Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Fav 30-06 bullet

This.

With the 165 NP and 165 NAB being my favorites in that order...

OH yeah. Years ago befor Premiums, except maybe Partitions, Finn Aagard did a wet telephone book test on the .30-06 bullet weights.

The 180 had the best penetration.

Well, the 200 NP has better penetration, but most of my work has been with the 165 and 180.

A 165 kicks less and works about as well IMO.

Although I now shoot a 150gr TTSX, my fav -06 load is a 180gr Accubond between 2750 and 2800fps. One mean fugger and Nosler seconds are cheap..

Yup. I have really become a believer in the 180 gr AB. Nosler did good with this one.

A long time favorite of mine.

180 gr Sierra btgk.

180 gr Nosler Partition.

las,

I would have been difficult for Finn to publish a bullet comparison before Nosler Partitions, since he didn't start writing for magazines until he moved to the U.S. in 1977, almost 30 years after Partitions went on the market.

He soon became a staff writer for the NRA magazines, and the .30-06 article he did for them shows the 200-grain Nosler Partition penetrating deeper than any other bullet, though only a half-inch more than the 180 Partition. (This was also before the introduction of the 220 Partition.) His test media was alternating layers of 1/2" wet magazines and 1" pine boards.

I have been using both the 200 and 180-grain Nosler Partitions since the late 1970's, and in the field the difference in penetration is larger. In fact I have yet to recover a 200-grain Partition fired from a .30-06 or even a .300 magnum, and have killed more elk with that bullet than any other.

In fact, elk are what caused me to start using the 200, after a bad experience with a new "premium" 150-grain bullet in the .270 Winchester. At the time I was hunting elk in the thick, steep part of Montana near the Idaho Panhandle, and shots were rarely as long as 100 yards, and elk could be in any conceivable position. I didn't shoot any in the butt, but did take other angling shots. Once I switched to the 200 Partition there was no problem.

That was the old semi-spitzer model, turned on a screw machine with a "relief groove" around the area of the partition. It shot into about an inch in my sporterized 1903 Springfield. Soon afterward Nosler started impact-extruding their bullets, and the 200 became a spitzer. I have since used the spitzer in several other .30-06's, usually with 59-60 grains of H4831 for around 2650-2700 fps. My NULA Model 24 is my only .30-06 right now, and gets 2690 using 59 grains of H4831SC, the load shoots a lot flatter than most people would expect.

Since the 1970's, of course, many new wonder bullets have come along, but I haven't yet found another .30 caliber that would penetrate any deeper on game. It has gone lengthwise through more than one deer, including a mature mule deer buck, and once busted the shoulder joint of a quartering-on 6-point elk, then exited the rear of the rib-cage on the other side.

These days the 200 Partition might not be my #1 choice for the .30-06, but for over 35 years it has always proven reliable in widely varying conditions, whether pronghorns on the plains or elk in thick timber.

Great write up JB!

I've come to the conclusion, that there is better stuff out there, than what I have used with great success....

although my experience is a minute fraction of yours, I have found if it was working for 35 plus years... no reason to switch to something else, just to have the "latest and greatest"....

I admit my favorite bullet for the 06 is the 220 grain SMP Partition...

I have a few 200 semi-spitzers I either bought or was given back in the 80s. They were the extruded variety. Punched one into a bull moose at a pretty fair distance - at least from a 'hind-leg' stance- under severe cold conditions. I don't remember if it was a IMR 4350 or H4831 load, though neither was an Extreme back then. Neither of us was greatly impressed at the time. I keep thinking I should give the pointier variety a go one of these days.



I concur with you assessment!

And I have to wonder how many of the newer bullets really compete with the "old" Partition when it comes to broad excellence. I know there are many which do some things better. But it seems like few which actually cover so broad a spectrum well; near or far, fast or slow, soft or hard, ideal placement or no-so-much….

Someone else mentioned it earlier, but I love the Speer 180 Mag-Tip. Have used them on large bodied whitetail bucks, and a couple 1000 lb buffalo for butcher from a local farm.

I caught 2 Nosler partitions in 2 pigs that were around 180 lbs each. Fired under 50 yards both animals. This was my only experience with the Partitions but wasn't impressed with the "penetration" of them? I did manage two dead hogs though.

What bullet weight, what cartridge?

30.06 180 grain partition.

180 Partition or 180 Accubond for me, depending on which blems are available from SPS. I haven't been able to tell any difference between the 165 PT (mule deer, whitetail deer), 165 AB (mule deer, cow elk), 180 PT (whitetail, cow elk, bull elk), and 180 AB (mule deer, whitetail, cow elk) on game. They all died, and rarely did any of the elk do a "bang flop" but recovery was less than 50 yards from point of shot.

The majority of my 30-06 shooting through the year is 155 Nosler Custom Competitions, 155 Sierra Matchkings, and 155 Lapua Scenars. Haven't tried any of these on game, and probably won't.

Wow - that's the bullet that convinced me, 30 years ago, to rely on Noslers for reliable expansion and penetration.

Interesting.

Guy

John, I started my elk hunting using a Norma 308Mag. It loved the 200gr NP's. At magnum velocities, it really put the smack down on bull elk. As I've aged, I've become less able to put up with heavy recoil so have moved on to smaller, less recoiling and lighter weight rifles. Back to the OP's question, I'd use a 165gr NP for the animals you mentioned, it'll work near or far, good angle or bad. It's down side is it's not sexy, actually it's very boring.

I bought them to use as my 1 and only bullet for everything after reading the rave reviews here and the experience of others. I'm not sure if their is an issue with the specific lot I have or what the circumstance that limited the penetration? Neither connected with "major bone" and their isn't major bone in a hog in my opinion? I shot the first hog in the back lower spine going up hill to "anchor" it after it was already shot twice by another hunter. My pig I shot as he stopped in "light" brush which could have made some difference on it. He dropped at the shot but was kicking as I intentionally shot him "high" to avoid the brush. He was on his side with his stomach toward me, I put another one into him belly since this was the only shot I had and worried he may jump up. I walked up and he was still alive so he got a finisher. The partitions were nicely "mushroomed"!

I haven't totally given up on them but that was my two and only experiences with them. I may go to a 200 grain partition to try or buy a different box of 180's to see if there is any difference?

IMHO it would take a helluva hog to catch a 200 gr NPT Esox.