My grandpa used to swear by this stuff in his m70.
What are yalls thoughts on this ammo? I have 50 rounds left.

Are there any advantages to this ammo over a modern soft point?

Perry

They are soft points. They just have an aluminum cap over the lead to protect it.

Some people like them, some don't. Why not try them on your next deer? They should work fine.

I really like the .257 100 grain SilverTips. they work quite well in 257 Roberts. they gave reliable expansion and held together well. The proviso on their use is that their velocity window does not include 25/06 or the 257 magnums. but when used in a 250/3000 or Roberts your grandpa's opinion of them is well founded.

I would use them on Deer with confidence.
I have a close friend who shoots a 270 WCF and uses only 130 grain Winchester silvertips, he's killed piles of big Mule Deer, several elk and when he went on a plains game hunt in Africa that's what he took.
He had excellent results on all the usual suspects, Kudu, several Blue Wildebeest, Impala, Warthogs, Oryx, etc.
He was really pissed when leaving South Africa he found out that they wanted his ammo to go home separate from his baggage and he had no ammo case to ship it home in (despite my previous warning) so he called his PH who picked it up from the airport and kept it.
He is now nearly out of his supply of original silvertips.

Shot some deer with them out of the 250 savage when I was 12 I thought they were the coolest thing around.

The deer I shot with them died well,

Way back in '72 I bought my Ruger 77 RT in 257R. Gale Deihl' s had 2 boxes of 100 grain Winchester Silvertip ammo. This was before the internet. I couldn't find any more 257R ammo for quite a few years. I nursed those two boxes. I reloaded the brass for practice and ground hogs, but saved the Silvertips for deer hunting. They were, for me, the best deer bullet in the Roberts, that I've used. Wish I could find some more. I still have nearly a box of those original brass that I still reload. They've been reloaded a lot.

I wouldn't push them past 3000. I think they look cool, FWIW, but they are fairly fragile, IME.

I have a stash that I use for doe culling. But if Muy Grande is around, I prefer a different bullet.

In Africa, in the '70's, I used nothing but Silvertips in my .300 H&H and .375 H&H. They never let me down. Around 90 head of plains game, plus a lion and a leopard.

I used to shoot the Silvertips all the time. Don't really know why I switched as I never lost an animal shooting them. They really open up a lot.

That combo would have worked well for your grandpa, but today's deer read the internet and know a .257 R wont kill them. Certainly a .223 never has never will. Takes a MAGNUM.

In my early years, Both my brother and dad and I shot many deer with them and they were excellent..I shot a number of elk with them and no problem, but never shot beyond 200 yards on elk that I recall. I used an iron sighted 250-3000 Savage 99 and mostly the 100 gr. Silvertips but also a few 100 gr. Rem Corelokts, even a few Peters that were Remingtons...Dad used the 87 gr. WW and Rem. mostly because a "box of bullets" was just that, he was a rancher not a gun nut" He allowed me that priveledge as long as I did't waste his time with adise! and he always killed his elk and never wounded an animal in his life that I know of, he got real close and made the shots, usually 25 to 50 yards or on rare occasions maybe a 100 yards. Those 87 gr bullets worked great on deer and mystified me by working on elk when he slipped own behind the shoulder. We always hunted with a skiff of snow, and tracking was easy but always short.

I still have about 15 old boxes of factory ammo in 100 gr. silvertips and 9 boxes of the Remington CLs for my 250-3000..Maybe a few 87 gr. boxes??? havn't looked in awhile..Since they are collectable I don't shoot them much, I reload for my 250s, and love those 85 gr. GSC bullets at about 3100 FPS, they shoot thru deer and kill deer promptly.

I've never used any silvertips in any caliber. However, I did find an interesting piece of historical info on them a few years ago. I was doing re-search on the .375 H&H model 70s used by the famous Kodiak Island brown bear outfitters Bill Pinnell and Morris Talifson for an article on their rifles for Sports Afield Magazine. Both of them outfitted for brown bears over 40 years and had around 750 total hunters in their camp over the years. I spoke to a number of the men who worked for them over the years about their rifles. One of these men, who happened to be a real gun guy, told me that they had some real bad experiences with the silvertips to the point of actually sending some samples taken out of bear to the folks at Winchester. They ended up going to CoreLokts and were apparently very satisfied with their performance. I know this does not apply to the lighter calibers and deer sized animals, but thought it rather interesting. I believe that the problem was lack of penetration due to the bullets coming apart.

In the .375 there were 2 SilverTips. On the left is the older style. It had a stronger tip metal, but the shape led to losing its core shortly after expansion. On the right is the newer design with the aluminum tip, but a much stronger jacket. the former was generally the one that got complaints from bear hunters, while the one on the right was a favorite.

quote:

Originally posted by carpetman1:
That combo would have worked well for your grandpa, but today's deer read the internet and know a .257 R wont kill them. Certainly a .223 never has never will. Takes a MAGNUM.

That's why I look for remote places to hunt where there is no wifi. Deer, elk, and even feral hogs can be taken there with smaller, less powerful rifles. There are still a few places that Facebook and Twitter haven't made 4,000 foot pounds of muzzle energy necessary for coyotes and prairie dogs.

I still have some Winchester 100 grain semi-pointed silver tips for my M-70 .257 Roberts.....yes, I load them to (around) 60,000 PSI but they sure do a fine job on whitetails.....They especially work well where one used a shorter action for his custom build "bob"....I can't seem to find them anymore so I'm a lucky guy that I have a lot of room for the bullets in my M-70.

silvertips in the .257 Roberts???

The 100 grain .257 SilverTip was loaded primarily for the 250-3000. The 117 grain Power Point was generally what was loaded for the 257 Roberts. So factory loads of the 100 grain ST in the 257 Roberts are quite rare.

quote:

factory loads of the 100 grain ST in the 257 Roberts are quite rare.

All of mine are handloads.....not at all factory loads.

quote:

Originally posted by Ray B:
The 100 grain .257 SilverTip was loaded primarily for the 250-3000. The 117 grain Power Point was generally what was loaded for the 257 Roberts. So factory loads of the 100 grain ST in the 257 Roberts are quite rare.

They are rare now because they haven't been made for a while. But they were quite common at one time. They were even offered in the +P version for a while.

Devere,
The Silvertip has been around for ions, it has been a total failure and a perfect bullet for that long also, they have historically made the best of bullets in the Silvertip, then the worst, then the best and still keep fixing it..That usually happens when a new generation of bean counters takes over a ammo company, The go to fixing things that work with things that don't work..History in the making..

When it comes to WW, you better know what Silver tip worked and which ones didn't..

Remington played it smart when they developed the Core Lokt, it worked and they have stuck with it, its still as good as any bullet out there in most calibers and works best at 2800 FPS as does any cup and core bullet..They recently changed the corelokt in that its offered in a soldered core bullet but with no other change, it should work if its not to hard. BTW, All bean counters in the industry should be gilflurted and stringhaulted. they are pawns of the anti Christ!!