I have never actually hunted with the old silvertips. But just yesterday I inherited a box of them for my 300 Savage. I will probably just hang on to them as memorabilia, but I just wanted to ask about the AR members experiences with them, good or bad. Just curious.

I have roughly 1600-1700 or so left from a bulk purchase I made with Widener's 20 years ago or more.
They are 130 gr..277 silver tips. I have found them to be very accurate and perform well at ranges beyond 50 yards with a max. load.

I know this is blasphemy in the accuracy world but I have found "my batch" to be almost as accurate as Sierra 130 PH bullets. But you won't get the flattened lead tip as you do with the Sierras.

Like Rae, I've got a (large) hoard of .277" 130 gr. W-W Silvertips for the .270 Winchester. Wonderfully accurate with stiff load of H-4831 they do yeoman duty.

Also had 200 for the 375H&H and gave them to an RSA PH who was well pleased.

By today's miracle bullet standards; they're dated, but in their day Silvertips had a solid reputation; here in The Fatherland the Germans loved the 180 grainers in the .30/06 Sprg.

Back in the 60's, Silvertips were de rigueur for hunting; we didn't have no fancy solid bullets and didn't need them. Killed very well.

Silver tips and original Barnes have killed a lot of deer, and other things.

I really liked them when I had them. I used the 300 grain Silver Tip in hand loaded 375H&H to take elk, WT deer, Muskox and the 3 bears of North America plus maybe 15 species in Africa from Porcupine to Lord Derby Eland. Man they worked good, miss having them.

They were my go to bullet for my 250 sav back in the 60s and early 70s.

Killed deer with them If I only had one box I most likely wouldn't work a load up for them.

Yeah, the big debate in 1966 was between Silvertips, Powerpoints, and CoreLocks. Silvertips were supposed to be deeper penetrating due to the aluminum nose cap but I never saw much difference. They all just killed stuff. As you might notice, my bullet selection philosophy has not changed much since then....

Would anyone be willing to part with 50 or 100 Silvertips (.277)? I would love to work up a load, only for nostalgia's sake.

friar

They were my favored bullet for my M88 308Win, back in the 60's thru 80's, when I ran out of them & they were discontinued. I killed bunch of deer wi them, never more than one shot. Expansion was great as well as penetration, whether close in or at distance; dropped one in Utah at 435 paces(350-375 yds?). For any cart. of similar ballistics I would still use the old Silvertips for deer sized game. I now handload so would not give up Silvertips if I had any. Not to denigrate Power Points & CoreLoks; they both have good reputations as proven killers; its just that as a young hunter, its (Silvertips) what I started with. I had such good success with them I never saw a need to change- until they were discontinued. Fortunately, handloaders now have many good to excellent bullet options available. Although, at times, availability can be problematic.

I'm curious about field experiences, too. I inherited some in .270, .308, .338, and .375. Remember reading O'Connor's take that the 300 gr .375 wasn't as good as the 270 gr PP.

Anyone else able to contrast terminal performance vs core-lokts and power-points in various flavors? Penetrate more? Less? Hold together OK?

Have some Bronze Points too but, IIRC, writers thought less of them vs Silvertips.

They sure do look cool.

quote:

Originally posted by Samuel_Hoggson:
I'm curious about field experiences, too. I inherited some in .270, .308, .338, and .375. Remember reading O'Connor's take that the 300 gr .375 wasn't as good as the 270 gr PP.

Anyone else able to contrast terminal performance vs core-lokts and power-points in various flavors? Penetrate more? Less? Hold together OK?

Have some Bronze Points too but, IIRC, writers thought less of them vs Silvertips.

They sure do look cool.

In my .378, I thought the 300 ST was too fragile, 270 Power Point always did well. I had a 300 ST just turn to"buckshot" on a timber wolf at about 125 yds, but darn sure killed him DEAD.
I used 180 Bronze points on antelope in my 300 Weatherby, killed them dead right there, but I wouldn't have used it on elk, moose or bears.

quote:

Originally posted by Ole Miss Guy:
Silver tips and original Barnes have killed a lot of deer, and other things.

