Silvertips, anyone?

I have some older silvertips in 38 special, 357 magnum and 38 super.
I am saving them for a rainy day. Back in the early 80's they were the cat's meow. I would continue to buy them if they were available.
John!
 
I've always like the Winchester loaded 10 mm 175 gr. STHP in my Colt DE.
I just checked the Winchester web site, it is still listed.
Years ago, I purchased the bullets only from Midway and loaded them in new Norma brass. :D
My old department used to issue the .38 Spl. 110 gr. non +P STHP for small frame OD guns.
 
Silvertip Chrono Numbers

I finally got a chance to test out the 145gr .357 loads. I use short barrel revolvers for my tests, because that's what I carry for backup/off duty. Readings out of my 6" 28-2 wouldn't mean as much to me. Out of my 640-1PC, I averaged 1278fps and 526ME. That's with the 2-1/8 barrel with a single port compensator. The 2-1/2" Model 66-1 averaged 1309fps and 552ME. Those are pretty stout numbers, and I feel very comfortable using them along with my Federal 357B carry ammo.
I also tried to test some old blue/ white S&W boxed .357 ammo. It was the 125gr SJHP; I picked it up at a gun show last week. I fired one cylinder, and was unable to get any readings due to an error with the chrono. They felt pretty weak; I'm going to guess 1100fps if I was lucky. Even more disturbing, two of the 6 cases broke in half during firing. One piece got lodged in my 66's cylinder, and it took some time to figure out how to remove it. Needless to say, I won't be using them for duty ammo.
 
gm272gs said:
I thought hollow points were only issued to MPs, and only since 2010. You must have been breaking some rules there, Bubba. :D
Click to expand...

Sounds like breaking the rules are in order.

You are responsible for your own survival, not any superior officer.
 
I have not had any experience with Winchester Silver Pistol Ammo. I have fired a lot of Win. STs in rifle ammo. They are
two different animals. The STs in the rifle ammo was to upgrade
your rifle for deeper penetration before expansion. Basically a
Alumilum cap over a soft point. 30/06 STs will shoot clear through a deer, might as well be FMJ. But this bullet would excel
in heavier game such as moose or elk. I'm not even sure if its
still made. Remington use to have a Bronze Point bullet which
was for same purpose. I once shot a moose with ST in 375H&H.
Since it was a 40yd shot I can't credit ST as being major factor,
any slug out of 375H&H at 40yds would have cashed it in.
 
I was at Cabela's last week. They had a box of 9mm Silvertips on the shelf. It came home with me.
 
Command taking the ammo away? I'd say that's bizarre, but it's literally taking an act of Congress to arm troops on-base now in response to the on-base shootings. You can thank Billy-Bob for that, BTW. It was during his administration that they decided that was too dangerous. It's what you call "compartmentalized thinking." That's when it doesn't bother you to have a 22-year-old in sole charge of a ground, sea or air weapons system that can lay waste to half a small country, but you get your pantyhose in a knot over the idea of giving the same person a 9mm handgun with a high-capacity magazine.
 
JGR_LV said:
Command taking the ammo away? I'd say that's bizarre, but it's literally taking an act of Congress to arm troops on-base now in response to the on-base shootings. You can thank Billy-Bob for that, BTW. It was during his administration that they decided that was too dangerous. It's what you call "compartmentalized thinking." That's when it doesn't bother you to have a 22-year-old in sole charge of a ground, sea or air weapons system that can lay waste to half a small country, but you get your pantyhose in a knot over the idea of giving the same person a 9mm handgun with a high-capacity magazine.
Click to expand...

Klintoon did alot of damage to this nation. As well as the above is the trade with china act of 2000.

Next time a liberal tries to tell you to blame Reagan or Bush for the economic difficulties weve been facing, hit 'em with this:

The China toll: Growing U.S. trade deficit with China cost more than 2.7 million jobs between 2001 and 2011, with job losses in every state | Economic Policy Institute

Trade with china has been the single most devastating factor to our jobs sector, and, next to the sub-prime mortgage crisis, have wreaked absolute havoc on our economy- and BOTH of these issues cannot be blamed on conservatives.

