Winchester Ballistic Silvertip Hunting Reviews?

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  • BlueShamu

    Well-Known Member
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    Oct 21, 2015
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    Just curious, what are other people’s experiences and thoughts on this ammo? I’m particularly interested in the .308 Win in 150 grain performance? What have you experienced? Good, bad and ugly?

    I had my first experiences with this round this past Sunday taking down two good sized marsh deer. Both taken at ~110 yards from 20’ high platform stand. Neither took another step from where they were hit. Doe was slightly quartering away. Bullet entry was center mass chest cavity. There was what I will call an exit wound on the upper portion of the opposite shoulder...but, it was no larger than the entry wound...so, just guessing it was a piece of shrapnel that took an upward angle? The lungs were totally shredded. The top half of the upper shoulder was a bloody mess. The spine even had some damage!

    Buck was broadside and easily 40-50 lbs heavier than the doe. Entry wound center chest cavity. Again, lungs were destroyed. Backside shoulder had considerable damage. And, it too had some spine damage noticed. No exit wounds, no salvageable bullet fragments.

    All new stuff to me....been a lifelong user of Core-Lokts and the school of thought that you wanted the boolit to mushroom, stay intact, yada, yada, yada. Bought these rounds for a really great price so I gave them a shot. They were obviously extremely effective and accurate. Just not the same damage...and certainly not the fragmentation...I’m accustomed to seeing with the Core-Lokt.


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    Labeeman

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    Oct 11, 2010
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    I have used the ammo you are talking about for about the last 8-10 years and I have had mostly good experiences with it. Like you said, it is very accurate. I was shooting it out of two different Winchester Model 70’s (.243 and .270) and at 100 yds they will shoot a little over one inch groups all day. I posted some photos of this a few years back. By no means am I saying that this is great, but for the average hunter you probably won’t find a more accurate commercially produced round than this. Also like you said, it will do massive internal damage which can be good and bad. Shot in the right place it will take deer down very quickly with only damage to internal organs and bones, but sometimes it will also damage good meat to the point it’s not worth keeping, but I guess this could happen with just about any type round and bad shot placement. The other thing I don’t like about them is the exit wound. You also noticed this too, is that it can be very small and won’t let a lot of blood out in case you have to track the deer. One time my son shot a nice doe at about 140 yards and the deer dropped in it's tracks and when we walked up to the deer to look at it we could not find an exit wound. It wasn’t until we were cleaning it that we found it. It was very small, probably caused by a fragment from the bullet, and it had basically closed back up. Where we hunt, we can usually see where the deer run after being shot so finding them is usually easy, but if you were hunting in some thick woods this could be a problem if not much blood is coming out of the wound for tracking purposes. With all this being said, I keep using them, so the good to me out weighs the bad. On another note I have been looking at the Winchester XP Deer Season ammo to try this year. It’s a polymer point bullet, but it is wider where the polymer meets the metal part of the bullet and I don’t think it fragments as much as the silver tip line of bullets. If it’s accurate I’ll probably start shooting this. It’s been hard to find online so I have not gotten it yet but when I do I’ll post about my experience with it.
     

    BlueShamu

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    Oct 21, 2015
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    Great response, Labeeman. The lack of blood trail is a concern for me....but, if the animal is going to drop in its tracks...I don’t guess I need a blood trail. The round obviously packs one heck of a punch.


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    mforsta

    Pops
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    4   0   0
    Jun 25, 2012
    494
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    Denham Springs
    Both myself and my son used the Silver Ballistic tips. All the deer we shot with them never had a exit wound or a blood trail. Some dropped in the food plots making for a easy recovery. Others ran in the woods and we had to do a circle search to find them. I switched over to a Winchester PowerMax bonded for several years and had great results with kills and blood trails. The round was a accurate at 100 yards but started to fly all over at 200 yards. I am trying a new Federal Berger Hybrid Hunter bullet this year. They are a bonded hollow point bullet. They are accurate but I have not killed anything with them as of yet, so I don't have any results to report on blood trails.
     

    Emperor

    Seriously Misunderstood!
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    Mar 7, 2011
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    I don't know how many you bought, but to me, having leftover cartridges from boxes of ammo that I no longer use for hunting is very common. The problem for me is I may never come back to the factory loads I have moved on from, and they stack up.

