I agree with those observations. The Partition may not retain as much weight or look as pretty when recovered as some of the other premium bonded bullets, such as North Fork, but it surely does kill well, and in may cases the smaller frontal area allows the Partition to penetrate deeper than some of the others.
There's really no point in wishing that Nosler would offer a bonded version of the Partition, since the Swift A-Frame fills that role very well indeed, while the Partition or Partition Gold is good enough as-is.
Beginning with the old Remington Bronze Point, I haven't yet found a tipped bullet that I really trust as a hunting bullet, and I have my suspicions that the polymer tip may just be the culprit in terms of inconsistent performance with the AccuBond. A bonded version of Nosler's Solid Base, however, might just prove to be a better bullet.
It'll be interesting to hear the reports on the new Winchester and Barnes tipped hunting bullets. They may prove to be absolutely outstanding.......
I don't want to give the impression that those AccuBonds were nothing more than a complete failure. They didn't always fail, especially on lung shots on stuff like impala. But they were not at all optimal on the bigger stuff, and performance was a grab-bag of results. Any time a bullet blows up without getting inside on an animals the size of bushbuck at something over 200 yds., something is seriously wrong.
Someone can try to rationalize it any way they want to, but on this safari those Swifts totally and completely out-performed the AccuBonds, and that disparity was simply too great to sweep under the rug or to somehow wish away.
I asked a Nosler rep at a hunting convention a few years ago as to why I'd ever want to go with the Ballistic Tip over the Partition as a hunting bullet, and I didn't get back an answer. That lack of response didn't exactly surprise me.............
AD
"The placing of the bullet is everything. The most powerful weapon made will not make up for lack of skill in marksmanship."
