Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting 60 grain Partition or 50 grain TTSX in .223 for deer?

I get great accuracy and 3230 fps mv with the 50 grain TTSX. I recently bought a bunch of 60 grain Partition blems to try.

If the Partitions shoot as well and I get around 3200, which bullet is better for medium-sized mulies out to 250 yards?




P

Neither.

Keep your shots a little closer and it won't matter what you choose. IMHO When you get that far out the velocity has dropped too much to get the damage that makes it work so well up close. I like 150 yds. or less, but my vast quantity of knowledge is based on only a few deer with 60gr NPT, and Win 64gr PP. I bought some 64gr Nosler Bonded core also.

I try to keep my .257R 250 yards or less.

I did a 2 year study in Nunavut using the 223 and 22-250AI fast Twist to test out 22 projectiles on the mule deer sized Barren Ground caribou of the area. The X bullets penetrate very well but the wound channel gets a bit low. I liked the 60 Nosler Partition a bit better it had 20 to 30% less penetration but better wound channels.

Both bullets have a poor B.C. and at the velocities you mention run out of 1000 foot pounds at just past 100 yards. At this point penetration goes up but wound channels get less impressive and killing action goes down as well. With a 223 I learned to keep shots under 125 yards and the AI a 220 Swift Equivalent only got a good deal better when using heavy weight bullets with a good B.C. I used an 80 grain Spitzer partition made by a company called Alred Bullets that made 250 yard shots ethical.




The right most bullet is a 53 grain X. The petals will fly off leaving a very small stump that generates extremely poor 2nd half wound channels after an extreme initial energy dump at a 2-5" or so. The two bullets on the left where 74RWS bullets that would core separate at over 3300 fps but hold together well slower than that. After that is a bonded Alred design followed by a 55 grain Trophy Bonded.

This next study was on wet newsprint and compared two bullets in a 223 with a number of bullets out of a bolt action 30-30. This test actually cured me of using the 223 on big game as at all ranges in almost all ways it was inferior to the 30-30, except trajectory.

Unfortunatly the trajectory of the 22's outstrip the range they kill well at. Wound channels and penetration in the 223 was not as well balanced as in the 30-30. The Partition penetrates as well as a 30-30 bullet but does not create the tissue damage past the very short energy dump stage, the power-point creates the tissue damage but not the penetration depth. The two bullets in the center are from a 223. The 60 partition is the smaller diameter one. You can see it maintains a better diameter that the X bullet above but not by much. The bigger bullet in the center is the 64 Win Power-point which I came to like a lot though it did core separate at 50 yards or less at times.

One last from me. After two years of testing bullet on wet newsprint and hunting caribou with the 22's I found that heavy weight custom bullets in the 22-250 AI fast twist worked about as well as a 243. It finally dawned on me that I might as well save bullet money and use a 243. Lot's more great bullets designed for big game. Lighter bullets in the 22's just ran out of gas too quickly. The amazing hydroststic shock postulated by PO Ackley just can't be relied on.

Here is the 250 yard exit hole of an 80 grain Alred partition from the AI that penetrated well and could be counted on. Never did capture one of them as they generally penetrated clean through.



After a few years with the 6mm Rem I moved up again to the 6.5 Rem Mag and haven't looked back as I continue to climb the caliber tree. I am not quite an Elmer Keith but these small bores allow hits past the sure killing range and starting at about 6.5 you run into better balance. Good luck.

Having taken whitetails, out past 550 yards a bit, with 223 its no different than anything else.

Good bullet. Good shot placement. They'll be as dead as with any other round....

Good luck getting those 60's to shoot!

I like the 60 grain Partition and the 64 grain PP, but the 60 grain Partition was a challenge to a load that would shoot MOA or better. I'm a Partition fan, but have found two Partitions, the 60 grain .224" and 125 grain .264", challenging to find the best combination of components.

What about that special big game 64 grain bullet from Nosler.
I'm asking because I have some and would love to see if anyone used then and compared results with the bullets in question.

Louis...I tried them...and tried them...in a variety of cf .22s with the following twists 8,9,10,12,14 from .222s to .22-250s and I just plain couldn't get them to shoot to any degree of satisfaction.


Im a HUGE TTSX fan 50 or 55 grainers though Im sure 62s would work too....Also have had good results with 55 and 60 gr. Hornadys, the 63 gr. Sierra SMP....the 60 Nosler Partition wouldn't shoot quite as well as Id like, though it will shoot an inch, which realistically is better than you need. It performs well when it lands on something.

What twist have you found you need to stabilize the 55 TTSX bullets?

While I am a fan of Noslers in general. The 60gr .22 is not one. Probably be a fine Hog bullet, but on deer my experience was they blow up the front section to fast then pencil through. Make the same shot placement with the 64gr win pp and the bullet performs as expected. I have retrieved several from game over the last 2 decades. Most open up to around .40 and retain around 60% of their weight. All shot from my 22-250 with impacts under 200 yards.

Sorry for the late response Paul...the 55 TTSX will stabilize in a 1 in 8 twist at ALL altitudes. Ive used them at Sea Level on Florida pigs and they shot great.

Do you want to use this rifle? Do you have a larger caliber rifle? Remember that aa an ethical hunter, you have an obligation to assure a quick kill.

65 grain SGK works for me out to 300 yards Couldn't get 60 grain NP to shoot. Some time back on a similar thread here the consensus was that the tip geometry of the NP didn't fit most seating die punches.

Here in SC in a 12 twist 22/250, the 60g nosler partition willmake a mess out of the white tails. 1" groups are all you need and this is easily done....ImR or H4350, win primer.

I'm lovin' this.......


Let me take a wild guess how many deer SakoAV has killed with a centerfire .22......

Fixt it...

touche'

I'd hunt deer in all 57 states with a 223. I'd even put it in a long action to appease that group.