Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Nosler Partitions are now boutique bullets?

Leo,

A PH friend of mine in South Africa also owns a sporting goods store in Kimberley. When I last hunted with him a few years ago the handoading shelves in the store held a few brands of South African bullets (all pretty pricey), a bunch of Nosler Partitions, and a big bunch of Sierras.

The Partitions and Sierras were 2-3 times the price we pay here, depending on the model--and many (but not all) of the Sierras were heavy-for-caliber. The local shoot a lot of Sierras and other cup-and-core bullets over there, because they often do a lot of culling, since game meat can be sold to butcher shops and stores. The cost of Partitions really cuts into the profit margin when cull-shooting.

Aside from Sierras, another PH friend really likes 130-grain Hornady Interlocks in his .270, and the PH who owns the store uses Winchester .22-250 factory loads with the 55-grain softpoint to cull springbok. In fact I did some culling with him, using his rifle and ammo. Of course, he gets the .22-250's for a dealer price, but over there that's more than we pay here retail.

export and import fees added to the customers price i'm sure .

Yep, plus higher shipping costs.

And that's the problem with any country that imports. For some, it's only the shipping cost. For others, they have to pay a government charged tariff as well.

In my case, the price of bullets got stupid so I decided to make my own. I sold some to recoup the cost of the tooling. While I haven't hunted every species on this continent, there is something made in my workshop for every animal that can be hunted - except for certain extraterrestrials. They can be tough to put down.

Some of you should do the retro thing and re-examine cast or cup and core bullets. You've spent too much on the hunt to bother with premium bullets that aren't needed.

Nozler became a boutique bulletcompany when they started packing the ballistic tips 50 to a box instead of 100.Still pisses me off.

Me too Huntz. Good point. They also did away with the solid base bullets which sucks too. Some of my rifles really loved those solid base bullets .

I miss the Solid Base also! The 162 gr 7mm was my favorite.

Me three. Had great loads worked up for the 130/270, 120/264WM, 120/25/06, 100/257R, and 100/243. Still mad at Nosler!

Whatever the .284 partition, accubond, or ballistic tips cost, they're worth every penny in my book.

JG Raider I'd be mostly inclined to agree re the PTs and and ABs.

But the BTs are costing 75 to 90 cents a piece down here, and while ever I can get Hornadys for half that or less I can't justify the premium price of Ballistic Tips.

At a buck-fifty a shot for Partitions I'll spring for the cost, but use them sparingly.

Interlocks for practice and feral culling; NPTs for premium game animals.

In all honesty, I do like the Hornady IL's too. Great bullet.

If I were in Oz, I would be shooting Hornady's and Woodleigh's.
Aussies get ripped off with everything they buy. Because the wages are higher, the prices are set at what the market can bear which is an unfortunate fact.

Even Aussie cars are sold to Australian's for up to 3 times the price Americans pay for the same car, imported to the US. 60 Minutes did a story on this back in the late 70's and it has not changed.

+1, but they are like fat girls, VW's, and Burris rifle scopes. You don't want any of your friends seeing you using them

Come on now, Travis has been telling us for years that fat girls need love too. I've also heard that original VWs are retro cool now to drive...... No comment on the Burris though.......

So we're all agreed then, no more buying Nosler bullets. 99% of you would be better off with Remington Core Lokts or Hornady Interlocks. Nosler had a good run, but times change.

You know
You're skilled
When huntin' and fishin'
'Cause you used a Core Lokt
And not a Partition

No corelokts for me, but I'd use a win power point if I had to

I would encourage all of you to stop buying Partitions, especially from Shooter's Pro Shop. They're not worth the money, don't act reliably, won't kill an animal worth a darn, and won't shoot well enough to use them in the first place...

I just ordered 400 more 30 cal, 180 PTs.

How many PTs are enough to have on hand and feel like you don't need to buy any more when you see the blems go on sale? I have actually tried to have a reasoned decision process for how many bullets I need on the shelf, and I decided my minimum stock should be not less than 500. But I think with the recent order I'll be around 1200.

Some of them are going to Utah this fall for bull elk with my primary 30-06.

Some guys won't buy the seconds, just like they won't buy a used rifle. I just saw a guy pay $175.00 for 5 boxes (plus a few straggler bullets) of the 30 cal 180gr. partitions in the classifieds when the same thing in seconds would have cost him $101.75. I'm personally glad there are guys that won't touch the seconds...Just sayin..

I'm an SPS Partition nut. I can't help but love them. They shoot very well and work as advertised. I really don't buy boxes unless I'm just trying a specific bullet. After that, I just wait to buy 2nds in order to stock my shelves.