Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game when is a Nosler Partition not adequate?

Sounds like more of an ethics decision than one of bullet choice.

I started to say, big bull bison, but then I remembered that I had killed one of the biggest bulls that I have ever seen--with my .30-06 and a 180-grain Partition. One shot. A long time ago.

The only time I can think of is the calibers they don't make.

Like .311" and 348" .423"

I have a 6.5X54 mann/scho that needs 160 gr round nose bullets to feed well. They don't make bullets for my 404 Jeffery or my 348 Winchester. . So I don't use Noslers, because they don't make what I need for those rifles.

But for the sizes they do make they are the gold Standard in my opinion.

I know of no other bullet that expands well at 1400 FPS and still holds enough weight at 3000 to punch deep.

Some others will retain more weight but don't open up at speeds lower then 1900. I like Barnes for hunting at close range and out to about 400 yards, but beyond that the bullets don't open up well. Same with Swifts.

Both Swift and Barnes will retain more weight, but that's not an issue if the Partitions are exiting the game. (Which they do in the guns and bullet weights I use)The idea of retaining weight is for penetration. If you have 100% penetration, more weight is just theoretically an advantage, but not a real advantage.

Funny, Sad, and True all in one Word. Oh and I'll add F'd up.

One of my PH's in Africa did not care for them on large game. He told me about a rodeo with a giraffe that I believe took 16 300 grain .375 partitions. I suspect some bad shooting was involved but the PH said it was due to the lack of straight line penetration.

I have never heard anyone else talk of this. With my own use I have noticed that especially at close ranges and high velocity that the front end would get lopsided sometimes and the shank was so short they did not penetrate as straight as a mono bullet would have. Still they worked well and dropped the animals quickly.

I would have no problem using them on everything but would probably go mono on really big game where penetration is in feet instead of inches.

I'll stick my neck out and say that was some poor shooting.

When it comes to partitions, the only disadvantage is the wind thing. Certainly better bullets for 500 on out was my point.

Did somebody bump an old thread?

I wouldn't judge the PT's without first seeing some good photos showing the bullet holes.

The giraffe and the hypothetical 500 yd. shot in wind are both addressed by the above statement..........

A Partition is never not adequate.

Dogger: I have been using Nosler Partitions VERY successfully for going on 58 years now and I have yet to find any reason to be dissatisfied or even be tempted to try anything else.
I have used them from Alaska and Alberta on down through Utah and Wyoming taking all manner of Big game with them.
In the "lower 48" specifically I have used them in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Wyoming, Montana and Utah.
Hoping to add Caribou to my already long list of Big Game successfully harvested with Nosler Partitions.
Long live Nosler Partitions.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

yeah, i started this thread to answer what in my gut i already knew - the bullet is more important than the caliber or the head stamp, provided I keep it reasonable (243 and above). Bigger diameters make sense in certain situations... for example hunting black bear (fat can plug the hole and leave a poor blood trail)...

I am really trying to talk myself into leaving the 7mms and 30s in the safe and use a .25 for an all-arounder for anything not in thick cover (where I could lose the blood trail). I suppose the smaller diameter rifles work well until they don't.

If you can't hit at that range with a Partition, nothing else is going to help you. A few inches of drift is well within a seasoned riflemans ability to compensate.

Just a thought...

I've found that the heavy fur coat on black bears were as much to blame as the fat was. Lately I've been hunting with hounds so not so much of an issue.

The partition is the bullet that all the others claim to be, but as someone said, the Bear Claws might be right.

Dang, you beat me to it........

Casey

Moderate expansion, deep penetration--that's the "secret" to killing deer size critters and up.

The other strength of the NPT is it performs the most consistently across the widest range of velocities of any bullets I've observed.

There are other excellent bullets out there though.


Casey

Unfortunately you're right. The days of lead core bullets are probably numbered. Colorado is now "encouraging" hunters to use copper bullets. And at some point we will probably see lead core bullets prohibited on federal lands.


Casey

Dogger,

I've taken at least 24 species of big game with Partitions, from springbok and pronghorn to eland, moose and Cape buffalo, and they haven't "failed" yet.

Among those have been a bunch of animals with .25-caliber Partitions, including my biggest whitetail and several of my bigger mule deer. Also used the 100-grain on my longest shot on a pronghorn buck, and on a hunt in 2012 one of my hunting partners took a good 6-point bull elk with his .257 Weatherby and one 120-grain Partition, which exited.

The NP is not adequate if for some reason you rifle does not deliver good accuracy with it. Other than that, its as adequate as a 30-06 for 99% of hunting demands.

A seasoned rifleman never misses on the internet.