Have had good luck with the Ballistic Tip myself, I'm just interested if anyone has any feedback on the Fail Safes, just thinking of trying something different. Hunt mainly with .270 Win, .270 WSM or 300WSM. Thanks for any input.

Fish30114,

If you will look at the Winchester Box of some factory loaded Failsafes, you will see that they are intended for Large, Dangerous Game. For that use, They are probably ok but, for Game such as Hog, Whitetail, and Mulies, they are a TERRIBLE performer.

I have witnessed several kills w/ these bullets and the only time I remeber them putting an animal down Quickly was when the Spine was struck. Most of the time the entrance and exit wounds were very small and Blood (If any) was very little and in many cases there was no blood at all. When we tracked animals that were shot w/ the Failsafes, we would spread out and search an area. We found some and lost some, some we found later by the Buzzards. Some would just pencil through much like an FMJ.

They would probably be great when shot out of the Big .338 and above Magnums and used on Moose and above sized Game. They will definitely Penetrate as they were designed to do.

There are much better choices for the smaller Big Game.

I wouldn't want anyone to go through the mishaps we had w/ these bullets.

By the way, the above examples where from the 270 Win and the 300 Win Mag (140s and 180s).

Good Luck, I hope this helped.


Reloader

DJ, I'm on the case with the accubonds, got a load developed for my 270 WSM that drills! Am looking forward to CT version--I like the coated pills. Do you have any 'on game' experience with the Accubonds?--
Hey JCN--check my reply to the thread on 300 Win tight NP Brass...............

Try Accubonds.........DJ

Hey Fish,
IMAO (In My Arrogant Opinion), the FailSafes really start to shine in the .338 Win Mag and larger. I always come back to the Partitions in the 270, 7mm, and 300 calibers. Usually good accuracy, always good performance.
JCN

Thanks Brad, I never had any issues with Core-Lokts or Partitions--maybe I'll put a few of them back in the mix!

I've had mixed results with both the Barnes and Failsafe. Some seemingly open up well and cause hellacious damage while others seemingly punch through with little damage... I think I'm headed back toward cup/lead bullets.

Thanks Reloader, the few reports I've gotten from others were similar on the Fail Safes. I am headed to Kansas and am planning on taking two rigs, one 270WSM, I've got a load that shoots the 140 Accubond very well, as well as the 130 gr. CT/NBT (both the factory loads and my reloads) The other is the 300 WSM but am still figuring out what load for it. Have been working on a load for the 180 Accubond, not real pleased yet, the 150 gr CT/NBT factory stuff is shooting pretty well, maybe the barrel needs a little more practice, it's got about 50 rounds through it, but also the Tubb Final Finish under it's belt, still hasn't shot quite as good as I'm looking for yet. That's why I was looking into the Fail Safe.

Again thanks for the feedback.--D.

I haven't had but outstanding performance from FS bullets out of my .338WM, specifically the Lubalox coated FS, not the Molybdenum coated ones. I have stopped buying FS bullets because I don't want to use Moly on my rifle. Some folks are removing the Moly from the new FS, but I would think that could result in higher pressures (I could be wrong).

I have used FS bullets in rounds that have been loaded to produce 2830 fps at the muzzle, and with these I have killed moose with lung shots at close as 100 yards, and as far as 300 (one at 300), but most around 225 yards. The main reason why I like the FS bullets is because I hunt in bear country, and because sometimes I may want to brake the shoulders of these animals. The FS, as well as Barnes-X provide the most penetration of any other bullets I have used. I have only recovered one FS so far from moose I have killed with it.

If what you primarily want is expansion, you won't get it from the FS. But if what you want is deep penetration (pass through), bone breaking power, and some expansion, then the FS is it. In bear country, and with my .338, I would prefer the FS to most bullets out there.

Nowadays I have been using 250 and 275-grain A-Frame bullets, and the 250-grain Nosler Partition. The Partition has worked every time, even after shedding its nose. I shot a moose at a little over 325 yards last week with a Federal 250-grain NOS-HE, and even at that distance the nose separated and did quite a lot of internal damage to the lungs. The way I see it, the NOS works every time, but it's not my favorite bullet for breaking bone. However, I should be an outstanding bullet if NOS would bond the lead to the core.

Fish,

Good Luck on your hunt. I hope you get a big one.


Reloader

I have had mixed results with FS and Barnes X, on deer and antelope..When they work they are par excellent, when they fail, they fail miserably...

In my experience they work great on Cape Buffalo, Eland and large animals, but not always good on the smaller species.

I have never seen a Nosler fail in the last 50 plus years..and the Northforks are very accurate and absolutly foolproof...

Of the monolithics, I have not seen a GS Customs fail on any game...and Northforks new cup point sure worked well for me in Africa this year on buffalo and plainsgame.