Both of which are why I still use it.
Have been shooting 200 Partitions into big game since the bullet was still a "semi-spitzer." That was in the mid-1970s, and I was mostly hunting elk in thick timber, which is where a lot of them lived on public land back then. In fact I don't remember shooting one beyond 100 yards, and also used the same load on any deer encountered. Never recovered one, either on deer or elk, no matter the angle--though one did stay somewhere inside a bull elk on a rear-end finishing shot. Traced it through the diaphragm into the chest, but never found it, despite looking pretty hard.
Used 165 spitzers for more open country back then, but when Nosler started impact-extruding Partitions in the late 70s, the 200 became a spitzer. The listed G7 ballistic coefficient these days is over.500, and Bryan Litz's tests agree very closely.
Have used plenty of 165-168 monolithics in the .30-06 on big game, and they work fine.
But have recovered some, even from deer, and they drift more than the 200 at longer ranges (I've used the 200 Partition out to 400+ yards) because they don't have the BC. The 200 AccuBond does have a higher BC, and retains as much weight as the Partition--but mushrooms a little wider, so doesn't penetrate quite as deeply.
So I keep dancing with the one I really know.
