Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles 308 winchester 220 grain partition

[well we have one member who has never pushed a load beyond what a manual has told him to...

and then someone else who has, by noting the pressure listed in manual, and it being much lower than SAAMI specs, so worked up from there to find that limit... in 5 different rifles... and EACH one gave the conclusion that a much higher charge was safe and was not only giving tight primer pockets after 10 reloads....

I'm rolling with you Pard, ha. Done this for a tad over 40yrs. No blowups either.

but the tip has short skives.

I bought some Gold Country .30cal 220 round nose that has a bunch of lead tip showing and the skives in the jacket. I just have to try them in an '06. I don't trust them, at this point, to stay together from a 300WM. Time will tell. I love those big heavy round nose bullets!

Very interesting!

Mainer - Thanks for putting the time & effort into these tests!

Now that I think about it, Phil Shoemaker found the 220 partition penetrated very well on a whale carcass and he’s not found them lacking on bears. I still think they should be designed more like the .338+ partitions so they retain more shank however.

Something softer, like moose/bear, the smaller diameter expansion would certainly give better penetation. .49" expansion, dunno how long an animal would stay upright though, that not very wide.

Good bullet, but not $100 good. .338 fusion bullets did almost as good, at $18 a box. More damage too.

Just the same, the 308 loaner rifle will still stay sighted to the 150 count, 220 gr handloaded cartridges, that were 3 times more expensive than the rifle itself,ha!

Only problem I had with Nosler 220s was in compressed powder loads. In the short magazine of a Mod 70 Fwt, I had to seat them pretty deep. No LEE FCD back then. But to get any real speed ( I was shooting for 2450 or so) the compressed powder cause my seating die to deform the nose. I was afraid I had compromised the integrity of the jacket/nose. Plus, this caused them to not be as accurate, at least for me.

Mainer, I have been using the 180 grain Nosler Partition for decades in the 30 06 at around 2700 fps and while I haven't, I would have zero issue loading them in the .308. In that use case in the USA, Canada, and Africa, they performed perfectly every single time. Farthest shot was 280 yards on a Zebra and the bullet was discovered as a lump on the hide on the other side. So for me I am sold on the 180 partition design for the 30 06. I would expect more energy from the 220 grain partition and therefore more penetration. Your results are quite interesting.

This is my favourite thread here excusing the earlier BS.

I have a supply of LVR powder and am looking forward to some loads for different bullet weights with that powder.

Left to right, 220 partition and 180 partition in the board they stopped in. Please excuse the peeled-away wood on the 220 hole, I had already started to dig the bullet out.

Look down below at the lighter colored board, they even left similar dents in the next board:

Nice work Mainer.
Also glad to see you still running the RCM..that’ll hunt.

Update:
Finally dug out the 338 225 grain fusion and 225 interbond.

Numbers have changed:
.338 225 grain fusion was within 1/4" penetration of the two 30 caliber partitions.

The .338 interbond was 1/4" more penetration as well.

Wait one and I'll measure/ weigh these.338 bullets

.338 225 grain fusion:

185.1 grains expanded to .75 caliber
82% weight retention

.338 225 grain Interbond:

187 grains expanded to .66 caliber
83% weight retention

Left to Right:
.30 220 gr part, .30 180 gr part, .33 225 gr fus, .33 225 gr inter

Definitely a torture test.

I'd be curious to know how the 200 NP would stack up to the 180 and 220...

Great test Mainer.. all seem like great killers.

Brad, I’d bet that 200 would be as good as any. That thing has a lot going for it, other than price nowadays.

Mainer, I'll put some 30 caliber 200 grain Nosler Partitions in the mail to you if you would perform this exact same bad ass green spruce test using them.

I'll take this Green Spruce test over ballistic gel any day of the week.

Jeeper,,

It's 30 below zero down at river. will hold off for now. Fingers were stinging-cold, working with tools and hardware.

Brad,
Spruce is very soft, but certainly stops the bullets quick. Building with it, I have to run 3.5" framing screws or 3.5" nails in my fraining gun, 3" framing nails don't hold the wood very well

It's good stuff though, and doesn't shear off petals or damage the bullets.

Beretz,
Yep, all good bullets except those blemish 225 partitions.

Weight retention, expanded diameter and penetration, none of the partitions outdid the federal fusion, or the interbond.

I won't even bring out my 275 grain swift a-frame 338 RCM handload. It will annialate any insinuation that the 30-06 or 308 with 220's, performs like a fkn 338 or 375.

In spite of this bllsht you read on 24hr campfire, Elmer Keith already told yah it aint the case, with .333 kynoc bullets......

That's a curious couple of statements. May contain a few errors.

I've found it isn't a good idea to question others' results without good reason. There were some folks on here that questioned the velocity I was getting with my AR 15 and 77 gr SMKs. I decided to shoot it on camera and five rounds averaged exactly 1fps slower than what I claimed in the thread. Every barrel is an individual and so is the load itself.

... and every chronograph....