Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters 220 Grain .30-06 Loads

Because the 220 Partition will out-penetrate just about any other .30 caliber bullet, believe it or not. Phil Shoemaker found that out a while ago. He'd been using the 200-grain Partition for years when he carried a .30-06 for backing up brown bear hunters, and when the 220 came out he did a bunch of penetration tests and the 220 Partition beat everything else. I did some more limited testing (including 180 monometals), which confirmed Phil's results.

Now, if I were going to shoot at longer ranges I'd use a spitzer of some sort, either a 180 monometal or a 200 Partition (have never been disappointed in results with it!). But when the deepest penetration is needed I'd go 220 Partition.

In fact many Partitions penetrate far deeper than most hunters will believe. Was doing some penetration tests with 9.3mm bullets several years ago, along with a friend. Before we started we made some informal bets about how they'd penetrate, and I bet him the 286 Partition would out-penetrate the 250 TSX. He lost. (The 286 TSX did out-penetrate the 286 Partition, though not by much.)

Using my old .30-06 and about a 2400 fps mv, I ran one of those 220 gr Nosler Partitions into the water jugs at 20 yards. Shed a fair bit of weight, but penetrated as deep as my .375 H&H.

Haven't tried one on game. Usually stuff I'm hunting dies just fine from a 165, but I do like those big 220's!

J.B. Thanks for your thoughts.

The 30-06 is a great round. When I'm hunting in the dark timber or anywhere else, I'm very comfortable armed with my 30-06.

I have great confidence in the 200 grain Partition. This bullet will reach the vitals form any angel (with in reason). That being said. I find myself trying and hunting with a 180 grain bullets anymore. I mostly use Nosler Partition or Accubond. My gun does shoot the 180 grain A/B better over the same weight Partition.
If I were to hunt really big bears with my 06, I would be happy with the 200 or 220 grain Partition.
Have a good day.

What bullet would it take in a 338/06 or the 35 Whelen to out penetrate the 220 Nosler from a 30/06?

I'll only add in regard to penetration that I've seen three Partitions in recent moose out-penetrate three A-Frames in those same moose; like weights of each used in each comparative test (kill). The new stuff is interesting - in my book- and good; what it isn't is better, just different.

I don't know that you could?

Will the 220s feed properly in a modern model 70 or 700? I am wondering about the overall length in the mag. It may not be an issue but am curious.

Yes.
Now for something interesting, try some 220gn Woodleigh Weldcores.

They feed just fine in my fairly new .30-06 700 CDL.

I loaded some 240gr Woodleigh's for a friend and witnessed him shoot a marginally hit brown bear(about 8 1/2') just ahead of the left hip and we recovered the bullet just under the hide in the right shoulder,, it was as pretty as an expanded bullet can get! This was with a 300 Win mag at about 75yds,it was almost pitch black and we didn't see the bear go down but he only went about 20'.

jim

When one of my twin 16yo sons drew a bear tag for Kodiak the first thing I did was grab some 220 partitions for their '06's and started loading trying to find a load that would work well in both rifles without issues and that shot well. I had a good stash of RL-22 at the time and ended up with a load that would consistently chamber with ease and shoot about 1" and sometimes smalller groups at 100 yards out of both their Ruger rifles. Not that this is a great feat but I didn't expect the 220's to shoot that well for some reason and was pleasantly surprised with the results. Even though we never shot a bear with the 220's I was confident they would have worked well.

The 220-grain Partition has been accurate out of every .30/06 in which I've tried it and ditto for the similar 160-grain .277" diameter semi-spitzer Partition out of every .270 in which I've tried it.

Interestingly, I used the same powder charge for both loads: 56-grains of RL-22.

Jocko you're onto something there.

The 270 Win with those 160g NPTs is a whole lotta gun.

I was given the job of culling some big feral horses last year and that's what I used. Their penetration and stopping power quite amazed me. 700kg stallions dropping like stones.

Bob When I was growing up we heard Australia was overrun with rabbits,, are they still a factor? It sounds like you have a pile of feral animals.

Hello Waterrat,

Not really. Myxo and the collisci virus have them under control to some extent.

There's still plenty though. I just bought 225 acres, and there's heaps of underground mutton to keep me going!

Not to get too far off subject, but do you have any experience with the 7mm 154 RN & Spire point?