Amen! I still use them for deer hunting in rounds like 30-30, 35 Remington and 300 Savage.

quote:

Originally posted by AfricanHunter:

quote:

Originally posted by Samuel_Hoggson:
I'm curious about field experiences, too. I inherited some in .270, .308, .338, and .375. Remember reading O'Connor's take that the 300 gr .375 wasn't as good as the 270 gr PP.

Anyone else able to contrast terminal performance vs core-lokts and power-points in various flavors? Penetrate more? Less? Hold together OK?

Have some Bronze Points too but, IIRC, writers thought less of them vs Silvertips.

They sure do look cool.

In my .378, I thought the 300 ST was too fragile, 270 Power Point always did well. I had a 300 ST just turn to"buckshot" on a timber wolf at about 125 yds, but darn sure killed him DEAD.
I used 180 Bronze points on antelope in my 300 Weatherby, killed them dead right there, but I wouldn't have used it on elk, moose or bears.

They are too fragile even at 375H&H velocities.

I have only used them once, and won't use them again on game.

I shot a warthog smack on the shoulder, he ran a off a few yards and dropped dead from shock it appears.

As the bullet broke up on the shoulder, took all the meat off but never penetrated into the chest.

The 200 gr. 35 caliber Silvertip has been my go to bullet for my .358 Winchester. I have handloaded that bullet for my 358's since 1966.

I loaded it to about the same velocity as the factory load over 3031.

It has been very effective on deer and other smaller game.

They discontinued that bullet and my late dad made a swage for me to form a spitzer shape on the 180 gr Speer.

quote:

Originally posted by Saeed:

quote:

Originally posted by AfricanHunter:

quote:

Originally posted by Samuel_Hoggson:
I'm curious about field experiences, too. I inherited some in .270, .308, .338, and .375. Remember reading O'Connor's take that the 300 gr .375 wasn't as good as the 270 gr PP.

Anyone else able to contrast terminal performance vs core-lokts and power-points in various flavors? Penetrate more? Less? Hold together OK?

Have some Bronze Points too but, IIRC, writers thought less of them vs Silvertips.

They sure do look cool.

In my .378, I thought the 300 ST was too fragile, 270 Power Point always did well. I had a 300 ST just turn to"buckshot" on a timber wolf at about 125 yds, but darn sure killed him DEAD.
I used 180 Bronze points on antelope in my 300 Weatherby, killed them dead right there, but I wouldn't have used it on elk, moose or bears.

They are too fragile even at 375H&H velocities.

I have only used them once, and won't use them again on game.

I shot a warthog smack on the shoulder, he ran a off a few yards and dropped dead from shock it appears.

As the bullet broke up on the shoulder, took all the meat off but never penetrated into the chest.

That's not my experience with the 375 H&H and 300 grain Silvertips. They have served me well and over a vast selection of game. Never failed on a warthog shoulder let alone failed in any way.

As an example, I shot a Lord Derby Bull at approximately 200 yards while going away at an angle. The 300 grain Silvertips entered at his left hip, penetrated lengthwise through this big eland bull and I found it in the front right lung lobe, a perfect mushroom. Hell I still have it.


I have also had excellent service with the same 375 H&H and 300 grain Silvertips on the following game: Kudu, harnessed, Chobe and limpopo bushbuck, sing sing waterbuck, western hartebeest, Nigerian bohor reedbuck, roan, gemsbok, zebra, wildebeest, african porcupine, Nyala, plus Elk, Whitetail deer, Black, Brown and Polar Bear, Muskox to name a few... Zero complaints.

I don't judge a bullet unless I have enough experience to give my opinion some actual value. Based on my experience there is no question that the old 300 grain Silvertips in the 375 H&H was an excellent killer.

Wish I could find them for reloading!

I used to shoot them in a .270 I had many years ago. They were very accurate and would knock deer for a loop. I wish I had some for my M722 Remington .300 Savage.
joe

The old silvertip is nothing more than a lead tip cup and core bullet not unlike todays power point the only difference is the thin piece of aluminum foil covering the tip


Gasp!!!! You mean to tell me it's not solid aluminum?

No it's not.....just lead

Hit it with a file

quote:

Originally posted by ted thorn:
Gasp!!!! You mean to tell me it's not solid aluminum?

Huh? You mean it's not solid silver?

The magic is in the little al foil tip! Don't trod on old fella's memories. hahaha M99 .300Savage '50s vintage Silvertips

That's a great picture

The Silvertip has has so many design changes over the years its hard to say, depends on when they were made..They have been horrible and they have been outstanding..

