winchester fail safe ?

jdemora

jdemora

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Hey guys has anyone tried the winchester failsafe bullets? I have a belgian browning bar in 30-06 and heard that they were a pretty sweet load. I was thinking about the 180's ?
Thanks
 
Great moose, elk or bear load, a little too much for most deer. (Though I did take my whitetail with a .270 wsm 140 gr Failsafe this year because I figured the shots would be in close and I was having trouble with the ballistic tips blowing up.) I Did some testing into wet sand through the short mag at 30 yards - good expansion and deep penetration.
 
I've used 165 grain failsafes in the Winchester factory load for the .30-06 in the past few years on deer - good performance with shots to the boiler room - no bullets recovered and all deer went down within 10 yards or less. Distances were from 25 yards to 125 yards. Surprizingly little meat wasted - I figure about a pound at most and that was on one deer shot through the shoulders.

I'd imagine that you'd get similar performance from the 180 grain offerings.
 
I had nothing but bad experiences with them in three different cartridges. These were the original 'Black Talon' factory loads and component bullets, not the newer CT moly Fail Safes.

160 gr. 7mm Rem Mag, 165 gr. 308 Win, and 180 gr. 300 Mag.

some lost game, some weird bullet performance, and alot of headache.

there is nothing a Fail Safe will do that a Barnes X wont do twice as well IMO
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Yeah, my 2004 whitetail was shot just behind the shoulder at 50 yrds with the shortmag, shooting 150 gr ballistic silvertips. There was a 3 " entrance hole, the lungs, heart, diaphragm, and some of the gut were full of holes. A little bit of bruising on the inside of the off-side of the rib cage, but nothing like an exit. From what I've heard, that's not uncommon. I took those rounds sheep hunting because they shoot so well in my rifle, then didn't have time during deer season to re-sight it. Shot the failsafes the last day because the bush was heavy and I expected close shots. For deer next year I'll be shooting the Barnes triple shocks.The ballistics tips were designed for accuraccy and fast expansion at longer range - short range with a magnum rifle, they're inconsistent at best.
My dad took his 2 does with the 150 gr. ballistic tips from a 30-06 at fairly close range and the meat damage was extensive.
 
I shot the 180 gr in my 30 06 and at 200 yds it blew the side out of a whitetail. Now I shoot 165 gr handloads
 
ive used em on a deer and a caribou and they preformed realy well in both cases. but you got to hit bone other wise they dont expand that well.
ttyal
Riley
 
Have you ever tried the ballistic silvertips? It sounds like 180 is a little heavy for deer in any cartridge eh? So what other loads would you suggest in order to have a claen kill with some power but not spoil the meat within 125 yrds ?
Thanks again guys for all the input
 
I've shot both deer and Wildboar with 180gr failsafes in a 300 Win mag, and had nothing but spectacular results. All except one were bangflops. The one was a 250lb boar that took through the lungs and front shoulder, and kept going for 100 yards. A second in the heart folded him up where he stood.
If I didnt have 40 225gr X's loaded for my 338, I'd have bought some allready.
 
My BLR 308 really likes Win Supreme Ballistic Silvertips...I just wish they didn't do so much meat damage. I dropped two whitetail last year with them, and both were shot thru the boiler, had BIG exit wounds, and were bloodshot for a 6" radius. I'm going to try Barnes X or tripple shock hand loads this year.
 
todbartell said:


there is nothing a Fail Safe will do that a Barnes X wont do twice as well IMO
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except that they are shorter for caliber/weight, and they are on sale at Midway for $9.99/50
 
with a design like a Fail Safe of a Barnes X, where the bullet retains near 100% of weight, you dont need a heavy bullet as you would with a standard type bullet. I could hunt moose happily with a 7mm Mag loaded with 120 gr. X bullets. They do not intrude on powder capacity as much as heavier bullets. Also an advantage of the X over the Fail Safe is a sleeker design, for higher retained downrange velocity, energy, wind drift etc

they are probably on clearance sale from MidWay because they are no longer being produced. Wonder why?? :confused: :rolleyes:
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I agree 100% with Todd, Barnes, Barnes, Barnes and never look back!!

I haven't had any first hand experience with Failsafes. But a woman I work with and her husband where hunting elk up in the Peace country last season and lost 2 elk hit in the boiler room with failsafe's (30-06 180's and 300 Win Mag 180's). They tracked both animals in fresh snow for over 3km over a period of 2 days and where unable to recover them. Lots of blood was present with indications that the bullets fully penetrated the animals. The blood trails both ceased to exist after about 1km. Not good performance IMHO.:( :(
 
todbartell said:
with a design like a Fail Safe of a Barnes X, where the bullet retains near 100% of weight, you dont need a heavy bullet as you would with a standard type bullet. I could hunt moose happily with a 7mm Mag loaded with 120 gr. X bullets. They do not intrude on powder capacity as much as heavier bullets. Also an advantage of the X over the Fail Safe is a sleeker design, for higher retained downrange velocity, energy, wind drift etc
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for equal caliber and bullet weight, Fail Safe is shorter than a Barnes. This may or may not make any difference in certain cases, but some Barnes X's, like the 300 TSX is like a No.2 pencil, and can be difficult to load.



todbartell said:
they are probably on clearance sale from MidWay because they are no longer being produced. Wonder why?? :confused: :rolleyes:
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Well, if you really accept that logic to determine what products are superior to others, then you must think that A-bolts are better rifles than FN Safari's and Mustangs are better than Camaros
 
Jdemora: The winchester power points may be cheap and not ###y, but within 200 yrds with a 30 06 they're really all you need for most deer. I've taken a couple with that round in .308 and 30 06 and never had a problem. The failsafes are a large game load, the ballistic silver tips are a long range load - sometimes cheap and simple works well. But if you want to spend the dough, I say barnes - or a 150 gr partition.
 
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