If caliber is not so important...

Demonical said:
^ Am I reading that right!? The Nosler Partition is only suitable for deer sized game and .243 type calibers!?

OMFG...
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His cheeks often move when it should be his lips. Half the stuff he says is unproven or a wives tale. I think he is actually a nice and well meaning guy, he is just influenced by members of his club more than practical reality.
Give me a 250 Partition in a .338 WM and I'll hunt everything the world has to offer.
 
rem338win said:
His cheeks often move when it should be his lips. Half the stuff he says is unproven or a wives tale. I think he is actually a nice and well meaning guy, he is just influenced by members of his club more than practical reality.
Give me a 250 Partition in a .338 WM and I'll hunt everything the world has to offer.
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I'll take that as a compliment, my 2011 resolution was to refrain from posting anything related to hunting but consider bullet design and rifle accuracy non-hunting topics ;)

More seriously, I'm sorry about the confusion, have modified the original posting and meant to say that Nosler Partition design might still be the best one for some specific purposes.

Alex
 
AlexF said:
I'll take that as a compliment, my 2011 resolution was to refrain from posting anything related to hunting but consider bullet design and rifle accuracy non-hunting topics ;)

More seriously, I'm sorry about the confusion, have modified the original posting and meant to say that Nosler Partition design might still be the best one for some specific purposes.

Alex
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Take it however you like:D But seriously, you need to get out more and test these theories of yours.

The Nosler Partition, Accubond and T/TSX are probably the most versitile "premiums" made, and overlap in many areas. I have found personally, that the TSX and TTSX expand more readily in the 2200-1800fps range than the Noslers.
 
John Barsness has probably shot more game than anyone on this board. He says:

I've used Nosler Partitions since the mid-1970's, back when they still had relief grooves and the jackets were turned, not extruded. I've shot over 100 big game animals personally with them, and seen at least that many more killed with Partitions by friends and family.

But they're not the only bullets I use, since part of my job is to test a wide variety of bullets both in various kinds of media and on game. In fact for most of the last decade I rarely used Partitions because there were so many new bullets introduced. I've been shooting Barnes X's of every generation since the late 80's, and have thoroughly tested just about every other "premium" bullet, including all the versions of Trophy Bondeds from Jack Carter's originals to the latest Tipped model; all the Swift bullets (including both the original Scirocco and SII); North Forks; Hornady Interbonds, GMX's and DGX's; Speer Grand Slams and DeepCurls; Remington Core-Lokt Ultras, etc. etc.

I also know the other Nosler bullets quite well, whether Ballistic Tips, AccuBonds or E-Tips. In fact I tested some prototype E-Tips on an African cull hunt in 2007, where almost 200 animals were taken over a month of shooting by me and my companions. I've also gone to New Zealand to thoroughly test Berger VLD's on a bunch feral goats and other game including red stags. Oh, and I also have shot several semi-loads of big game with "ordinary" bullets from Hornady, Remington, Sierra, Speer and Winchester. I always autopsy the animals myself, or watch it done when that isn't possible, as it sometimes isn't in Africa, to find out exactly how the bullets worked.

This year I used more Nosler Partitions than in any other year for the past decade, because I'd learned how those other bullets work--and didn't find any of them killed any better than the right Partition put in the right place. But even while using several Partitions from 6.5mm to .416, I also shot big game with Hornady Interbonds, Federal Fusions, Barnes TTSX's, Nosler Ballistic Tips, and Sierra ProHunters.

Over the years I've seen some very weird field results with some of the bullets you apparently regard as infallible, including repeated instances that would have to be considered total failures, but have yet to see that happen with hundreds of Nosler Partitions. I've also run into a bunch of hunters like you, who "know" all sorts of stuff without actually doing a lot of comparison testing. If you had, you might know as much as you think you do.
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and

Phil Shoemaker, the well-known Alaskan brown bear hunting guide, has done extensive penetration testing, sometimes on beached whales. He's found that the 220-grain Partition penetrates deeper than any other expanding bullet he's used, and Phil has used cartridges up to the .505 Gibbs, and most of the premium bullets made in the U.S.

