Nosler Partition 30cal 220 gr in 308 Win Rifle. Not Too heavy

Warbird_2006

Warbird_2006

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I like heavier bullets, kind of one shot one kill guy. Seeing a deer dying and crying ain't pretty. I had a box of Nosler Partition 30 220 gr in my reloading cabinet. Everyone told me I need at least 1:10 twist on my 308 rifle to stabilize the bullets.
Well, hunting season is coming, so I loaded 40 rounds with different powder weights. I shot them on 100 meters from Sauer 202 with 26" barel and 1:11 twist. Shooting 10 sets of 3 rounds through a MagnetoSpeed Chrony. To my surprise average group of the 10 sets was 0.56 MOA. Best group, 0.32 MOA came from a set loaded with 40.7 grains of IMR 4064 with Federal Match 210M primers at 2,328. Bullet depth 2.81".
Second best group, 0.38 MOA was from a set loaded with 38.7 grains of IMR 4064 at 2,235 f/s.
Will try at 300 yards tomorrow.
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Still a sh*tty bullet choice for the 308. Quick kills aren't caused by heavy for caliber bullets or even large diameter bullets. They're caused by precise shot placement. Your rifle shows that it will hold up its end so the responsibility lies solely with you. Use grossly overweight bullets in your 308 if it makes you feel better, but they won't kill any more effectively than a 150 grain Partition and won't have the flat trajectory that a lighter bullet will.
 
BigUglyMan said:
Still a sh*tty bullet choice for the 308. Quick kills aren't caused by heavy for caliber bullets or even large diameter bullets. They're caused by precise shot placement. Your rifle shows that it will hold up its end so the responsibility lies solely with you. Use grossly overweight bullets in your 308 if it makes you feel better, but they won't kill any more effectively than a 150 grain Partition and won't have the flat trajectory that a lighter bullet will.
Click to expand...

X2!

That big heavy Partition is shooting well in your 308.
However, I have to agree with B.U.M. here....it is actually ill-suited to the 308 Winchester.

The .308 diameter, 220 grain Partition is made for big, tough game [Grizzly, Bison, etc], not for deer sized game.
As suggested above, the 150 grain Partition will be a better killer on the lighter cervids, and will shoot much flatter.

I am using the 150 Partition in my 300 Savage [M700 Classic bolt action] with 46 grains of Reloder 15, and it kills deer like the hammer of Thor.

Regards, Dave.
 
Ok guys, I have to put a stop here, I did not mean to start a discussion on what bullet and what it the reason you shoot the deer with it. You can read on it on the net for weeks.
My reason was to show how precise can even heavy bullet with low ballistic coefficient can be in certain loads. I've searched this subject a lot and there is a good article here: http://www.longrangehunting.com/articles/30-caliber-1.php
The load for this bullet was borrowed from the 220 gr. 30-06 load in Sierra Loading Manual. Lot of the "light" 30-06 30-06 loads are very similar to the "heavy" 308 Win loads.
So, again, you can kill a deer with 223 or 416 Rigby, but its not the topic here.
:)
 
I am a big fan of the 220gr Partition. I have used it quite a bit and a friend used it almost exclusively for many years. Have taken, or seen taken, whitetail, mule deer, elk, moose, black bear and grizzly. Mind you it was always out of a .300 Win Mag.
 
Since it's entirely possible you will have an elk or moose tag in your pocket, that is a fine load in your rifle that will work just fine on a 250 lb muley buck. Think of it as a modernized 30US or 303 British.

Unless you are shooting coyotes trajectory is largely overrated IMO. I'm sure someone will chirp in about shooting at 5 or 600 yards but since you have a 308 and 220 gr bullets I doubt you are in that camp.

Also IMO, a conventional softpoint of 150 to 180 grains will put a deer down faster.
 
In my experience, a higher speed, moderately frangible bullet will result in more 'bang flops' than a slower, tougher bullet. Shot placement, as always, is the key. I have shot deer with a .243 Win up to a .375 Ruger, with many stops in between. I have found the slower moving bullets in the middle of that calibre range resulted in a deer that did a death sprint more often than a .243 with a. 95 gr ballistic tip or a 6.5-06 and 129 gr SST, which are most often dead in their tracks scenarios when I do my part. Much more gruesome wound channels as well .

This isn't to say that your load isn't going to work for deer, because dead is dead, just that I wouldn't expect 'lights out' type performance if you are planning on putting it through the lungs.
 