    Truth be told, when I was dialing in my brand new .308 setup, using Winchester Super X 130's, my shots were drifting and I was losing my mind trying to figure it out. Turned out the guys who set up my picatinny optics rail, didn't fasten it well enough to the gun. So that was a shitshow. However, before I made that determination I had purchased 8 boxes of various brands in 130gr. And some of it was expensive. I settled on a completely different brand in the end.

    The point is, unless you bought a case of it, don't be afraid to move on to something more suitable for the results you want. Besides, if you have more than you care to let sit, sell it. For me, if it was tearing up my deer meat and bones, and not dropping them relatively close to where I shot them, I would have already moved on.

    As for the leftover cartridges? I put those in a lesser long range shooter and use for close quarters hand to hoof combat! :p
     

    AK shooter

    Redneck with a gun!
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    28   0   0
    Apr 12, 2008
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    I have had the same experience with the ballistic Silvertips in my 7mm WSM. I came to the same conclusion several years ago, they fragment bad, very little exit wound.
     

    mike84z28

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    Aug 13, 2012
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    Kenner
    They do not work well at all in Magnum rifles. The extra velocity tends to make them fragment on impact as stated above. I have personally seen several deer lost because of these rounds and would never use them. From the research I have done online and speaking with hunters, in a non magnum load they are not as bad. Bonded Bullets are all I use now, Nosler and Federal are my rounds of choice for Hunting. Nosler's can be pricey but it's all about what your rifle likes and at the end of the day If I buy 60 rounds for a hunting rifle it will last me many years.
     
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    buckedup

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    May 31, 2014
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    I reload so this is based on reloaded ammo. I find the heavier ballistic tips do exit and do a great job. Switched to 150 ballistic tips in my 270 with 56 grains of reloaded 22. Great accuracy and performance try a heavier bullet in that 270. The Winchester 150 powerpoints were great before I reloaded
     

    Bangswitch

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    Jan 10, 2019
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    Add the SST and ELDM by Hornady to the list of frag-tastic bullets. I’ve gone back to soft point, and partitions. I try not to have to track them but if I do I want horror movie blood. It hurts me deep in my soul to know I killed one that leaves no trace, so they can keep those hot-rod poly tip bullets unless they are solid copper.
     

    Magdump

    Don’t troll me bro!
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    Dec 31, 2013
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    A buddy of mine swears by them in his 30-06. He won’t hunt with anything else. I tried them in my .270 win and they were all over the paper. My M77 MKII Ruger must be budget zero’d tho, shoots the best group with Sellier&Bellot 150gr round nose.
     

    BlueShamu

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    Oct 21, 2015
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    Well, thus far...they are obviously extremely efficient at killing....just not in the same manner I have experienced over the past...ohhh...nearly 40 years...of using Core-Lokt.....243, .25-06, 270, 7 mm mag and 30-30. Not saying or convinced it’s a bad thing...I believe in advancement...otherwise, we would all be sending these messages to each other via smoke signals, carrier pigeon or Pony Express....or, typing on our Windows 3.0 operating system using Word Perfect, right?

    It’s probably one of those things where I simply need to get out and put a few more critters on the ground and (hopefully) experience some more positive results...just so I can get comfortable with whether or not they will drop animals in their tracks every time. And, maybe start going back to how my dad brought us up hunting marsh deer...neck shots. LOL


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    frhunter13

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    Mar 28, 2018
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    New Orleans
    Had a 150g Ballistic Silvertip explode in the chest of a buck at point blank range. Blew a softball size hole that kept gathering leaves an stuff into its chest as I dragged it to my ATV. After that I started using 180 g same bullet in my 3006. It held together much better. Lately though I have gone to 200g Woodlies because they hold up better.
     
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    BlueShamu

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    Oct 21, 2015
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    Well, they were pretty effective on hogs, this morning. 3 of them @ ~125 yards...again, in their tracks. But, one was in the head. I might could get used to these rounds.
    3d60eb818db05c1034171ad064ec0d99.jpg



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    Gator 45/70

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    Well, they were pretty effective on hogs, this morning. 3 of them @ ~125 yards...again, in their tracks. But, one was in the head. I might could get used to these rounds.
    3d60eb818db05c1034171ad064ec0d99.jpg



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    Very Nice!!!

    Any of those ol nasty boolets you don't want,You can pay em' forward to me !
     

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