Picked up a vintage box of .277 Partitions in the 130 grain flavor the 50 count box is yellow & white with black lettering. Anyone know what time frame these were produced?

Interesting thing to me is the matte or frosted appearance of the bullet shank above and below the machine cut crimp groove, anyone know the reason for this? The upper part of the bullet towards the tip is polished.

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Probably early 1960's, I have 4 boxes of .30 200 grain partitions with the same color/lettering.

Those Partitions were produced up until the late 1970s. The jackets were made with an automatic screw-machine, a type of lathe, the reason they appear "matte," unlike the impact-extrusion Partitions made since then.

If I recall correctly, they started using the yellow-and-white boxes after the move to Bend from Ashland. The Ashland bullets were in red boxes. I have several boxes of the yellow-and-white bullets in my collection, but have seen only one of the Ashland boxes, which I bought at a gun show many years ago. It had all 50 150-grain .270s still inside--but somebody else eventually wanted it more than I did....

I’ve got a red box out in my ammo box collection somewhere. I think mine is 175gr 7mm.

MD, these are marked Bend Oregon "deep penetration _ positive expansion. Are they OK for hunting? By all appearances they seem good to go, the tips are perfect

I have a hundred or so 25cal NPs if I remember right that are 120gr. Not much left of the box's. I met John Nosler as a kid. Very nice gentlemen. He and my grandfather belonged to the same Model A Club in Bend. Went to School with his Grandson a few years ahead of me. That was back when Bend was still a small town. Have heard that the old Lathe turned Bullets are tougher then the new ones. I have necer loaded or used mine and don't know if thats true or not. Grew up using the Factory seconds in mostly 270win & wby 150gr.

Yeah, they'll work fine for hunting.

Some hunters claim the lathe-turned Partitions weren't as accurate as the present extruded ones (and in fact some claim they've never gotten Partitions of any kind to shoot well--which has not been my experience). But I first started using Partitions during the last couple years of the lathe-turned bullets, 130s in a .270 Winchester and 200s in a .30-06. Got 1-inch groups easily at 100 yards, and both worked great on game.

Got the same box, unopened. Always wanted to open it up and send one or two down range deer hunting. Bet they work just fine.

Well let’s do er! I’ll have to build a classic load to go with the vintage Noslers. I have some old 1x fired Winchester Super Speed brass....

270 Winchester, 130 grain bullets

Put them on top of 55 grains of IMR4350.

Would they have the external groove around them?
I have some old 308's that do.

MD, I have two boxes of .30 cal, one each of 150g and 180g. Both are marked Ashland, OR. One is a solid red box and the other is a white box with a red wraparound label.

I have a few hundred .224" Zipedo bullets in those yellow boxes. I'm guessing they are of similar vintage. They seem to shoot well too. One of these days I intend to give them a run on deer, but I haven't got around to doing so yet as I have altogether too many other options.

That has been my go to load for the last hundred years or so. Now my 270’s seem to prefer 58.0-58.5 grains of 4831sc. Go figure. One of mine adores RL-16 for some reason.

I like Partitions. Newer production seems more consistent than old, but they all kill stuff dead.

Have a box of 7mm partitions, red box from Ashland. Box is marked 1958. Only three left. My father used them in his 7x61 S&H. I reckon the other 47 probably made some meat. 😎

I have a thousand or so of those in 243, 100 grain. They shoot less than 1/2" in a very early vintage Savage 110. Amazing gun and bullet combo but I don't hunt with a 243 so there it sits.

I would use the JOC load of 60 grains of H4831 but since that was based on brown bag surplus powder would work up from 58 grains carefully. If anything the screw machine partitions are a little less likely to shed the entire front core and may be a little tougher than the current ones. But still a very good bullet. Some like the 85 6mm, 175 7mm and 200 gr 30 caliber were of a semi spitzer design, this didn't make too much of a difference inside of 300 yards.

If anything the wide relief groove generates lower pressures than the current ones. Not sure it is significant or not.

