The Mag Tip was always a fine bullet in the rifles in which I loaded them. I still have a couple of ammo boxes of 7RM loaded with 175 grain Mag Tips. They do work.
This was a great bullet that I wish they still made. Probably a casualty of the high BC craze. They perform very well on whitetail at close to medium range. Wife and I have taken a lot of deer with them in .300Sav and .308 from powder burn range to 200 yards and they've always performed perfectly. I think of them as a soft point plus in terms of performance. Not quite to the level of the Partition or bondeds, but a bit tougher than regular SPs. After 200 the low BC starts to show, I suspect you could push them to 300 easily with a .30 mag and I suspect they would hold up at closer ranges on appropriate game.
"This was a great bullet that I wish they still made."
Well in a way they still do. :roll: The new Grand Slams are more like the Mag Tip in that it's a cup and core bullets with a heavier jacket. The older Grand Slams were a two core bullet with the base core using a harder alloy and the nose core softer. I've been shooting the older 160 gr. GS in a .280 Remington and it's an accurate load. haven't tried the newer version yet so no idea on how accurate or how well they'll hold up on game. hey look just like the mag tips on have the letters GS stamped on the bullet's base. :lol:
Paul B.
There is also still a difference in the profiles. The Mag tip is more blunt, which I really like at woods ranges. They just seem to be the perfect deer bullet for my applications, opening rapidly the first several inches of penetration, then driving through without poofing my venison. I do use the 145 GS in my .280 rem in the 145 gr weight, but haven't put it to the test on a tough angle yet. All deer have been close range high neck shots. It works well, but I do miss the 160 Mag Tip, I knew that one worked.
Trying the 140BT this year, we'll see how they do, but the price point on them makes range time a little painful. I can match it at closer ranges with a Speer 145BTSP, but still need to zero the BT at distance.