Looking at the 30 cal Ballistic Tips.

Do you think the cannelure would change the expansion characteristics of this bullet?

I understand they are tapered to a thicker base with more weight being jacket than lead. I was just wondering if the cannelure would create a thin spot in the jacket.

-Thanks

I've only killed a half-dozen deer and elk with cannelured Noslers, so I cannot give you a definitive answer. In all cases, the bullets performed well, but six or seven big game animals is not a large enough sample for me to render an opinion.

My experience with Winchester Power Points and Remington CoreLokt bullets with cannelures has been positive and I've killed lots of critters with both. In both of those bullets, the expansion tends to stop precisely at the cannelure.

Given the choice of a good bullet having a cannelure or not, I would opt for one WITH a cannelure.

Anyway, that has been my experience from several hundred big game kills afield ... other folks might have a opinion. I my book, as long as an opinion is based on field experience, it is totally valid.

My hunting partner, Chub Eastman, was Sales Manager of Nosler for many years and he told me that the cannelure was rolled on for Federal ammo. Federal specified the cannelure on the bullets they ordered OEM. Chub also opined that the accuracy and point of impact is identical to non-cannelured bullets of the same lot and that the cannelure commonly arrested expansion at that point.

I hope this gives you some insight.

God Bless and Merry Christmas,

Steve

Welcome back Steve.
The 'Fire has been in need of a "Sanity Injection" for some time now.
Merry Christmas to you and you family.
John

Great informative post Steve. Thanks for sharing. Hope you and your family have a Merry Christmas and happy new year...

I would agree with that assessment. It strategically weakens the jacket at that point just enough to get it to fold back.

Always happy to hear from Steve, thought of him the other day while ironing out a couple hundred machine gun fired 7.62 cases through a carbide .45 acp sizing die, they feed like butter.

Dakota,

Yes, I never quite thought of it as a weakening, but you are exactly right ... that is precisely what it is. Excellent point, my friend, excellent point.

Here are two .338 200-grain Winchester Power Points that I recovered from the biggest black bear I've ever killed. The rifle was my favorite .338-'06.

You can see that they folded right back to the cannelure and stopped. Personally, I would call it perfect bullet performance.

Why two bullets instead of one? Have you ever heard a seven-foot bear ROAR?

He apparently thought it was downright rude for me to drive a 200-grainer through both shoulders. He was down hard, but he was incredibly pissed. I put the second one within an inch of the first and he took a nap ... forever.

Almost no loss of meat, even though the shot(s) were under 100-yards.

Merry Christmas to all of you,

Steve

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I asked the question because I was worried about the weakening at the point of the cannelure.
The 180 BT is tapered to a thicker base and I have seen where JB compared them to the Partition in performance. I wondered if the cannelure would defeat the design.

I did not think of it as a benefit to stop expansion. and drive on through.

Thanks for the replies.

Nosler seconds are just a great value. I generally don't worry to much if they have, or don't have a cannelure.

I generally prefer them without, unless I"m loading for an AR, in which instance the cannelure is usually right at magazine length.

A partition is a partition is a partition...Make sense??

Well said. Of all the factors involved in bullet construction, a cannelure is near the bottom on my list of concerns.

Great to see you posting again Steve. Hope you and Karen are well and 'bustin' lots of critters.

Craig

Have a rifle rated (100 yards and out) ar500 steel pepper popper that has a perfect 308 hole in it. That would be a 180nbt fired from a 300 Wby. Pretty sure they're tough enough.

Understatement of the year there AS. Just got done receiving my order of 30 cal 200 NPT's for a 1/3 of what they cost where I live. Can't see a thing wrong with them and if those bullets are good enough for Phil S and JB they are good enough for me. Magnum Man

I just got an order of the 200 gr Partitions as well. I've never shot a partition before but I figured with a 30-06 and 300 WBY to feed those would be about perfect for what I hunt out of either cartridge.

I've been hunting with the Partitions since the mid 1970's.

Believe you'll be happy with the performance of the .30 cal 200 grain Partitions. That's a lot of bullet!

Regards, Guy

Just got my order of 170 grain RN partitions from the blem sale. At that price I couldn't pass them up.

.303 Savage gonna' be happy with these I hope.

The ole Savage will be happy, I bet the critters where you hunt, won't like em all too well.

Maybe it was a fluke, but I once found a great shooting load with 165 BTs in my '06 that I got as seconds with a canelure. When those ran out, the seconds weren't available so I bought a box of regulars. To my dismay, the regulars didn't shoot nearly as well. Not sure if this has happened to anyone else, but it kinda soured me on the seconds.