Winchester Silvertip...

[PeteG]

anyone know when Winchester last made the silvertip?
i've found a box of these silvertips, well not quite a box, they are loose so I don't have any idea about lot numbers of dates or anything.

most of them look ok though, no rust or anything, a little bit of discolouration on a few that look like they have spent quite some time in a leather belt.

I have no idea what grain they are...
apparently they are supposed to be 220gr! don't look like it. I think I will pull one apart to check the powder and primer and then see if I can weigh the bullet.

 

[spike.t]

hi pete dont know when they last made them but i used a 220grn silvertip in 300 win mag in 1991 to shoot a lion in chanjuzi, whistled through on a side shot, and the lion ran about 50/60 yards and died mid stride. the bullet in your photo does look smaller than i remember the ones i used , they where a bit more rounded ,not as pointy from what i remember, but it was a while ago that i sold some i had left to someone so.............

 

[35bore]

The silver tip was a marketing toy. No real fundamental difference than their standard soft point. They just colored (nickel plated or something) the lead tip silver and gave it a cool name to sell ammo. Guess they just decided to drop the cool name and got back to making quality ammo.

 

[PeteG]

hi pete dont know when they last made them but i used a 220grn silvertip in 300 win mag in 1991 to shoot a lion in chanjuzi, whistled through on a side shot, and the lion ran about 50/60 yards and died mid stride. the bullet in your photo does look smaller than i remember the ones i used , they where a bit more rounded ,not as pointy from what i remember, but it was a while ago that i sold some i had left to someone so.............

hi mike,
i wish i could date them somehow, i am sure they are pretty old... brings me to another question, when do you draw the line and stop shooting ammo because it is old?

I am happy shooting 15yr old ammo that i remember from the same belt that my old man had before i went off to boarding school. came back and he handed me the rifle and belt and said welcome home! nothing wrong with that old ammo, so i was not expecting anything untoward with the silvertips.
i think i shot off about 6 rounds and they were perfect.
my dad had used them for some of his hunting (i think that was mid 70's and early 80's), said they were fine, but caused a lot of meat damage.

 

[PeteG]

The silver tip was a marketing toy. No real fundamental difference than their standard soft point. They just colored (nickel plated or something) the lead tip silver and gave it a cool name to sell ammo. Guess they just decided to drop the cool name and got back to making quality ammo.

hi scott,
i'm sure it worked for a while as a marketing tool...
from a couple of the rounds that i collected out of the sand i was shooting into, only the jacket remained. in comparison, i fired off a couple of scirocco II's and a couple of a-frame's. the scirocco held together ok, the a-frame had pushed all the lead out of the base, it was a big bulky mess.

 

[enysse]

I want to tell you 8 or 10 years ago, Winchester is making a "new" Silver Tip now. The old ones act like any other lead jacketed bullet...yes they ruin meat, you will have to aim for the lungs to prevent a lot of meat loss:

 

[PeteG]

I want to tell you 8 or 10 years ago, Winchester is making a "new" Silver Tip now. The old ones act like any other lead jacketed bullet...yes they ruin meat, you will have to aim for the lungs to prevent a lot of meat loss:

So they may not be that old after all.... Thought I would date them way back when Spike.T was born... or would that have to have been blackpowder??
I will probably not use them for any game hunting but will let a few more fly down range before I keep a couple in the cupboard.

 

[DOC-404]

So they may not be that old after all.... Thought I would date them way back when Spike.T was born... or would that have to have been black-powder??

..I've only seen Spike on black and white photo's so he must be a black-powder baby..!

 

[PeteG]

..I've only seen Spike on black and white photo's so he must be a black-powder baby..!

:clap::clap::clap:

 

[spike.t]

..I've only seen Spike on black and white photo's so he must be a black-powder baby..!

:thinking: now Doc thats funny as i am sure i have only seen you in cave paintings.....:heh:

 

[elmerfudd555]

the "silvertip" is actually a very thin tin cap that was crimped over the exposed lead at the end of the bullet. I pried one off one time out of boredom while sitting in a tree stand. I was last able to buy them as component bullets around 1990 but I think they were available in loaded ammo for some time period after that. They really werent all that heavily built (at least in the 130 grain .270 version) and thus were great for deer, etc. Cant comment on them in the heavy 30 cal sizes. I think the advent of the polymer tipped bullets like the Nosler Ballistic tip kind of killed them off. The modern version is called the Ballistic Silvertip and is in fact a Nosler bullet with a grey tip and black oxide coating. The modern version is definitely not a bullet for heavy or dangerous game.

 

[PeteG]

the "silvertip" is actually a very thin tin cap that was crimped over the exposed lead at the end of the bullet. I pried one off one time out of boredom while sitting in a tree stand. I was last able to buy them as component bullets around 1990 but I think they were available in loaded ammo for some time period after that. They really werent all that heavily built (at least in the 130 grain .270 version) and thus were great for deer, etc. Cant comment on them in the heavy 30 cal sizes. I think the advent of the polymer tipped bullets like the Nosler Ballistic tip kind of killed them off. The modern version is called the Ballistic Silvertip and is in fact a Nosler bullet with a grey tip and black oxide coating. The modern version is definitely not a bullet for heavy or dangerous game.

thanks elmerfudd555, i am going to pull one apart and have a look at the construction.
will keep some for the range, the rest will probably get packed away.

 

[enysse]

That is true- the new Winchester Ballistic Tip Silver Tip is combination of two bullets Winchester use to make.