Some handloaders keep warning other handloaders that today's H4831 is "hotter" than the WWII-surplus powder so many of us used for a long time. (Some still do use it, since a surprising amount is still around.)

There are problems with this warning, the biggest being that it probably isn't true. I say "probably" because all powders can vary somewhat in burn-rate from batch to batch, and the original H4831 was no different, especially since it's highly unlikely that DuPont blended different batches to make burn-rate more consistent during the war.

From my own testing and today's published, pressure-tested data for the present version of H4831 made in Australia, the old powder is HOTTER than the new powder. A couple years ago I did an article on how much different lots and versions of powders differ. During my testing I opened my very last can of mil-surp H4831, (which was still nicely sealed and apparently in fine shape), and used the same 60.0-grain powder charge of both powders with the same 130-grain Hornady Interlocks, in the same rifle. The old powder got almost 100 fps more than the supposedly hotter new powder.

Plus, Hornady's data shows a maximum charge of 62.0 grains of the new H4831 with all their 130-grain bullets (which are designed to result in very close to the same pressure). I've loaded 62.0 grains with the 130 Interlock in several .270's, with no problem.

I suspect the warning about the "new" H4831 being hotter than the mil-surp comes not from Australian-made H4831, but the FIRST replacement Hodgdon had made in Scotland. This was back in the late 1970s, if I recall correctly, and the Scotland H4831 was indeed a little hotter than most of the mil-surp powder. Warnings about this appeared in many gun magazines.

But that was obviously a while ago. I don't know exactly when the transition occurred from the Scotland version to the Australian H4831, but I know it was before the mid-to-late 1990s, because that's when I started using the present Extreme version of H4831.

I bought an 8 lbs. jug of H4831 a few years ago and found it was 300 fps slower with 150g ABLR than the couple 1 pounders I bought in the early 2000s.

Also, the accuracy was poor. 3" average.

M D said above ^^^

"I suspect the warning about the "new" H4831 being hotter than the mil-surp comes not from Australian-made H4831, but the FIRST replacement Hodgdon had made in Scotland. This was back in the late 1970s, if I recall correctly, and the Scotland H4831 was indeed a little hotter than most of the mil-surp powder. Warnings about this appeared in many gun magazines."


From personal experience I know that's true. I had used 62 grs of surplus 4831 for years UNTIL I bought this can of powder.



Note the rust on top ring of can. I STILL have that can from 1980 SOMETHING.
NOTE Hodgdon stated " Newly Manufactured". The lot # on that can is 9 1 81 which was the date it was 'canned' > lol

I did NOT know about lot to lot variation TILL that can of powder.

62 grs of THAT yielded 3200 PLUS fps. and expanded the primer pocket. By dropping the charge to 60 grs I was back down to 3100 fps.


I don't remember now why I kept that pound, it's still nearly full of powder.

Jerry

That has been my favorite whitetail bullet for the last 20 years or so even though they offer those new fancy-dancy AccuBonds . But of course I’m a retro-grouch and still use IMR4350 in the .243 WCF .

Some will go on and tell me ( whether I asked or not ) that the 85 grainers are too light for deer , but having harvested 20+ whitetail with those 85 grainers at very close Northeast hunting distances ( less than 50 yards ) , I have yet to recover a mushroom from a shoulder shot ( both – thru and thru ) .

I have hoarded enough of them to last my lifetime but also have a huge supply of the 95 and 100 grainers .

The wife of a good friend of mine (another gun writer) decided to take up big game hunting a few years ago. They live in West Virginia, and have a hunting camp in the mountains, but instead of going after whitetails, her first hunt was a safari in South Africa. Her rifle was a .243, using 85-grain Partition handloads, and she killed three animals with one shot each--an impala (about the size of a whitetail) and a gemsbok and blue wildebeest, which go around 450 and 600 pounds, and are considered among the toughest of the plains game.

Good information, I assume by "Hotter" you mean faster burning. Another thing I have heard and probably a myth is that the current H4831s burning speed was based on older lots of milsurp that had become slower with age.

