I have found some fail safe ammo for the above calibers. He wants $35 a box good deal or should I pass. 140gr. 150gr and 180gr

Buy it. Fail Safe ammo is great stuff if you need premium bullets. Why they discontinued it is a mystery to me.

At that price, buy all you can.

Del,

Good deals aside; our experience in Africa with Fail Safe outa 300 WSM was a catastrophe.

13 shots later my Buddy had 3 trophies on the ground, an Oryx (5 shots), a Zebra (5 shots) and an Impala (3 shots). No, Rob-Bob can shoot; every shot he hit with was a telling shot (heart/lungs).

We finally obtained a sample from a Zebra, the nose was slightly mushroomed leading us to believe that they had pretty much acted like solids, pencilling through.

He used his 375H&H after that experience loaded with TBBC's and dropped everything else with 1 shot.

That was my experience with a handloaded 180 grain 30 cal on elk (300 WSM)... pencil holes in and out.

I pulled the remaining bullets and threw away the rest of my inventory.

IME, Fail Safes were the most poorly named bullet ever made as my own experience and many others I've known had noting but problems with them (as Gerry points out).

On my first safari I took a 308Win and a 270 WSM. I had Fail Safes for the 270 WSM and my PH told me to leave it in my room because they pencil through the smaller animals. However, I would like to have some 270grain 375 caliber ones for my 376 Steyr.

I have a bunch of 300 grain bullets for 375. Are they "solids"?

Typical performance for a monometal bullet -- well, almost a monometal bullet. The Fail-Safe had a steel core with the rest of the bullet being alloyed copper. The copper was alloyed (making it harder and less expansive) because otherwise it would leave heavy copper deposits in the bore, just like the original Barnes X monometals. Barnes eventually addressed the copper fouling (to some degree) with rebated driving bands so that not as much bullet surface bears against the bore. Winchester attempted to address it by hardening the alloy, which cut copper fouling but resulted in bullets that acted like solids. I never did figure out what the little steel insert in the base was supposed to do, other than sell bullets to the uninitiated.

the FS design has a rear partition that contains a lead plug.
The lead is also partially encapsulated in a steel cup, to prevent riveting on impact.
The base of the bullet has a steel cap, to help contain the unbonded lead plug on impact.

http://picturearchive.gunaucti...e47ddbe7b4582963.jpg

A 300WSM-180FS has been tested on Buffalo.
From 30yd, the bullet first tore a 3" chunk from a tree,
before entering the animal then penetrating 16" to smash the vertebra,
stopping the animal instantly.
I doubt a premium expanding soft A-Frame would have achieved the same thing.

I also recall the 7mmWSM-160FS being tested on AsianW-Buffalo and other smaller ferals
when the WSM.M70FW rifles first came out.....with acceptable results.

The game I have killed with FS [anywhere from 50 to 350yd] all died rather rapidly with some good blood trail.
Some had no blood trail,...only because they were DRT.

They behave like solids. Too hard in my opinion.

They are really tough bullets.I have had some 140gr bullets for my 270win.I once shot some through a thick tree stump.All the other premium bullets I tried did not make it half way through.I thought these bullets never expanded until the snow melted one spring and I found some in it.They all had expanded nicely.I believe they must hit water to expand.They are recommended for heavy game.I would use one if I wanted a small bullet to do a big job.For example if I wanted a 200gr bullet shot from a 8mm Rem mag or something similar to take a big lion or even better shoot a buff with a 375RUM.The ones I tried were accurate.They were coated in Lubalox-something I do not like.I would rather they be coated in molly or nothing.Others say they are not that accurate.I had read an outdoor life article about a test of various rifles out to 500 or 600yds and one of the top performers was a 270 with a failsafe-if I remember correctly.It certainly is a very interesting bullet and probably difficult and costly to make.

My experience with the failsafe bullet comes from a 7 WSM, 160 grain bullets. They were shot into the shoulders of a couple of medium to larger black bears (dress weights 270 and 320).

They were used in bear coming to a bait situation and shot placement was in the upper front shoulder, severing the spine.

I liked them enough to have purchased a lifetime supply of bullets.

I have no experience with shooting an animal through the ribs with them.

I shot a very large bull eland on the point of the shoulder, quartering to me. The bullet broke the bone, but traveled down the leg and out just under the chest. I was not impressed, but...... I am completly jinxed on all the mono-metal types. I have tried them a number of times in various calibers, and have never had good luck with the performance.

quote:

Originally posted by theback40:
I shot a very large bull eland on the point of the shoulder, quartering to me. The bullet broke the bone, but traveled down the leg and out just under the chest. I was not impressed, but...... I am completly jinxed on all the mono-metal types. I have tried them a number of times in various calibers, and have never had good luck with the performance.

Whats the rest of the story on the Eland... How many more Failsafes did the bugger take before he thru in the towel...

It took us on a merry chase until I had the chance to put a 250 grn .338 through it's neck.
I have no doubt another failsafe would have broke it's neck too. I just have no luck with the mono-metal bullets it seems and didnt chance it.

quote:

Originally posted by theback40:
It took us on a merry chase until I had the chance to put a 250 grn .338 through it's neck.
I have no doubt another failsafe would have broke it's neck too. I just have no luck with the mono-metal bullets it seems and didnt chance it.

I dont doubt you.It could be that it was not the best choice for your cartridge.I think we need to discover what works best by trying.I have had best results with the 180gr Barnes triple x out of my 300WM.