Win Ballistic Silvertip good load?
 

I have shot the .308 Win Ballistic Silvertip with good groups but have been told it is not necessarily that great of a bullet for deer hunting. At this point, I don' t exactly remember why the guy told me it was a poor choice, but he was pretty strongly against this particular bullet. He is a pretty knowledgeable guy, so i am sure he has a good reason for comment, but i am interested in your opinion. Assuming I can get other brands to group equally well, should i consider a different bullet for deer hunting?

RE: Win Ballistic Silvertip good load?
 

I think it has something to do with bullets exploding and not penetrating much?

RE: Win Ballistic Silvertip good load?
 

Some prefer the ballistic tips for deer...some don' t. I' ve used them, and didn' t care too much for the results...but the deer went down. I just found them to be overkill on the " expansion" side.

There' s nothing wrong with them, in my eyes. A lot of guys use them. I' m going to stick with the cheap core-lokt' s, though. They' re not pricey...but they' re effective.

RE: Win Ballistic Silvertip good load?
 

The ballistic tips are just fine for deer. The 308 is not an extremely fast cartrige so you don' t really need or want a bullet designed to hold together under magnum velocites.

If it is shooting good for you then keep using it.

RE: Win Ballistic Silvertip good load?
 

I have heard alot of views, good and bad. From my personal experience I used that bullet for the first time last season out of my 270. Shot a deer at 75 yards, at that distance the bullet would be at a pretty high velocity. I had no blow up on the front side and an exit hole the size of a 50 cent piece. Don' t know if it was luck, the bullet met no major obstruction or good performance but I was very happy with it. I' ll continue to use them as they are very accurate out of my gun. Only thing that concerns me is the molley coating, can' t seem to get a good answer on if it is really harmful to the barrel, I guess only time will tell.

RE: Win Ballistic Silvertip good load?
 

I have taken in excess of thirty head of big game including over two dozen deer(most at least 250 lbs with several over 300lbs live weight) with ballistic tips.Not one made it fifty yards and most dropped on the spot.The bullets used were the 100gr ballistic tip out of my 257weatherby and 140gr ballistic tip out of my 7mmstw.In both cases muzzle velocity was 3500fps.The vast majority did exit even at these high velocities.

RE: Win Ballistic Silvertip good load?
 

For deer Ballistic Tips are my favorite bullet. I have never seen a bullet put the spins on a big canadian buck faster than a NBT. Yes they are explosive but very effective when placed correctly. 9 out of 10 guys say they aim for the boiler room, keeping with that and assuming you can hit the pie plate they are a terrific choice IMO.

I would say if they group the best then use them. As far as the moly coating I have been told by many reloaders that they do nothing to your barrel as long as you clean and maintain it regularily. However I don' t believe the factory Win Ballistic Tips use actual moly coating, rather a paint dip ( I may be wrong but that was my impression!)

RE: Win Ballistic Silvertip good load?
 

Ballistic silvertips are lubalox coated.

RE: Win Ballistic Silvertip good load?
 

I' ve used them for years, and I' ve enjoyed them a lot, especially when they let me drop a 217# fat gal out there at 383yrds with factory ammo. BUT, then I shot a doe at 45yrds last season, hit her behind the shoulder so hard that she rolled over, then got up and ran, and ran, and ran, we never found a blood trail after a whole day of searching (four of us), but a buddy of mine said he heard a shot about the time I figured I had hit her, then about 5min later he said a limping doe covered in blood came trotting at a pretty good clip through his area, he downed her just to put her out of her misery. I posted on here at the time, and got a lot of similar stories from others, the bullets will pop like balloons upon impact, making a great big flesh wound on the surface, but strangely they won' t drop blood for a long way. Like I said, I love them, they' re great rounds, but oddly enough, you have to keep your shots at around 100yrds, no less than 55-60 would be my minimum (as I' ve taken deer with them at 60yrds with good results, but LOTS of bullet fragments in the meat). Out there where their velocity drops around 2250-2500, they' re great, but when you' re close to 2750-3K, you' re throwing an egg at a brick wall. In a .308, you' ll be about the same as my .30-06' s, but a little less, so maybe you' d never take a shot that short that it would explode on you?

At ranges of 200-400yrds, they' ve given me awesome results, doing about the same damage as a typical soft point at 75-100yrds, at 100yrds, the BALI-SILVERS aren' t doing a terrible amount of damage, but I like to hit the shoulder, so they get broken up and stopped before they destroy too much meat, the exit wound is sometimes only as large as the entry. I' ve gone back to Win. Super-X silvertips for factory loading on deer, they' re not quite as accurate down range (ok, not nearly), but they give me good results, I' ve just stopped taking those long range shots that I used to love, saves me the walk and the drag, since I' m usually between the deer and my truck.

