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Forum Index > Rifles general discussion > Nosler 7mm 140gr Fail Safe Bullets - what are they good for?

Nosler 7mm 140gr Fail Safe Bullets - what are they good for?

17 Jul 2019
@ 05:10 am (GMT)

Luis Vazquez

So I have a box of Nosler Combined Technology Fail Safe bullets, 140gr in 7mm that I can use om my 7mm-08 or 7mm Rem Mag. The question is, what are they good for? Some info I found said they work great on elk and then some said they just don't expand.

Thank you in advance for any information you might have on these bullets.

Best regards

Luis

Replies

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18 Jul 2019
@ 06:29 am (GMT)

Thomas Kitchen

Re: Nosler 7mm 140gr Fail Safe Bullets - what are they good for?
Hi Luis
like you i didn't find much info on them, at a guess the info Nathan provides on the interbond in his book is probably applies to these.
the higher the velocity and the more target resistance you have the better they'll work (guessing)
the 7-08 will be to slow to really do much with them i would go straight to using them in 7mm rem mag.
sometimes you just wonder why manufactures go down this line of bullets when i just reach for some hotcors in the appropriate weight
18 Jul 2019
@ 06:08 pm (GMT)

Anders Österberg

Re: Nosler 7mm 140gr Fail Safe Bullets - what are they good for?
If it is the Failsafe bullets that I think of it's far from the Interbond ...

Failsafe is a aloy bullet with lead core and steel reinforcement , known to be high velocity dependent and brittle and often loose it's wings .

https://mobile.gunauction.com/pictures/5929114702/bd90308a23fdb846cd16a2b5fb9178c9.jpg
18 Jul 2019
@ 06:10 pm (GMT)

Anders Österberg

Re: Nosler 7mm 140gr Fail Safe Bullets - what are they good for?
19 Jul 2019
@ 06:37 am (GMT)

Luis Vazquez

Re: Nosler 7mm 140gr Fail Safe Bullets - what are they good for?
That's the one Anders, the Combined Technology one, and thanks Thomas and Anders for ypur input.

It looks like a very tough bullet that will provably only work on the 7mm Rem Mag and maybe on game like Elk or something that size or bigger. I wonder if I'm still better off using an Interbond or Accubond.

My max range is 500 yards right now and it worries me that if it doesn't hit bone it won't expand and just pencil through. Might be better off to leave them aside to when the need arises for a really tough bullet.

Thanks again and best regards
19 Jul 2019
@ 08:29 pm (GMT)

Chris Murphy

Re: Nosler 7mm 140gr Fail Safe Bullets - what are they good for?
Well to be honest I can’t see a place for this bullet on the market apart from trying to sell a modernised partition with the word “technology” ? If you were to use this bullet in the rem mag I would be more inclined to go to a 120 to get some speed that would be essential. What Nosler should have done or should do is put a plastic tip on the partition....
20 Jul 2019
@ 04:09 am (GMT)

Bryan Webster

Re: Nosler 7mm 140gr Fail Safe Bullets - what are they good for?
It seems like many hunters do little research when buying bullets. If you are a Nosler fan (I tend to be one) I would stick with the Partition and Accubond bullets.

Better yet, read the knowledge Base information on this web site, and buy Nathan Foster's books. You will then be able to make better choices based on information instead of buying an attractive name then getting stuck with no information available. Please do not get me wrong, as many years ago I did the same darned thing.
20 Jul 2019
@ 05:37 am (GMT)

Luis Vazquez

Re: Nosler 7mm 140gr Fail Safe Bullets - what are they good for?
Thanks guys, and I agree, I will not be using these for hunting, I'm not taking the risk of wounding and losing an animal.

Bryan, I agree with you and I've read the knowledge base a few times already and there is tons of great info there and also recently acquired Nathan's books as well. I didn't find much info on this particular bullet so I decided to ask around.

I'm also a Nosler fan and og Hornady as well. I used partitions for many many years and now I mostly use the Ballistic tips and Ballistic Silvertips on my 7mm-08 and with great results. I've had 2 cases where the partitions did not expand on coues deer, luckily I didn't lose them but it took an additional shot on one and 2 on another to bring them down.

These are small deer so I dont like to take shoulder shots on them and the partitions don't expand to well in this case, but the Ballistic Tips and the Hornady SST do an awesome job. On bigger deer I'll take shoulder shots but on these little deer that destroys half the meat on it and when you can only hunt one of these per year you can't afford to waste any meat.


20 Jul 2019
@ 06:47 am (GMT)

Bryan Webster

Re: Nosler 7mm 140gr Fail Safe Bullets - what are they good for?
Well it seems like you and I have come to the same conclusions.
I even load .308 rounds using 180 grain Hornady SST for the grandkids moose hunts and they have had zero issues doing so. For elk however I load them 165 grain partitions for their .308 rifles. Again great performance.

