I was digging through my ammo box yesterday and found 32 loaded rounds of 30-06 200 grain partitions that I loaded two years ago for black bear and sort of forgot about. I figure on using them on deer this year or do think they may be a bit much. Past experience with any partition tells me they will expand but may "over penetrate." Anyone use a 200 gr partition on deer and have any "bad" luck?

Never done it but imagine it would work very well.

180 Partition/300 WSM combo is quick and clean. I'll take that anyday over a light, soft mach 6 bullet.

I'd use them...no such thing as "overdead"

Overdead is fine, overmess sucks.

It will way overpenetrate, just make sure you don't have other deer behind the one you are shooting because you might just take them all out
I'd use them without worry otherwise. A slower 200 will do less meat damage than a screamin fast 150 using the same bullet type (partition).

A 200 grain partition through the heart/lungs should be clean. Just don't hit a shoulder...

I know they work wonderfully on elk.
Wouldnt be my first choice for deer, but if they're loaded up you might as well use them. I cant imagine there being a difference in meat damage from 180's to 200's IMO.

It'll work but there's no reason to use anything heavier than a 150 gr out of a 30-06 on deer IMHO.

Partitions are designed to work on deer -- for certain, every time.

The front portion will open up fine.

No worries.

BMT

Use them up. I will take two holes in a critter over one every day of the week. Either that, or save the ammo for another black bear hunt.

nobody would try to talk you out of using a 338 Federal with 210grn Partitions loaded up and ready to go. Or, if you were using one of the classic "woods" cartridges like a 358 Win, people would applaud that choice. Just because a 200 grn Partition isn't anywhere near the top of anyone's list for deer doesn't make it a poor choice. On deer, there isn't much difference between these. I would expect a pass through and a ripe mellon sound when the bullet strikes.

The 200gr Partition has considerably more core behind the partition than that of its lighter stable-mates, the 180 and 165, which have the same amount of lead in the "shank." That bullet will still open up well below 2000fps. I don't shoot the 30-06 much any more, but I always have a few boxes of 200 grainers loaded and a couple of boxes of bullets at the bench.

I shot a whitetail last year at 400+ yards with a 300WM flinging 200 AB's. Dropped like a rock!

Thinkin' it'll way overpenetrate, but work well anyway.... grin...

It sure ain't gonna do a buck any good.....I suspect it'll kill him.

Yar.

My next trick is messing with RL17 and 200-gn Accubonds in my '06. Thinking there's 27xx fps to be had there.

There's nothing wrong with overkill but Sam said it best, overdead is better than overmess. A 200-gn in a 30-06 interests me way, WAY more than say a 130-gn. going warp speed.

With all that said I doubt it's the best deer load a guy could cook up for a 30-06.

I have hunted deer with .30 caliber (.308 & .30-06) since the early '70's. I used to be a dedicated 180gr. man as were most of my hunting buddies, I too had an interest in 200 and 220gr. bullets. But over the years have found from range testing and field experience in harvesting deer that the 165gr. has yielded the best results for me. The 165gr. is a reliable bullet that does not do excessive damage and result in a lot of spoiled venison.

Mule Deer used to shoot them quite a bit and I believe even used them
on antelope a time or two.

Flatter shooting than you expect, they should work with no problems.

For deer you should stick with the 165 or 180 grain Core-Lokt. They can't be beat.

Now Swampy is spreading nonsense using 2 different handles!

Isn't there a rule against that?

Binky,

Ya got 'em, ya might as well use 'em. They dang sure won't bounce off.

I don't see any problems w/ an accurate loading running standard velocity or better. I like to keep things simple and tend to have one loading for everything and the 200PT has a good track record on most everything from a 30cal, even at '06 velocities.

I think the below post from JB pretty much sums up the 200PT from the '06, and I think he does a better job of placing it into words:

"I have used all sorts of bullet weights in the .30-06 from 150 up, but have probably shot more animals with 180's than anything else.

That said, for hunting game bigger than deer the 200 Partition is a little better. Probably a Barnes 180 penetrates as deeply, but it 's hard to beat the 200 Partition for penetration. In fact I have never recovered one.

The only one that's stayed in an animal was when I shot a previously hit raghorn elk (that wasn't falling) at 375 yards right up the wazoo with a .300 Weatherby. The elk fell immediately and rolled down the mountain 75 yards or so. The bullet was somewhere inside him but we didn't find it while field-dressing him, though we didn't sift through everything.

