new boxes for final practice and the actual hunt.

I use Winchester Super X 180 grain power points out of my 30/06. They work great on elk. I tested them in some wet phone books, I got 13" of penetration & the bullet was a perfect mushroom & weighted 140 grains. I don't see a 308 Winchester as a problem. Bob

I've only used a Silvertip 1 time. It was a 150 gr in a 270. I don't know if this was the fault of the bullet or just bad luck. A 3x3 deer was angling toward me. I shot at about 60 or 70 yds at the point of the shoulder which was in a direct line with the heart. The bullet didn't enter. It went under the hide, slid sideways, and slid the full length of the rib cage between the hide and the bones. It didn't enter until just in front of the last rib and you know what's behind that. It was pretty messy. He ran nearly 200 yds before he crumpled. He was dead when I got to him. I didn't find the bullet to see what happened.
On the chance that it was the bullet, I've never bothered to use them since. Also, this was the only big game animal I've shot with a factory round since I was in college in the 60's.

The old Silvertips were very prone to shatter and blow up without much penetration.

Power Points on the other hand have been outstanding. Far more accurate then I expected and the expansion and weight retention were 1st class.
We (my wife and a few friends) used them 2 years ago on our elk hunt and the retained weight of the 2 that were recovered from 3 elk was as good as a Nosler Partition. I was super impressed.

Personally, I would ditch the old ammo for practice at the range (maybe) and go buy a box of Remington 165 gr Core Lokts if budget is an issue. I would not take chances on old ammo stored under unknown conditions for 30+ years. Old Silver Tips tend to come apart and that is why Winchester dumped that design years ago. The current Ballistic Silver Tip is a coated Nosler Ballistic Tip in Winchester drag.

I'm going to agree to use the ammo for practice and trigger time. You wait a whole year for an elk tag so I'd get some premium ammo for the actual hunt. for 308, 150TTSX or 165 partitions.

If the silvertips are in the original box, they are worth something to collectors..

I wonder how many elk were killed with 30-30s with silvertips before bolt actions became popular.

The Winchester Power Point is a superb bullet for elk and any large game.

It's one of the great "sleepers" in the ammo industry that few know about. You'll find almost all WW employees using them.

kd

Bullet construction and terminal ballistics has always been a hobby of mine. I have over 100 bullets that have been recovered from animals. Winchester Silvertips came about in 1940 and was a premium bullet for deep penetration. The originals had a nickel silver type alloy and are easily spotty because they are shiny. This tough cap extended all the way to the base of the bullet. About 1950 Winchester changed to the common aluminum cap we see today. This cap no longer went to the base of the bullet but extended about half the length of the bullet. About 1960 they shortened the cap again and it extended only to where the copper starts. From reports of experienced big game hunters, the results has been dismal to say the least. Report after report of bullets blowing up and failing to penetrate. The older Silvertips had good reviews but were only produced for 6 years. I have only seen a few power points recovered from game and they preformed good. However when you section both they appear to be of identical design and jacket thickness with the only difference is the cap on the silvertip. Still scratching my head on that. I am always puzzled by Remington Cor-Lokt fans. I used them quite often and they failed several times. Bullets coming apart and failing to penetrate. Other hunters like them. A small mule deer buck shot with a 270 Win and 130 grain Remington's saw the bullet blow up completely after 4" of penetration. I have what is left of the pieces in my collection. Range was in excess of 200 yards. Remington's round nose Cor-Lokt's have a far heavier jacket and have a good reputation. I can not figure why Remington has not been made to stop advertising them as having their core locked by a heavy midsection because it aint so. The never was much even in the older, heavier jacketed bullets. Since the early 1970's they have nothing like what they advertise.

I figure I would mention that I have used the new Winchester Power Max bonded core 180 grain from a 30-06 on several antelope and 2 mule deer bucks. No recovered bullets from the antelope because they are the size of a large dog. However I have recovered 2 bullets from the deer. Expansion was impressive but because of the very large frontal area, penetration suffered. An interesting bullet for deer but I would not use them on anything or any shot that required penetration.

I just love the Core-lokt 375 H&H 270 gr for all general plains game and elk hunting. My "go to" factory 375 load. Interesting what you guys are saying about the WW Power Point. I love them in my Rem 742 30-06. 180gr. Dynamite! So many people talk about the core-lokt but ol' Power Point gets the silent treatment. Years ago I brought my Zimbabwe PH buddy 6 boxes of Walmart silver box Win 30-06 Power Points. You woulda thought I gave him a Rolex how excited and grateful he was. Good stuff.

Thanks Zengela for your insight. When you say dynamite are you saying they blow up or are super performers? An interesting fact, Remington does not offer a Cor-Lokt bullet for a 375 H&H. They simply call it a soft point the same as several of their other offering in other calibers. Some people have had very good luck with Remington bullets. I have had the opposite results several times.

I killed a Moose with that combination.

When I said dynamite I meant I was very happy with them. Rem must have changed the box wording on the 270gr 375H&H mag offering. Mine say Core-lokt. Mule Deer says that they are indeed the core-lokt bullet. An older design that is thicker in the jacket at I believe 2690 fps. He said the round nose core-lokts are a slightly different design. All I know is what da box says. There is a thread on Big Game Rifles forum on the 24. "Rem Core-Lokt's" that talk about this. Those are my favorite Rem bullets. Don't care for anything else. The 30-06 220 gr. Is good as well.

Good to know Mule Deer's take on it. The newer boxes I have examined do not say Core-Lokt on the boxes, just soft nose. Remington's round nose have a good reputation are considered by many to be far superior to their pointed offerings. The jackets are considerable heavier on the round nose bullets. Remington used to offer a round nosed hollow point Core-Lokt with no lead exposed at all to aid deep penetration. They called it the Mushroom Core-Lokt. I have used this bullet on antelope, deer, elk and bison and the few bullet I recovered were classic big game performance.

One of the best of the gunwriters, the late Bob Hagel wrote at least a couple of books dealing with hunting, handloading, bullet choice, etc. While some of the material is quite dated, some of it applies today. He covers Silvertips and other bullets and had practical field experience with them all. His comments are worth reading.

Bob was an unappreciated gem👍

Cleaned out my folks house in 2012 when I moved my dad to assisted living. In the back of his socks and handkerchiefs draw was a box of WW 30-30 Silvertips. Price was 3.81 written on the box. I remember that when I went on my first deer hunt we bought a new box of 30-30 for my hunt, so these must have been pre-68. Took them out to the range with my dad's M94 and three rounds shot just fine - not too bad for 55+ year old ammo. I bet if a Muley would have been down range he'd be on his way to the freezer.

John(dog)

I also killed my first moose - probably a 3 year old - with a Marlin 336 and, I think, 170 g ? Maybe 150's, but I think 170 - Silvertips at about 50 yards. Double lung, exit, in1970. He didn't know where I was and ran towards me, into a little copse of spruce about 15 yards to my left, and soon fell over. All she wrote.