They should really call it what it is, it' s not a deer cartridge, it' s a varminter bullet that' s a little too hard, so instead of scrapping the project on such an accurate round, they call it a long range deer cartridge, which it does like no other!

RE: Win Ballistic Silvertip good load?
 

I' ve had no problems with the Win BT. They' re great rds and I shoot them out of all my rifles. I especially like them in my .22-250. They' re killer on yotes.

RE: Win Ballistic Silvertip good load?
 

I never could get them to group. But I wouldn' t have any reservations on using them for deer. I think the bullistic tip is ideal for deer with 308 velocities. 30-06 speeds or greater, they might fragment. But I bet the deer will go down.

I get bullistic tips to group, just not the silvertips.

RE: Win Ballistic Silvertip good load?
 

I' ve never used the Winchesters but have been shooting Nosler Ballistictips for years. Never had a deer go more than 50 yards and the majority dropped on the spot. Most shots were under 50 yards with 130 grain NBT' s at 3100 fps out of a .270. Always had complete pass through with an entry hole the size of a pencil and exit hole the size of your fist. I generally shoot about 3" below the lower part of the backstrap which takes out both lungs and turns them into jelly. I' ve had much better luck with this shot placement and less meat damage than shoulder shots.

I did switch to Hornady Custom SST' s this past season mainly because the guy I had loading my BT' s sold all his equipment. So far the SST' s have been just as accurate and seem to do just as good of a job.

RE: Win Ballistic Silvertip good load?
 

hey Stubblejumperl, or anyone else, what can you tell me about lubalox coating?

RE: Win Ballistic Silvertip good load?
 

Lubalox coating is like a wax and is the coating used on many rimfire bullets.

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RE: Win Ballistic Silvertip good load?
 

Interesting comments. My personal experience this year was, the entry hole was larger than the exit. Perhaps the entry was appx size of silver dollar and exit since of a nickel. Seemed kinda strange to me. Guys at the camp would point at entry and say, boy, look at the exit... There is no doubt as to which one was the entry vs. exit b/c I watched the deer for 10 minutes and know exactly how he was standing etc. Point is, bullet seemed to expand rapidly upon impact. Of course, the part that matters is, did you get him. The answer is yes, and he only went about 30 yds. The internal organs were destroyed and it was like jello from all of the blood clots, so the shot was devastating and provided a nice ethical and clean kill. Still, I originated this post b/c i was not sure if my experience was typical or not. I sure see signs of almost excessively rapid expansion. By the way, shot was 95 yds with the .308.

RE: Win Ballistic Silvertip good load?
 

The problem as Ive experienced it with ballistic tips is that they will produce very good terminal performance most of the time, but very poor results on occassion. Not completely consistent. Ive seen the exploding bullet failure enough to make me leery of using these bullets on game. I dont think it has anything to do with range either. I saw a small buck shot right in the middle of the ribcage with a 280 using 150 gr and the bullet exited in three pieces. That shot was about 50 yards. Folks who have only shot a few deer with these bullets might think they are the best thing since sliced bread, but sooner or later you will get one that just flies completely apart on impact. Of course, its hard to shoot a deer with any bullet of 150 grains or more and not kill it provided you hit it somewhere in the front half. So the debate will live on forever. Shooters like to hunt with these bullets because they are so accurate. But, extreme accuracy is perhaps worth slightly less sometimes than a bullet with the integrity to penetrate.

RE: Win Ballistic Silvertip good load?
 

How would the silvertip compare to the " boat-tail" design? as far as integrity, penetration, etc..

I' ve used them in a Federal premium load to harvest approximately 15 whitetails and have never had any problems.

What would be th main differences?

Jeff....U.P. of Michigan

RE: Win Ballistic Silvertip good load?
 

The ballistic silvertip is a boattail bullet.

RE: Win Ballistic Silvertip good load?
 

The ballistic tip and the ballistic silver tip is the same bullet except the silver tip has a whiteish tip and the coating. Other than that they are exactly the same.

Winchester also makes a silver tip (not a ballistic silver tip) That is a lead nosed bullet with an alluminum cap over the lead to prevent tip deformation.

RE: Win Ballistic Silvertip good load?
 

If the silvertip is the same as a boat-tail, then I' ve had excellant results with them. The only minor problem may be the very small entrance hole. I' ve shot 13/15 in the shoulder due to public land hunting and a desire to have it drop in place, and most shots have left a 1/4" entrance hole, and no exit. Now granted, all of the deer have not taken more than a step or two, but the bullet has literally pullvarized the opposite shoulder, with most bullets not exiting, leaving a very small hole for a blood trail-but again that hasn' t been a concern with only taking a couple of steps.

Jeff...U.P. of Michigan