Nothing wrong with your choice, it's far better than choosing a bullet which is light and frangible just in order to obtain a flatter trajectory, which seems to be the trend these days. You've chosen the proper end of the extreme spectrum!
I'll also add that your rifle probably performs better than most would with that load, due more so to its manufacturing tolerances than you finding the proper powder load for that caliber and bullet.
 
Although my preference is the 150 grain Nosler partition, there is absolutely no problem with your choice of bullet weight. It appears that you have an excellent accurate load.............now you just have to put it where it counts!
 
I've personally taken WT deer once with a compund bow, once with a 30-30 and very many with the 308.
Excluding the stick and string they were all very quick, humane kills with the bullet was exactly 150 grains in both cartridges.
The archery harvest ended 40 yards away.
 
At the distances I hunt and shoot deer (up to 300 yds), I find that an accurate load with a MV of about 2500 fps works very well for me, regardless of bullet weight.
 
I like heavy bullets and while this load is interesting and groups fine for paper targets, the weight of the bullet far exceeds the optimum energy of this caliber. Its my opinion that for hunting loads (not paper) that . 308 peaks at 165gr bullets, any more becomes a loss and self-defeating.

Further to this, 308 is not the same ( or similar) as 30.06. You can stuff 25% more powder in a 30.06 casing. This makes the two cartridges extremely different in every aspect of energy, pressure, and velocity. Its also my opinion that even in a 30.06 cartridge a 220gr bullet is past its prime, though oddly, factory loads go up to 250grain.

IMO,

165gr for .308,

and 180gr for 30.06

are the optimum hunting loads
 
bearkilr said:
Nothing wrong with your choice, it's far better than choosing a bullet which is light and frangible just in order to obtain a flatter trajectory, which seems to be the trend these days. You've chosen the proper end of the extreme spectrum!
I'll also add that your rifle probably performs better than most would with that load, due more so to its manufacturing tolerances than you finding the proper powder load for that caliber and bullet.
Click to expand...


If I'm stumping around the Swan Hills, and come face to face with a big grizz', I'd way rather have a slow poke 220gr slug in the pipe than a 150gr...
 
I also like heavy for caliber bullets, but to see the advantage there must be sufficient target density to enable the bullet to act upon it. Sometimes my bulb comes on slowly, but I get there eventually. I am very much a fan the .375/380 gr Rhino bullet. My testing showed a .92 caliber expansion combined with 32" of penetration with this bullet having an impact velocity of 2300 fps from my .375 Ultra. I sent Crazy_Davey a few to try in his H&H, and he promptly rugged a black bear with one. But the recovered bullet showed little of the potential expansion! AHH!!! (the bulb came on) there wasn't enough density in that blackie for the bullet to open up, so the heavy Rhino was actually inferior to any number of other more common and affordable .375 bullets he might have chosen. Having said that, I don't know that a 220 Partition is the worst bullet you could load in your .308, the rifle apparently tolerates them quite well, but the wonderful thing about .30 caliber rifles is that there are so many great bullets available for them that is should be easy to have a load that is suitable for the specific conditions you face. If that sounds too much like work, then simply work up a good load with 150-165 gr TSXs, and you'll be set for anything North American and much of Africa has to offer.

Another issue that might come up with a long .30 caliber bullet from a 1:12 barrel is precession. Precession is simply another term for yaw, and it occurs twice in the flight of the bullet, first when the bullet exits the muzzle and again when it impacts a denser than air target. If the bullet is spinning slow enough that stability is marginal (which is not evident from your bullet holes) it will take much longer for that bullet to recover from the precession and come back in line, chances are it never will. I have two primary .30/06 rifles in my house, one is my Brno ZG-47 with a 1:10 twist, the other is my wife's Husqvarna 1600 with a 1:12 twist. Woodleigh .308/240s perform exceptionally well in my Brno, but they have shown only marginal stability the Husky. Thus they will not penetrate as well from the Husky, because the angle of attack through the target will not be nose on, the expansion will not be flat, and the resulting penetration will not be as straight. Therefore my wife's load is made up around 180 gr TSXs while mine are the Woodleighs.
 
As I mentioned in an earlier post, I like the 220 Partitions, but I also like the 200's. You could probably get the 200's moving along at 2500fps and they would work very well for a heavier load too.
 
Ballistic tip over a partition hands down for a deer.
Partition is a poor choice for a deer but a good choice for a moose or bear.
IMO
 
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