One girl shot a large bull elk with a 140 grain ttsx bullet from his 7mm-08 and it barely penetrated past the eye socket from 35 yards. Her second shot was also between its eyes and did the job. We do not use those bullets anymore. So we do actually experiment a bit once in awhile still...and I listen less and less to others saying they are great...
20 Jul 2019
@ 09:10 am (GMT)

Mike Davis

Re: Nosler 7mm 140gr Fail Safe Bullets - what are they good for?
Bryan...with all due respect.

read this statement and pick holes in it.

one GIRL shot a large bull elk with a 140grn ttsx bullet from HIS 7mm-08 and it barely penertrated past the eye socket from 35 yards.

ok I will let you work out the rapid gender change for yourself but come on please lets not tell a 1/4 of the story and forget the real bits that matter.

barely penertrated past eye socket........ 140 grn.......mono construction

REALLY ???? was entry hole up bull elks jacksee or something???
did it hit tree on way????
was it 335 yards not 35????
at 35 yards an eye socket shot would penertrate into skull using just about ANY round on the market....maybe a .17 or .22 of some sort with varmit projectile at hyperspeed would blow up in eye tissue but I really couldnt see it not going in further or at least giving animal a big enough headache to anchor it temporarily..I HAVE headshot an elk at 50 yards using a subsonic cast 151rn hoolowpoint (you dont get much softer or slower than that) and it went right through.

now I HAVE seen projectiles fail to penertrate skull of a red stag but .22magnum 50 grn cup n core std loads arent really a suitable projectile for the task,they furrowed along skin and didnt get it,the last 2 shots in the mag went in through ribs and took animal down.....
there is a whole world of difference between a 50grn doing 1700ish fps and 140grn doing 2600ishfps..... the laws of physics will mean the 2nd takes a bit more to BEND its path and it would impart a hell of a lot more energy in doing so.
Im not saying monos are fool proof but come on...wont PENERTRATE skull at 35 yards,pull the other one.

MOST flak directed at monos is the lack of expansion when velocity has dropped....through and through penertration....so the EXZACT opposite of what you describe.
21 Jul 2019
@ 08:48 am (GMT)

Nathan Foster

Re: Nosler 7mm 140gr Fail Safe Bullets - what are they good for?
Hi Luis, when I first set about creating the KB, I had a ring binder, paper, pencil and erasor in my pack. It was at this time that I tested the Fail safe quite thoroughly. When I first purchased these, our local gun store owner told me that the Fail Safe had been dubbed 'cop killers' in the U.S and that there was some possibility that the bullets might not last too long on the market. The tungsten core (effectiveness against bullet proof vests) was a part of this concern. I am not sure how true this statement was. Whatever the case, the Fail Safe never achieved great success as a hunting bullet.

Generally speaking, the fail safe was a poor performer. The frontal area of the expanded bullets was always very small. I concluded that it did its best work when driven into the major bones of large and tough animals at closer ranges (high velocity) as a means to enhance energy transfer. If the bullet did not strike a lot of bone, internal and exit wounds were rather small and kills were delayed. If I am to be brutally honest, it was not a whole bunch better than 7.62x39 FMJ, even when used in the .300 Win Mag.

Later when I set about inputting my ring binder data into a computer, I saw that Winchester had taken the Fail Safe ammo off the market so I omitted typing it all up.

Mike, please be kind to Bryan. Bryan is 20 to 30 years our senior and still getting into the hills. I think perhaps a kinder thing to do could be to ask if it was possible that the bullet deflected and slipped under the brain, or simply ask for more info which might shed more light on things.
21 Jul 2019
@ 10:13 am (GMT)

Mike Davis

Re: Nosler 7mm 140gr Fail Safe Bullets - what are they good for?
yes I do apoligise if came across a tad strongly...as I pointed out in .22magnum case it does happen sometimes (I can only put that one down to angle of skull helping it to deflect) I really struggle to see how ANY 140 grn at under 50 yards would fail to penertrate.... all learning is good.... speaking of the tiny 7.62x39mm ...shot a 100ish lb boar the other day...rushed shot at running pig 50ish yards,entered rear ham, SMASHED femur and carried on through to stop under rear of shield at last thin rib,perfectly mushroomed projectile looks like an advert for projectile maker...and it was a dirty old barnaul soft point 123grn!!!!
shot a red stag same day with .270 and a 110grn tsx at measured 192mtrs (GPS) Went in just behind last rib,did the bizo to internal organs and came to rest forward of offside shoulder.....again picture perfect mushroom,stag took 4 steps ,got the wobbles and fell over....2 x 15 ltr buckets of sausages was the end result.
21 Jul 2019
@ 10:19 am (GMT)

Luis Vazquez

Re: Nosler 7mm 140gr Fail Safe Bullets - what are they good for?
Thanks Nathan, that's provably why there isn't much info out there on this bullet and I'm just going to set them aside and shoot them as practice rounds. I've got other way better options available at home for hunting.

Thanks again and best regards.

I think Bryan meant 300 some yards and I've seen bullets do some crazy stuff. About 25 years ago I hit a mule deer high and behind the shoulder as he was running at about 200 yards away, bullet hit the spine deviated down and came out the deers belly. Got to him, hung him up and gutted him, uppns inspection we found that the bullet did Not break the spine or even hit any vital or non vital organs, the bullet somehow just knocked him down and it did not regain consciousness before we opened him up and this was with a 130gr Nosler Partitiom out of a 270 Win.

A bullet can easily deflect of a bone when hit in some angles, I saw my brother deal with bullet that hit the neck of a coues deer and it exited in a 45 degree angle with very little damage to the neck, he hit it a second time behind the shoulded and then it went down. So the bullet left and "L" shape hole on the deer's neck, that was with a Speer bullet out of a 280 Rem.



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