Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting 85gr partition for deer

Does anyone here use 6mm 85gr partitions for deer? If yes, what are your experiences?
Dave

Would that be 85 grain .243 Partitions?
I have not but specifying the caliber might help with responses. Partitions are mighty fine bullets - can't imagine they wouldn't kill just fine.
Rex

I shot several deer with that bullet and a huge feral hog. Penetration is as good as you can expect, exit holes were small. The hog was shot from slightly above and right into the neck from the front. I searched for it but couldn't find it. It went through some 8 inches of neck bone then into the chest and on into the guts. more than 2 feet of penetration. I like the 95 grain Ballistic Tip better for deer.

Thanks for the correction needed.
Dave

Shot many Wi. whitetails with the 95 grain Partition. most where dead right there

My son has killed several deer with an 85 grain partition out of his 6mm. I loaded them down to 2850 for when he was younger and really never saw a need to mess with getting more velocity. They didn't seem to leave much blood, but the deer didn't go far either.

Lots of deer with 85 grain 6mm slugs, but no partitions.

Same. Only 85 grain Sierra flat base Spitzer and 95 grain Partition.

If the Sierra works like magic I can only imagine the Partitions doing same.

I haven’t but I would…

I've shot several antelope with the my .243 WSSM using the 85 gr partitions and certainly never had a bullet stay in and I've never gotten much expansion. Small exits every time. Dead critters, but never have had one fold up at the hit. Have always stayed on their feet for a bit.

I shoot that in my 243AI and never had one that survived. I have used both 85 & 95 gr didn't notice much difference but our deer in VA aren't huge bodied.

Good Luck

Same here out of my 6mm Rem....the distinction of 243 didn't throw me- ha!

I don't run my loads very hot. If I did the TSX would get a strong look and no hesitation.

My 3 sons all started with that bullet in a 6x47. Now grandsons are using it. Nothing but perfect performance.

The wife of a friend of mine decided she wanted to start hunting, so he got her a .243 Winchester loaded some 85 Partitions. They live in West Virginia, but he had a plains game safari in South Africa scheduled that summer, so she went along and killed an impala, gemsbok and blue wildebeest, all trophy males, all with one shot. Now, impala are about the size of West Virginia whitetails, but gemsbok run 400-500 pounds and blue wildebeest 600-700.

As a side note, I am always amused by hunters who assume that since Partitions tend to leave an exit hole that about caliber-size, the bullet didn't expand. Don't they field-dress their deer and notice the inside destruction?

That's a Partition, the expanded portion folds back against the shank giving smaller exit wounds. Part of the reason they penetrate so well.

Front half soft and that is why they tend to have turned the insides of critters to soup. They actually expand about like a cup n core bullet, maybe a fuzz faster.

I've used the 85 partition a good bit in 243s, 6mm rems and a 243AI

it has performed exactly like larger partitions. I've always gotten an exit, usually a small one but internal destruction has been great.

I wouldn't hesitate to use one for anything I might find in VA or WV

Thanks for the replies. I have loaded 100gr Corelokts for years for my 243 and never had a problem. The exit holes were always the size of a nickel. I'm going to load the partitions for a friend's wife for deer hunting. Her rifle is a youth model and it has a short barrel.

These are the same ones that say monos just "pencil through."

I’ve not used a partition but my wife uses a 95 grain nosler E-tip, and I use 85 grain Barnes. Never had to shoot more than once. She uses a 243 me a 6mm Rem.
Wyoming mule deer!

PM sent - I’ve had a couple loads that I’ve been happy with. In the low/mid 40’s with H4831, IMR
4350 & Hunter. Nothing shocking really but the H4831 was my favorite

Don’t discount the Sierra 85 HPBT. It’s the grim reaper in 6mm - realistically it just preforms well for my style of shot placement (mixed elevation but semi broadside) I really like it.

Ive used the 85 gr Partition on several occasions and they have performed great.

The pics are a 140 gr 284 cal shot out of a 7mm Rem mag. Shot a doe from stem to stern. Found the bullet just under the skin in the thoracic inlet.

Yep!

Had an amusing encounter with a local "expert" maybe 3-4 years ago. He'd shot a pretty big mule deer buck just behind the shoulders with a 180 Partition from a .300 Winchester Magnum, as I recall at around 150 yards. He whined that the exit hole was only about .30 caliber.

I then asked him if he'd field-dressed the deer himself. He said yes, of course. I then asked him if the hole through the lungs was pretty big. He nodded--but then complained the buck went 35 yards before falling....

I judge a bullet by the presence- or absence- of a dead deer. Lol

Life is too short to bitch and whine about if it kills dead enough.

