Fail Safes

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todbartell

todbartell

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Who uses them, and what do you think about them? good bullet??

i have had nothing but bad performance with them on game, I have seen maybe a half dozen critters shot with them.
 
Ow, that hurts. I've shot a few Wild Boar with them and all except once they worked flawlessly (or anchored the animal within 20 yards) The trophy boar took off like he wasnt hit at all. Caught up with him and put another in the boiler room and he didnt wiggle. first one would have done the job, but I got Impatient.

I do have faith in them and will be loading them for a few of my rifles before fall again.

7mm and 30 cal.
 
I've shot some whitetails with it out of a 7mm Rem Mag, they worked... But now my favorite bullet for deer is the SST from Hornady...

Cheers
Jay
 
I find Failsafes to be REALLY accurate, for a hunting bullet.

I really think that they are at thier best when shooting large game through the shoulders, or some other bone that ensures expansion. The Failsafe is one bullet I have not actually done any testing with...

From what I can gather, they are pretty darn hard, and they are best used with hevy game in mind, or really light for caliber bullets.

I've had one experience with X bullets drilling through game, with no expansion. These where older X bullets, and I think they have fixed the problem.

Next year, I will try shooting a bear with a Failsafe, and tell you what happens. I don't intend to use them in the fall, because deer and moose are more important than bears!!! :D
 
When I said they failed to expand enough...I meant that they would not expand enough on deer (Medium sized Game). I guess they have thier uses but I don't have a use for them.
I have heard some Moose hunters complain that they shot through without expanding and some said that they caused extensive damage when shot through bone :?
Hey Todd what size animals did you see shot with the failsafe's...what kind of results did you witness?
 
we learned 2 valuble lessons in 1 afternoon, #1 pump guns suck and #2 that 4 fail safes blew right through a bear and didnt even fizz him , but did create nuff dust on the other side we thought we had missed it and kept shooting
 
Every time I have used the failsafe it functioned great. The last was a moose at 465yds(laser)out of my 300WM. The bullet clipped a rib on the way in, deflected up through the backbone. Dropped like a ton of bricks. OK, maybe half a ton.

Same results with anything else I've shot. One thing I would like to say is, if the ranges are close, the wound channel does tend to be smaller. not that it makes much difference if your shot placement is on. If you think the failsafe will somehow make up for a poor shot, think again.

If you are presented with a shot that includes heavy bone or requires deep penetration, I think they work as good as anything.
 
BIGREDD said:
Hey Todd what size animals did you see shot with the failsafe's...what kind of results did you witness?
Click to expand...


Mule deer, caribou, and black bear. Out of a 7mm Rem Mag, 308 Winchester, and 308 Norma Mag. 160 gr. 7mm, 165 gr. 308, and 180 gr. 308 NM.

I have had marginal experiences with the game I've seen shot with the fail Safe. I've taken two black bears with 160 gr. factory loads in my 7mm Mag. The first took two well placed shots at 8 yards, and the second took two as well from 20 yards. The bears both went down instantly after the first shot, but didn't die for another couple minutes.

I shot another bear with a handloaded 180 gr. fail Safe. The shot was through the lungs at a range of about 75 yards. The bear went down, but was up and into the brush before I could get another into him. There was very little blood, and I lost that bear. I found the bullet in a tree behind where the bear was standing. It was expanded perfectly, and retained 99% of it's weight. I'm not that sure that it expanded inside the bear, but rather inside the tree .

I saw my friend shoot a mule deer at a range of about 65 yards. The handloaded 165 gr. from a 308 Win hit the deer behind the shoulder, creating a shower of hair on the far side. The buck trotted forward, shaking it's head side to side. It then bolted into the bush, and was lost. We looked for about an hour and a half, but could find no sign of blood.

In August 2000, another friend shot a caribou with a factory 160 gr. 7mm Mag. At 100 yards, the bullet broke both shoulders. The recovered bullet had lost all four petals. I would of thought that it would have just zipped through like solid.

The last time I used a fail Safe myself was the fall of '99. I shot a nice sized cinnamon black bear @ 80 yards in the chest with a 180 gr. handload. He was standing on his hind legs facing me. The bear dropped to the shot into some 4' tall trees, and dissapeared from sight. I had to go in there and try to fish him out, not fun. There was no sign at all of blood.
 
Thanks for that Todd...that is pretty much what I have been hearing from others who have used the Fail safes a lot... I have been disapointed with many C/T bullets and am beginning to believe that the Bonded bullets are more forgiving with regard to the size of game and velocity needed to make them function properly.
 
so guys what do you think would be good for a 300wsm.
I'll be shooting around 40yards for bear.

viper
 
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