Maybe 35-40 years ago, a buddy decided to scrap the 100gr Sierras he was using and went to a Nosler Partition in his BDL 25-06. Can't recall now if it was a 115 or 117gr version?
He shot a decent buck for the time, early on opening morning. Buck went down, he was happy. Buck got back up again within seconds, ran off down the mountain and someone else nailed it. Went down to figure out what had happened. Near's he cold sort out, his shot had gone straight through, hit no vitals.
First and last experience with a Partition on our smallish white tails, for him.
Many years later, lent my M700 25-06 to another friend, so his wife could use it on an Idaho black bear hunt. He decided she needed more rifle than her 243, despite her having killed bears in PA and Canada with it. So he loaded up Partitions for her to use in my 25-06. She hit a bear three times, bear continued on its way. Cowboy guide finished it off for her with his rifle. When they skint the bear, all three of her shots were pass throughs.
I've heard lots of good experiences with Partitions over the years, in one cartridge or another. For PA whitetails and my 25-06s, I prefer a Nosler Btip in their 100gr offering. Ain't lost one yet, most keeled over where they'd stood or walked, when hit.
Unless its a matter of running 100 yards and its in the neighbors in a few seconds and they shoot it again, to claim it, then bullets above noted are not hitting vitals.
if thats the case, MZ shooters of old and new with simple round balls could never kill anything as their bullets never exploded into the deer....
3 shots on the bear evidently were not where they should have been. And one shot on the deer was not where it should have been. Pretty simple actually. I'd hunt deer with a 22lr if it was legal, they are not hard to kill. I kill feral hogs with a 22 all the time, these up to around 250 ish pounds so far....
