Here's a story.....

I have hunted many years and used many different bullets on game from antelope to eland. A few years ago I fell in love with Winchester Fail Safe 230 grain bullets for my 338 Win Mag. Most of my hunting is large deer, elk and recently Alaskan big game. I first used them in Africa. Specifically, I loaded these rounds for a trip to Alaska for bear and moose.

Well last weekend I had an opportunity to hunt elk here in Montana. I proceeded to shoot a 5 point bull 4 times with NO visible reaction from him. Three of the shots were behind the front shoulder. One was a bit low but certainly within the "killing" zone. The bull retired to some thick timber after this. We all saw blood from the exit wound and believed he would die while bedded. Wrong. 30 minutes later I jumped him and there was very little blood in the bed. The last two rounds were while the bull was standing broadside at less than 15 yards. He never flinched, hunched, or blinked. Both rounds were aimed and hit just behind the shoulder. No kidding. I thought I was shooting blanks.

My father is a witness as he was standing next to me at the time. 25 to 45 seconds after the second shot, the bull started wobbling and then laid down.

While field dressing the animal we were shocked to find 2 of the 3 rounds had broken ribs on the entry side. All 4 exit holes were just slightly larger than entry. There was no significant damage to the heart or lungs. It is as if this critter was wearing kevlar.

My obserations.... The bullet performed well in 2004 on a moose and brown bear. I will use them again.

My assumption.... Something went very wrong on this trip. I believe the bullets failed to open per my expectations. I won't say the bullet failed. What are the odds 4 rounds fail in a row? Zero. I assume I was the victim of much bad luck. Yes the bull died. I would not have recovered the animal had the situation been a wilderness hunt.

My conclusion.... WFS 230 grain bullets are best used in Africa and Alaska. I will go back to Woodleigh Weldcores for deer and elk.

Go figure?
Skibumplus3

SkiBumplus3, early in my reloading learning curve, a wise AR member advised me that Failsafes were very 'hard' bullets, and that they often didn't expand on whitetails, especially at close range. Subsequently I spoke to several different hunting friends who all advised of real world experience that was just as my AR friend had said. 'Pencil through' with little or no expansion, and deer running off. Often found dead a ways off, but not always found.

I think you probably experienced this with your elk, and also IMO is why Winchester discontinued the Failsafe, it was an expensive bullet to manufacture, and not as accepted as many other bullets, I think due to the fact that it was probably used in the wrong application often.

Just some thoughts, Good Hunting--Don

Fish20114.

Point well taken. WFS is now considered a "solid" in my reloading room and will be used as such. Large game, second shots, 2 holes required. Not a knock on the bullet, just an observation based on experience.

Ski+3

Good point guys. Win. has now released the XP-3 to replace the Failsafe. It is built to open quicker on thin-skinned game, and still retain the rear section of the bullet. The Failsafe was/is a great bullet for the proper application, but it was notorious for losing the front portion on impact, leaving what amounted to basically a lighter solid rear section. It was one of the best for pure penetration, but it didn’t make a very large wound channel.
Dave

Too bad! Shoulda, woulda, didn't use a 225 gr. Northfork.
Bear in Fairbanks

They are just like FMJs on whitetails.

Sadly it took us several deer to figure out we'd better go back to softer bullets. The do shoot quite well. The last straw was on a bruiser 7pt that almost got away from us(lack of blood from small exit).

They may be great for really tough game but they aren't worth a hoot for medium game.

Good luck

Reloader

My partner put two Failsafes throught the heart lung area of a gemsbok, solid hits witnessed by the PH and tracker. We found the carcass two days later due to buzzards, about two miles away. A-Frames for me, or other fine premium bullets.

I like 250 Nosler Partitions in the 338 for Elk and above game .I like the 200 gr Winchester power points for deer and hogs and black bears.I have taken 85 deer with this load.I use the 250 Noslers for my 338-378 Weatherby also they are awesome bullets.I didnt like the Nosler partitions the 210 on smaller game under 200 pounds.The pp winchesters worked from 3 yards to 425 yards.

I've been preaching for some time now about what a poor choice the Failsafe is for medium thin-skinned game. One guy from central TX asked my advice just before the 2005 season regarding FailSafes in his custom Encore in .300 Savage. I told him to forget it. He used them any way because he "had a good supply of them." He lost a whitetail buck and took a day and a half to find an axis doe -- and he now blames the caliber instead of his poor, poor choice of projectile.