My personal experience, both with various kinds of "media" and on 100's of animals in North America, Europe and Africa, is that the Nosler Partition is one of the deepest penetrating bullets made. It typically penetrates more than several other bullets that cost more, and more reliably as well.

Especially deep-penetrating are the heavier, larger caliber Partitions from 9.3mm up, which are designed to retain around 85% of their weight, rather than the 65-70% of sub-.30 caliber bullets. The medium sizes (such as the 225 .338) are in between, designed to retain around 75% of their weight.

This year I took about half my big game with Nosler Partitions. The list included animals as mundane as whitetails and as exotic as Nyasa wildebeest and Cape buffalo. The obsolete old Nosler Partition worked perfectly every time.

In fact I've used just about every expanding bullet made in North America, Europe and Africa, and have yet to find one more suitable for all-around use on a variety of big game than today's Nosler Partitions. In addition to working great when they hit animals, today's Partitions are also very accurate.
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I haven't shot 100's of big game animals or spent a million dollars hunting. I have shot mulies, whitetails, blacktails, sitka and roe deer. I have shot elk, moose, russian boar and european boar, and so on. The bullets I have used on game have been as small as 75gr .257" and as large as 400gr .416". What I have seen is that a bullet where it belongs kills game quite quickly. This is true whether it was "cheap" Winchester power-point or expensive A-Frames.
 
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I'm not opposed to technology, but I don't think something is better, simply because it is new, and I do not look down on anyone who decides what he has works as well as what he can now buy. Maybe you're not an equipment "snob" and that was uncalled for, but don't believe for an instant that just because it has been around a while, the new stuff is always superior. That would be snobbish.

I also, c-fbmi, don't go around saying things like "When I go to the far ends of the planet" as if that means I know, or need, something I don't need at this end of the planet. I don't brag about "trophy fees" because I never pay them, or about " taking of more than 150 big game animals on 4 continents over 40 years, with dozens of guns and calibers" and the rest of that irrelevant paragraph, because I haven't, and I don't think what continent you've been to matters when it comes to knowing things about the topic. I don't care about pictures of your dead things, because they prove nothing (although I am a bit jealous of the opportunities you've had).

I don't believe "Bullet construction is only just now catching up with cartridge design and velocities" because I have been using Nosler Partitions since the late 60's, and if you think Partitions don't work very well, you're experience is limited. I don't intend to try to justify my opinions with my age, or with some internet number of dead things I have collected, or by claiming my hunting is "super costly". That is all irrelevant to the question being asked.

Did either of you read the web pages I linked to? Are they useful in this discussion? Any comment on that information?

If this thread is about how to get the most effective bullets for your hunting, what does all this irrelevant bragging, and being critical of people who like "what works" because you've made the mistake of thinking only those who are early adopters of change are intelligent, contribute to the OP's solution?

What relevance does "So rral22 I'd like to hear your experience to back up your opinions." have? Read what I said. If that doesn't make sense, challenge the ideas, the opinions. Personal attacks reveal only your own issues.[/QUOTE]

rral22.. No intent to personally offend just curious on what you base your opinions

Relevancy... My original post was regarding my experiences with the 150 gn 30cal TTSX which is right on point (read op)
The op asked specifically about penetration/effectiveness of 150 TSX compared to 200TSX not as you stated "how to get the most effective bullets for your hunting"
I have reread all your postings on this thread, and is it safe to assume you have not yet harvested an animal with TSX/TTSX?

I too have used partitions for many years until I had abissmal failures with a batch of 200gn 30's in Nambia and Zim. The bullets literally exploded on impact on five different animals, resulting in the loss of one. I discussed this at length with Nosler's techs and couldn't come up with any answers so I switched to A-frames and later to TTSX/TSX with the results I descibed earlier.

We agree on gimmick bullets and I don't run out and buy every new "gimmick cup and core bullet" as they are, as stated earlier by several posters, nothing but marketing schemes. However when a radically different concept in bullet construction comes along like the homogenous bullets, I will absolutely give them a whirl and when I get the results that I have, will sing their praises to the heavens and all who will listen.

I'm sorry you find my "resume" of experience, in support of my opinions, nothing more than "irrelevant bragging". Bragging was not my intent it was put in to lend creedence and weight to what I was saying.
 
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