That 85 sierra is my favorite 85ish grain 6mm bullet. They have the BC of a ping pong ball but I love how they kill from 50 to 300 yards on all manner of stuff from groundhogs to deer

Had basically the same thing happen with a forkhorn mule deer buck, using the same bullet from a 7x57. The buck was facing me at around 50 yards in lodgepole pine timber, and the bullet landed in the "dimple" at the base of his neck. The buck collapsed, but I never found the bullet during field-dressing, though it obviously went through the diaphragm into the abdominal cavity.

Found it a year or so later, when Eileen bit into a round steak. She thought it was a piece of bone, but it turned out to be a perfectly expanded Partition.

^^^^^ Excellent point! ^^^^^

Plan on working up a load for them in my old M7 6mm rem with the dick 18" barrel hoping to get them 2900+ fps..mb

I shot the 85 gr Partitions in my Browning 20 inch A-Bolt .243 for several years. Very accurate. I've only killed two deer with them, both 2-1/2 YO bucks at about 200 yards.

They’re on the list. Have a few boxes. Problem is, I also have a bunch of others too, 95 BTs, LRXs, ETs. Dang crossbow has messed up my rifle hunting. Might oughta sell it…

Loaded them for granddaughter. They did just fine.

I’ve been messing around with a youth 6mm Model 7 that I bought my son back in the 90s. Dropped it a B&C stock and bedded it, installed a Timney trigger and topped it with a 3-9x40 Sightron scope.
Found a good 85 grain Sierra HPBT load and tested it out to 400 yds. just the other day. Shoots pretty good. I also found some 85 grain Partitions on the shelf yesterday and will start developing a load for it real soon.

I've been shooting deer for Deer Land Owner Permits since 1987....usually shoot 100 + or - every year....only use one rifle a Winchester 70 and one bullet a 243 Winchester and Sierra 85 gr. BTHP.....
Never have lost one deer very few go more than 50 yards most will go 10 or so yards....all are shot in grain fields in the evening.....

Just picked up a Christensen Arms with a 20" barrel in 243 Winchester to use suppressed while the Winchester 70 gets a new barrel.....

That's quite the testimony! Do you ever break bone to get to the vitals, or are you waiting out broadside shots? How often do you get pass throughs?

I have a single experience with the 85 grain 243 Partition on deer. Launched it out of a 6MM Remington. Lights out on contact on a small doe. I have loaded them for my nephew for his 244. They have worked flawlessly for him.

An old friend of mine from Paradise, California, showed me his "man cave" a couple decades ago, and I noted the great selection of deer and elk antlers on the walls. He showed me his Sako .243 rifle and said he never used anything but a 85 gr Sierra BTHP "loaded as fast as it will go"...for over 100 deer and a dozen elk.

We moved away, so I don't know how many more he's put down since then.

Doesn't really surprise me. I ran a sierra 85 bthp thru a groundhog at 40 yards at close to a max load. Opened and penetrated and exited like a deer bullet is supposed to.

If it didn't blow up at max velocity at that close, I'd say they're good bullets. They are also the most accurate in my 243s.

Years back, I hunted two seasons with the 243 Win, loaded up with the 85 grain Partition. 6 whitetails DRT.

Now, I'm using the 95 grain ballistics tip with the same results.

@Dave_in_WV thanks for asking the question. For my Deer hunt this year I wanted put away the 30, 28, 26 calibers and try my 243 IF I ever get it back from the smith. I was doing load development with 90grn bullets from Sierra, Hornady and Nosler (basically whatever I could find). I started development using a 70grn Hammer. I'm told those kill plains game regularly.

I wish her good luck. Post her results.

HaYen

I took the ammo I loaded for her last Sat. Hopefully it will group well.

Dave,.... They work great. I havent shot any personally but I have loaded a bunch for my friends sons. They wear the Ritchie County deer out with them. He has 3 sons and they all shoot 243's and my handloads which are 85 gr partition over imr4350. I tried to talk him into trying the 95 gr nbt's which I have a lifetime supply of but they wont even consider it. Go forth with confidence.

Have a couple of boxes of 85 gr npt's. Allways used 95 to 105 gr bullets in the 6mm/243 for deer and antelope. Early last fall I had a chance to pick up a model 7 remington with the short 18" barrel. I figger I can get those 85's to 3000 ok. They are partitions I am confident they will do fine.

Mb

I've seen 55gr wreck their day. I think 85gr would wreck it just as much.

My brother used the 100gr partitions in his 6mm rem (Rem. 660). Shots usually under 100yds and the occasional 150-200yds. Most all shots through the ribs and the exit was a bit bigger than a golf ball. They don't go far with that hit.