Today I went to Dick' s Sporting Goods to buy a " few things" a phrase that sends chills through my wife. I hunt elk with 300 WM handloads in 180 gr. Nosler Partition or FailSafe bullets. However, I was looking for a box of factory loads to practice with during the early part of this year' s practice. (My hunt is in January in N.M. so I' m getting a 4 month head start.)
I purchased a box of Federal Premiums in 180 gr. Nosler but the Winchester Ballistic Silvertips were cheaper by $5. a box. Has anyone ever had any experience with these loads on elk? The polycarb tip really concerns me on a big animal like elk.

i' ve used the 150 grain on mulies in my 7MM,dropped them all before they took another step. worked fine but i think the bullet broke up upon penetration. there were streaks of bloodshot meat throughout the deer originating from the bullets entry point.

i don' t know much about bullets and generally use whatever i have at the time when hunting. but i think that winchester makes about 3-4 different loads in those " supreme" black boxes, if i' m not mistaken the partition gold load claims to be the best for large animals such as elk.

Stick with the 180 gr. Nosler Partitions for hunting elk. Good luck

I' ve never used them on elk, but from what I' ve seen of them on deer, I' d never EVER use them on elk...

On deer, I' ve had awesome performance with them on deer at long ranges, theyre a volatile bullet, so they expand nicely at distances, but on every shot I' ve gotten at under 75yrds (pretty much every shot where I' d be over 3000fps still), they' ve given huge diameter surface wounds, and didn' t penetrate, they pop like balloons when they hit something hard while going fast. I' ve lost one deer that I hit in the shoulder hard enough to knock her down, and I' ve had to double shot two others under these circumstances, they just aren' t made for high velocity impacts.

With the muscle density of elk, I' d imagine you' d get similar problems even at lower velocities...if you' re sure not to get a shot under 100yrds or so, then they' d probably be ok, but like I said, they' re probably just too explosive.

I must ask why you would buy ammo to pratice with, if you shoot handloads for elk hunting?
I have a 270 that loves Winchester Ballistic silvertip bullets. That being said I would only use this bullet for Antelope & deer hunting.
I prefer the Federal Premium 180-grain Nosler Partition in my 300-win mag for elk hunting. You might check Wal-Mart for the Federal Premium ammo? They stock this ammo at Wal-Mart' s in Montana. I think the last box I bought for my 300 was $26.00?
Good luck hunting

On paper the ballistic silvertips are very accurate. However, I used them for my .300 for the first and last time this past hunting season. The animal dropped and did not move, but, the opposite shoulder was destroyed. I will stick with my Barnes Xs, Failsafes and Nosler Partitions.

I just returned home today from my elk hunt and after killing a bull friday, my total for elk killed with the 180gr ballistic tip out of my 300ultramags is now 5 .As usual bullet performance was satisfactory and the kill was quick and clean.I have also taken two large bull moose with this combination.