Today I went out to blast off my factory loads for my Abolt 25/06 so I can use the brass to reload. I had 3 boxes of Winchester Supreme 115gr. silvertips and one box of Fed. prem. 117gr. gamekings. I shot the silvertips for hours and could not believe how terrible I was shooting. If I didn't need the brass I would of quit. Just before I left I fired 6 shots of the game kings off and to my relief all but one was in a 1 1/2 group.
I killed a mule deer with each bullet this season and the gameking came apart so I thought I might stick with the silvertip. I don't know now. Maybe it's the powder that winchester uses, maybe it's the bullet.
The other difference I wan't to mention is the silvertips shot 8 to 10 inches higher than the game kings. I wish I had a chron. The 2gr. spread can't be the reason for that.

I'm hoping some one can answer some of these questions I have.

1. I'll assume winchester uses winchester powder in that load I bought, right?

2. Can the moly on the silvertips cause this poor performance?

3. Is there any difference between the sivertip and the Nosler baltip besides the moly?

4. I also would like to know is the Fed. Prem. brass the same as the Fed. Classic brass because I have a handfull of both?

Before any one asks, my barrel is 22'' long and I have only fired 3 1/2 boxes of ammo so far.

I talked to a couple of guys yesterday a the local shop and one used the Winchester loads and had bad results but handloaded was fine. He thinks it's the powder they use.
The other says he can't hit the side of a barn with them Handloaded. I didn't ask what powder he was using.
Went shooting today using the Fed. Prem. and was shooting as good as can be expected from factories. Just use the Win. for barrel fouling.

1. Yes, more than likely, but it's actually not Winchester anymore. The powder is produced by a contractor which took over the St. Marks, Florida plant. On top of that, whatever powder it is is likely to be a non-canister grade. Anyway, I think that the powder is fairly irrelevant to the performance you are experiencing. Some loads just do well in some guns and others don't.

2. Possibly. Moly is a passing fancy that will soon be gone from factory ammunition.

3. Could be, but it would be the same difference that exists between any two lots of the same bullets.

4. Same answer as above, essentially.

I've reloaded the Nosler/Winchester Combined Technology 115 gr. bullet out of my A Bolt and when seated far out (3.36" OAL) they are very accurate at 200 meters (1.5" for three shots). I seat them so far out my gun is a two shooter, I can only put one in the magazine and one in the chamber. Not very practical but I was looking for an accuracy load.

boilerroom,

I can only reply to #2 & #3.

On #2, the coating is not moly or anything at all like moly. I asked that question when looking at them for my 223. Where moly requires some special consideration and usage requirements, the CT "Lubalox" coating requires no special requirements. And I would say that the coating alone is not causing the accuracy problems. I have used the Silvertips in both my 223 and 25-06 with very good results in both factory and handloads.

On #3, in my understanding, yes the only difference between the regular BTs and The Silvertips is the coating.

On the coating topic, it seems to reduce copper fouling considerably in my rifles.

Dave

Thanks guys.

I tried cleaning up some of that nickel Winchester brass from those factory loads and ran them through the sizer die and it took more muscle than the brass cases from Fed.
When I was priming them, two of the cases wouldn't seat the primers all the way down. Dimentions obviously change from the coating.
I've seen on other posts that these nickel cases damage dies so all around I am very disapointed with there product.
I'm wondering how many reloads it takes these nickel cases to damage the dies?
I think I'll only load them a couple of times before disposing them. The bummer is that I have 80 of them.