I know I'm way off topic here and I'll cease and desist immediately after this post.
 
Last edited:
Too true...

...and it's not the worst example. Other examples of that kind of incomplete thinking are the folks that start hyperventilating over the idea of sending a 16-year old to school with a gun, but see nothing wrong with having him get there in a vehicle with the potential energy of a 75mm round, or the ones that go all faint at the sight of an Uzi with the accuracy of a well-pitched baseball or an AR-15 with a pistol grip, but are okay with a nice walnut-stocked "hunting rifle" like a scoped .300 Win. Mag that can explode your head at 500 yards. Where do they think sniper rifles come from? I blame it on the abject failure of our educational system to teach critical thinking skills.
 
Do a study of the FBI Dade County Shooting. ST ammo performed exactly like the FBI requested it to, they were the ones to insist on it's development. The rounds completely failed in a real world gunfight. If one Agent had not managed to get a shotgun every agent would have been killed. I do not know about the new ones but avoid the old stuff like a fat ugly woman
 
Last edited:
I don't mind..............

I am still saving up all my money with all this down time........
with the price that they want for that ammo, I almost have enough for two boxes of 38 special 110gr !!
 
I have a hard time finding Silvertip ammo. Have a box of .357 Silvertip on my desk as I type this. Great ammo, they should bring it back. Especially in .357, .41, and 10mm.
 
scattershot said:
Bought some .44 Special Silvertips recently, I'm pretty sure they were new stock.
Click to expand...

Nope, Win. hasn't made a run of those in three years or better. They told me in an e-mail and said perhaps late in 2015. No one has had any on years on the Internet. I use them in a Bulldog as denim/gel tests show it to work best out of a snubby whereas the Gold Dot in that cal. is worthless in a snubby. i.e., zero mushroom in a certified test (not shooting water jugs like a Redneck).
 
Last edited:
shotgun693 said:
Do a study of the FBI Dade County Shooting. ST ammo performed exactly like the FBI requested it to, they were the ones to insist on it's development. The rounds completely failed in a real world gunfight. If one Agent had not managed to get a shotgun every agent would have been killed. I do not know about the new ones but avoid the old stuff like a fat ugly woman
Click to expand...

You, sir, are a manufacturer's dream.

I think "completely failed" may be a bit of an exaggeration. You may want to re-read that report. Please don't skip over the 10-or-so tactical decisions that determined the outcome of that firefight just to get to the part about 1 bullet "failing," which coincidentally, was more than likely a fatal shot, just not fast enough for the circumstances.
 
I have an old box of 50 WST in 9mm. Also 60 rounds of Silver Tips in 10mm. I can't remember exactly when I bought them. Probably in the middle 1990's.
They are somewhat older technology and I have since switched my carry ammo to Federal HST.
 
It maybe a bit off to say they "failed". The ST's in the 9 mm had a good record. That day----it went through Platt's bicep, then entered his chest and stopped in the lung near the heart. The round performed as designed and it did expand. Just a happenstance that in this particular incident, Platt did not quit.

This led FBI to seemingly blame that one bullet, hence, they now want rounds that penetrate a bit deeper---even after hitting wood, wallboard, glass, heavy clothing etc.

as for 357---the 125 gr JHP's seemed to work the best according to Sanow.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

sjmjax
Does anyone shoot anything other than 9mm?
10 11 12
Replies
222
Views
9K
usmcsgt
usmcsgt
O
Ammo prices and caliber relevance.
2 3
Replies
52
Views
5K
greenwellg
G
pharmer
NRA Grinning Monkey Pix
Replies
0
Views
377
pharmer
pharmer
T
Taking Notes and Other Random Thoughts
Replies
7
Views
851
TheTinMan
T
T
Managing Reloading Inventory
2
Replies
30
Views
2K
NFrameFred
NFrameFred

Latest posts

Back
Top