Those 85 grain Noslers are not just for kids, I think the added velocity puts them right up with the 95 & 100 grain bullets.

I have both ther red and white boxes as well as some black and gold boxes. Back in the day they were 100 bullets to the box now down to 50 and with the Accubonds $1 apiece. Just re sighted my 7x57AI
with the 160gr Accubond and was impressed with the accuracy with 4350. Loaded 20 shot half of them and will beat future price increases with a couple more boxes. I'm anxious to try them in the 275 Rigby and a M70 carbine.

GSPfan,

"Back in the day they were 100 bullets per box."

Can't remember ever seeing that with Partitions. The one red-box of .270 150s I had, mentioned earlier in this thread, held 50. So do the remaining yellow boxes of lathe-turned Partitions, which include bullets up to 300-grain .375s.

You might be remembering when Ballistic Tips were 100 per box.

If anyone has the old partitions from Ashland Oregon, with either the red box or red/white box, and wants to sale, I’d be interested. In particular I’d like 270 or 7mm but will take other calibers. Let me know what you have and what you are asking. I collect all things Nosler. Thanks

I still have several boxes of these from the 70's I continue to use when the Win Mag gets the nod..never had issues with accuracy or dispatching game..

As you can see 50 count per box ...mfg Beaverton Oregon..

Wasn't there a company that used to put 101 in the box to make sure they didn't short anyone?

IME, yes. Early in my handloading adventure I used to count bullets in the box.

Hornady always had 100 + in each box.

Per Nosler, as far back as the 70s, Noslers Partitions were 50/box.


Jerry

Partition's are the only hunting bullet I use now - tried others and they work but the partition can be placed through the shoulders and no meat is lost...

Shooting a MRC 280 Ackley with 150 grain partitions over H-4831sc and CCI BR2 primers - very accurate, - DRT as they say...

Best hunting bullet made in my book...

If you are paying a dollar a bullet, you are paying too much. They can be had for closer to half that price. $26.95/50 for the 7mm 160 Accubond.

I guess I'll have to look around more.

Those lathe turned bullets worked very well. I've shot up all that I had. As far as accuracy, I thought they were very good also.

No argument with your conclusions about Partitions, but I am baffled by the comment: "can be placed through the shoulders and no meat is lost". How could ANY expanding bullet travel through the shoulders of any game animal and not destroy meat??

Sierra did that.

My Dad always liked those, they seem more of a target bullet to me . I’ll run a Nosler or Barnes

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I shoot lots of Sierra bullets and the deer are just as dead as with a Nosler (I do like the Accubonds) or Barnes.

In my experience with the partition it doesn't destroy meat like other projectiles - can't explain it- just drives through.. Only ones I ever recovered is when I was lucky enough to have the time to drive out to Helena and kill elk with my bud from the Army..
Deer- never found one, just a damn fine hunting bullet - best made... Blood shot meat, maybe a little but not like others..

They perform the same on game every time, never a surprise...

Since bullets are for reloaders, they need to put 105 in a box. At least 101 because you need one for a dummy round that you use to reset your dies should you use the same set of dies for different loads for one or more rifles. Having 99 loaded rounds in a box because one is in the dummy drawer is just plain gay.

I think we are in agreement. I was just quibbling with the statement that " no (as in ZERO) meat is lost" even with a shot through the shoulders.

Fireball...

My buddy who reloads a 243 says the 100 grain n.p. Was the best deal for that cartridge.

Thats the only bullet I've ever used in a 243 and it's worked for over 30 years.

Yeah, it works great.

I wouldn't say it's the ONLY bullet to use in the .243, but to steal a quote about the .30-06 from Townsend Whelen, "it's never a mistake."

Remington used to put 101 bullets in their boxes. That was back when they came in a green plastic box with orange label. I bought three boxes of .243 80gn HPs and got an extra bullet in each box.

I've never had any meat loss with partitions in the shoulders either as long as I put the bullets thru the ribs behind the shoulders. Mb