The rest have all sailed right through, including a couple that have gone through deer lengthwise. At .30-06 muzzle velocities they don't kill super-quickly. Lung-shot animals usually go 50-75 yards before keeling over, but they always keel over, and there's always a blood trail. But they don't shoot up much meat either.

The trajectory is for all practical purposes as flat as a 180. In fact most people are surprised as how flat they shoot. When I first started loading the spitzer version in the early 1980's, I had a 22" barreled Ruger 77 that got 2675 with 60 grains of H4831. That may have been a little warm (though I never had any problems, perhaps because I only used the 200's in November in Montana) but all the .30-06's I've had since have gotten 2600+ with H4931 and the 200 Partition. My present "main .30-06" (a NULA Model 24) gets about the same velocity from 59 grains of H4831, but it has a 24" barrel."
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JB

It depends on how many deer you plan on shooting. 32 rounds of ammo will kill a whole herd of deer!

My two cents worth here..I think you'd be OK as long as you didn't hit a shoulder blade or heavy bone...those big old honkin 200 gr Partitions the way they penetrate should punch right on through without too much damage on a lung shot IMO...I load them in a 300 ROY for a buddy of mine and he uses them on deer and elk with no problems but shoots deer in the boiler room only,,works for him!!!

Yep. He will start having conversations with himself now.

For deer you should stick with the 165 or 180 grain Core-Lokt. They can't be beat.

I'd say hunt'em! My backup rifle for both of my mulie hunts this year is a 30-06 loaded with 200gr Partitions...

I think swampy is having fun again!

I guess my only concern was if the 200 was designed differently than the 165 or 180's in being "harder" on the front end. They sure flattened the black bear I shot. As in DRT, didn't move, hit by a train. Just need to zero with a couple. Probably take me down to 28 rounds. Still a decent size herd worth of ammo.

If you've been around many of the old country hardware stores in northern whitetail country you've no doubt seen the stately-loaded 220 RN boxes of ammo on their shelves. Many of the oldtimers ate their venison via that method and would not touch the faster stuff. As goes the 200 Partition, I would imagine a recovery of one versus a deer would be a lot less frequent than a 150 versus the same. It's pretty hard to say anything bad about a 200 when the 180 has worked so well and the 220 has been more of the same.

As Dave would say...

Not the same caliber but the same heavy & slow bullet thought...last year I shot a nice Texas WTail spike sporting a pair of 9+" crooked pencils, with a 9.3x62 and a 2500+ fps Speer 270 gr'er that is noted for their fragility at about 125 yards on a management hunt. Small entry in the slot behind his right front shoulder, and half dollar sized exit wound 2"s behind his left shoulder with ZERO meat damage except for the soup inside. Only surprise was the 35-40' airborne magic carpet ride he got in between impact and touchdown, landing rolled up like a doodle bug.

I'd say use the big PT's and grin at your good fortune.
Ron

i bought 2 boxes of 200 partitions a few years abck for a black bear hunt... worked up loads with one box, loaded the other 50 up for hunting...

used 1 of the 200 grainers on my black bear... 49 left over...
i used them on pronghorn, deer, coyotes, at least one coon, and a few assorted crows and prairie dogs...

it may be that 200s are not necessary, but they work well on everything, so why not???

Yeah they sure shoot good in my 30-06 2755 fps. It's what going down the tube this season.

I don't think that be a problem, Brink... I run 200 gr Speers in my '03-A3 for everything.

"One load kills all"

I see that a couple of people have already brought up some of my older posts with the 200 Partition, so I'll just add a couple of things:

1) No, the heavier Nosler Partitions do NOT use a harder front core than lighter Partitions in any caliber. The lead used in the front core in ALL Nosler Partitions is a very soft alloy (though not pure lead) since the entire point of the front core is to expand easily.

2) The 200-grain .30 caliber Nosler Partition will mostly certainly kill deer-sized animals with lung shots, and does NOT need to be placed in the shoulders, because of the above construction. I have used it from the .30-06 for lung shots on pronghorn, both mule and whitetailed deer, and black bear, and it expanded nicely every time. None of them went over 75 yards, and most went less than 50 yards.