HUNTING - PASSED THE TEST

WINCHESTER HAS ANOTHER WINNER
By Jim Foster

Anyone who shoots or hunts should remember the flap regarding the dreaded “Black Talon” ammunition produced by the Winchester Ammunition Company. Bad press resulted in the “rumor” the bullets had been outlawed or banned depending on the version of the story.

Such was not the case. What did happen is the bad publicity convinced Winchester that a name change was in order. So the Black Talon was morphed into what became the popular Winchester Fail Safe.

I have used Fail Safe ammunition almost exclusively for many years for big game and especially for nilgai bull. As both a hunter and guide I saw the demise of hundreds of bull nilgai. Many times my shot was after the bull had been wounded and was at a full run. It had to be stopped.

Although there were several favorite bullets among guides, the Fail Safe was my number one and always in the top five selections. Why? Because the Fail Safe produced results on large and tough game.

The nilgai bull is an excellent example. Hunters need a hard hitting round with the ability to penetrate the animal, stay together, and retain its weight. The Fail Safe filled those requirements. My daddy always told me if it wasn’t broke don’t fix it – it’s clear Winchester didn’t know my dad.

It was a shock to learn the Fail Safe bullet was being discontinued and a new round from Winchester would take its place, the Supreme Elite XP3.

Winchester engineers took on the challenge of developing the ultimate rifle-hunting bullet. The guidelines were simple; it had to be accurate and tough, but capable of working as well on thin-skinned game, like deer and antelope, as it did on tough game, like elk, moose, bear, and African animals.

The XP3 combines all the best-known bullet technology features into one bullet that gives precision accuracy, awesome knockdown power, and deep penetration all in one package.

Shooting the round at the range I found it followed the Fail Safe nicely and noticed that the round did burned cleaner. The clean-up work was cut almost in half.

Beginning with the Idaho mule deer season one 180 grain 30.06 round brought down my buck and a few weeks later a large elk fell with one shot of the same 30.06 Supreme Elite XP3. I am sold again so Winchester remains my choice for big game ammo.

The round is new and Winchester is still adding calibers and bullet weights to its line. It recently introduced the XP3 in the popular .243. I can see this being popular for whitetail, pronghorn, and varmint hunters. Take a look at the new XP3 at your local sporting goods or gun shop and give it a try in the field.

If you have comments or news for Jim Foster please e-mail him at; jfoster188@aol.com.