I personally have not had any problems with them on deer and antelope, but have seen failures on Cape Buffalo and such a few times over the years..

I have 10 boxes of old 250-3000 100 gr. Silvertips and they shoot awesome in my vintage 99E Savage and they kill game with perfection. I hoard them. I also have WW 87 gr. bullets and they kill deer with aplomb.

I think they are more better than bad if that's a answer!

Remembering the silver tips jogged another memory loose... the old Remington Bronze Points... Dad had some loaded in for his 30/06 back when I was a kid, but I bet they were long shot up... anybody ever see them around?

I have a quantity of the old Winchester Silvertip bullets in .30 cal and .375 cal and a few hundred of the 150gr .30 cal Remington Bronze Points. I am of the opinion that the reason we saw the discontinuance of these bullets was mainly due to cost of manufacture and the need to have something new to invigorate sales in a highly competitive market. Most telling is the amazing similarity between the Bronze Points and some of our modern plastic tipped bullets. Manufacturing plastic tips is cheaper than aluminum caps or bronze tips and the plastic colors look cool. But unlike plastic tips, the point won't chip or break off of a bullet tip made of bronze.

quote:

http://www.sentierchassepeche....alle-(partie-1).html


A- Sierra Pro-Hunter. B- Remington Core-Lokt. C- Winchester Silvertip. D- Winchester Power Point. E- Norma Vulkan. F- Hornady InterLock.




G- Sierra Gameking. H- Nosler Solid Base. I- Remington Bronze Point. J- Nosler Ballistic Tip. K- Remington Accu-Tip. L- Winchester Ballistic Silvertip. M- Hornady SST InterLock.

I just did a quick search online, and found Remington is offering the Bronze Points in factory ammo again.... I really didn't expect this!! The Midway site lists the 150 gr Bronze Point bullets for reloading, as discontinued. But they do list them.

I have several hundred of the old version Silver tips. All in 30 cal. I'm hoarding them for some reason. I can't think of the reason anymore.
Scrounging around in my reloading shed last summer I found an unopened box of Rem Bronze points.(1000) of them.plus several 100 count boxes, all 150 gr 30 caliber. I've used these as my go to bullet for years. Still my

favorite in 30-06 and 308. Price on them says $80.00 shipped.
What a nice surprise those Bronze points were.
Of coarse now days I can hide my own Easter Eggs.

quote:

Of coarse now days I can hide my own Easter Eggs.

I know what you mean!! I found, lost, and recently re-found an old Winchester shell that had 30cal M 1906 stamp on the head. I cannot express how happy I was to find it again.... right where I left it all those years ago!! LOL!!!

I used 100 grain silver tips in my .257 Roberts for a few years as it had a short action and the bullet was capable of fitting in the magazine. It killed several whitetails with authority.

But then, it usually don't take a lot to kill whitetails.

Back in the day in Zambia, my dad used to swear by 300 gr Silvertips in the 375 H&H - he used them for everything except elephant, but buffalo weren't common there and I don't remember him shooting one with them.

For elephant he swore by Winchester solids, until Winchester changed the solids to a very thin jacketed flat-point, when he went to Kynoch ....

Of course that was all pre-65 when we left Zambia for lands further south.

As someone up above said, Winchester have changed the construction methods many times, hence the caveat of the dates.

Oh wow! Thanks for the stroll down Memory Lane!! I killed my first deer at age 11 using a 270 loaded with 130g Silvertips. That little button buck dropped to the shot and with a kid’s conviction, I thought those Silvertips were magic! A conviction that might even still remain with me though they are long since discontinued. I’m sure it is just an anomaly but I can’t ever recall a deer not being DRT when I shot it with a Silvertip. I shot them in every caliber rifle I owned. Can’t remember for sure but I know I used them in my 270, 30-06 and 7mm RM. I still have half a box of 30-06. I remember well the first deer I shot with the new Ballistic Silvertips: A big doe that I hit right behind the shoulder. She ran off like she wasn’t even hit. She didn’t go far but fell right in a creek and I was a muddy, wet mess by the time I drug her out. I cursed and reviled those garbage Ballistic “Silver” Tips for days to come!!!