MuskegMan,
The relative lack of penetration from .375 300-grain Partitions is one reason I asked Phil the question. We even discussed it the first time we met, on a visit from Phil and Rocky here in Montana several years ago. I'd retrieved two from a bull bison, one on a somewhat angling shot but the other from a broadside shot, and though bison do have pretty thick hide I'd expected the broadside to exit.
The bullets looked perfect and retained 87% and 88% of their weight, but other 300-grain .375's stopped in even small game--and not on angling and endwise shots. One animal was a mature but not huge-bodied kudu bull shot at about 100 yards, quartering away. The bullet entered the left ribs and stopped in the far shoulder, after a little over two feet of penetration. The other hit a facing warthog in the head and didn't exit the skull!
This lack of penetration from the 300-grain .375 has always seemed odd to me, as both the 286 9.3mm and 400 .416 Partitions have always penetrated plenty. Have only recovered either on angling shots through at least one shoulder on animals weighing 600+ pounds, or from broadside shoulder shots on BIG animals weighing over 1000 pounds.
Nosler placed the partition in all three bullets far enough forward enough to retain at least 75% of their weight, even if the front core disappears. Yet the .375 just doesn't seem to penetrate as well as the other two. Which seems especially odd compared to the 286 9.3, because it's so similar in weight and diameter.
