I string along with the 165's.I've used or seen used,the 165 and 180 Partitions on stuff from elk on down;on the elk both the bullets are usually balled up in the off-side hide if they hit shoulder bone or a lot of shoulder muscle.Through the ribs they sometimes exit,depending on distance,velocity,etc.I would expect things like like the X bulets to give even deeper penetration in the 165 gr weight.On deer and black bear size stuff we noticed that it was hard to keep a 165 Partition in the animal;pass-throughs were common.Two other bullets displaying similar characteristics are the 140 and 160 7mm partitions,for some reason.Some will argue with me here but I prefer the somewhat flatter trajectory of the 165's.Started at about 2900 fps and zeroed +3 at 100, they are only about 4" down at 300 yards from my rifle.I have not used 180's in the 30/06 in years.With todays premium bullets in 165,I doubt you will see any difference.I would not hesitate to shoot anything in North America, including moose and griz with a good 165 from a 30/06.
