Silvertips

I found a couple boxes of silvertip 9 mm ii an ammo can the other day left over from my LE days, along with some Super Vels....ya need to be old to remember them.
 
I have a half dozen or so boxes of Silvertips in .32acp, for my Seecamps.

I used to use them in my 9mm's and .45's, back in the 80's, but moved on as ammo technology progressed.


along with some Super Vels....ya need to be old to remember them.
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Yea, somewhat. :)

Then again, a little bit of old, and a little bit of new. :D

ry%3D480
 
I don't think silver works on vampires...but werewolves are another matter....but then the Lone Ranger used them so maybe they work just the same on bad guys, human or not. I like the looks and the recoil is pleasant on the old hands....

Laura
 
"Nostalgia"
As a young boy, I remember my Dad loading 170gr Silvertips the magazine of his 4X Weaver scoped 340 Savage 30-30 carbine. I always thought the rifle rounds looked cool, maybe the pistol/revolver offerings have benefited from similar memories of other shooters.
 
I recall Stephen Camp writing on this a few years back...
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"In testing, I have found that the less-expensive "USA" version of Winchester's 9mm JHP is a dead ringer for the STHP except it does not have the silver color."

Good to know...
 
"If you look at tests, there is no doubt that these lines have a greater chance of properly expanding and when they do, the expansion is greater."
That's odd, the 38 SP+P 125 Silvertips I tried expanded VERY quickly and didn't penetrate very deep.
 
Two ppoints to think about. First, just because there are various other rounds out there that have supposedly "replaced" the "outdated" silvertip doesn't mean that it's useless. In fact, there are still enough people paying for the "expensive" silvertip ammo that winchester can sell it for $1 a round. When thousands of paying customers refuse to buy silvertip and instead lean towards any of the other practically identical rounds out there, well, maybe, that will be when winchester decides that they need to reduce the price of the silvertip to encourage more sales. Simple economics. You screw every possible cent out of the public that you can, and when the public no longer supports your schemes for world economic domination, you either alter your strategy or just get out of the game.

Another point is that the silvertip was the best of it's type at the time according to the demands of the time and the parameters set by the testing and decision making entities. Are the hornady, remington, gold dot, or whatever brand 115 grain rounds so superior to the silvertip that the silvertip should be considered useless? shoot no. In reality, they are all probably almost identical in their effectiveness. Out of a few hundred actual shootings, I'd expect that none of the common combat rounds would hold a really serious advantage over the others.

The biggest issue is probably the issue of bullet weight and velocity, anyway, rather than minute details of construction.

I personally have a wild assortment of rounds in my various guns, and the extra magazines for my glock carries 115 silvertips. My main magazine has 135 grain sigs. They shoot to a near identical point if impact, and since I don't carry the extra magazines, i just haven't bothered loading them with sigs.

You also should keep in mind that winchester has not been sitting on their kiesters all this time. The silvertip has been improved year after year. Unlike some other ammo, this nickle plated copper jacket will have been tested and upgraded since that time, as engineering permitted. it will probably work better in terminal ballistics than it did 40 years ago.
 
I bought a box of those when I bought my first gun (1993)... picked up a box of silvertips as my 'home defense' rounds. They cost me a whopping $22 back then! Still have 80% of the box... And that Colt revolver. Glad I never got rid of either ;-)
 
Given that the "standard" as I have always been taught is to put 200 rounds of any duty ammo through a duty gun one can see why many semi auto caliber rounds hang around quite awhile if any agencys are issuing them as the cost to switch and prove functinality is quite high.
 
The original Silvertip handgun ammunition had an aluminum jacket on the bullet. At some point, Winchester began using their regular copper jacketed bullets-except that they were nickel plated! I don't know if they did this with all the Silvertip line, though.
 
I don't know what changes were made to the silvertips. A couple were made that I know of because of articles I read in the gun press at the time. Changes were made over 20 years ago and at least one change in the last decade. I made no effort to keep track of this at the time.

The only reason I replied to this thread was to counter the mistaken illusion that today's silvertip is identical to that of 1986. Whether it's as good as some others, or better than some others, I don't know. Maybe someone has a link to some reputable tests.

tipoc
 
I know the feeling of my intial post in the thread was, who really cares in the end, these are going to the job and the performance, although not QUITE a perfect as the new ones, I good enough for what you will need a gun for.

BUT....after seeing sopping for some bullets ths week, particularly ones I haven't reloaded yet in a lighter 357mag load, I stumbled upon a website that sold Remington Golden Sabers for 35$ for 200, these are great rounds for light 357's, if not bonded. the 110 silvertips right next to it for literally twice the cost. So, again I it the tubes to see what the deal is, give myself a second opinion, because they are a desireable lightweight, for some fols it's deired, and they are sure are pretty with the nickeling, but they fell so short in any 38spl load and oretty bad even in 357s, don't ask about smaller. but these have a place in larger bore caliber, maybe 357 max(although I am not sure bout this, they also seem brittle, so faster velocity might actually wose, bouthg they have some good experiences with high velo big artridges, 10mm 175 being ne, jacket separation but that concers me little so long as the mushroom is consistent and penetration and wound channel lage, these work, best they are not but work fine to lay down whatever. the 225 45LC is stupid awesome(20" with expansion and totl one-piece jacket shed midway, good strong bullet for hunting,

here is another larger bore silver-tip---snib btw

The recovered Winchester Silvertip; expansion to .66 caliber with decent penetration. Couldn't ask for a whole lot more.
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t seems that every larger bore silver-tip bespite velocity had expansion and superb penetration, t jut my be that a -CENSORED--CENSORED--CENSORED--CENSORED--CENSORED--CENSORED- diameter bullet is need to bisperse the shock through the larger surface of the bullet, they appear to do fin in all of the bigs, exluding separation.

so it seems they have a place, and that's not smaller diaeter cartridges. still pricey though
 
The original Silvertip handgun ammunition had an aluminum jacket on the bullet. At some point, Winchester began using their regular copper jacketed bullets-except that they were nickel plated! I don't know if they did this with all the Silvertip line, though.
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The 9mm Silvertips appear to be exactly the same as the budget JHP Winchester offers (minus the color).
 
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