Bullets for deer

[RustyJr]

I've taken two deer this year (first and second ever) with a 130 grn. Nosler Partitions in a 270 Winchester. First was shot at about 20 yards, slightly quartering away, entered the right side and angled forward and exited just behind the left front shoulder. The second at about 100 yards was quartering towards me (didn't realize how much until after I recovered him), bullet entered behind the right front shoulder and exited in front of the left hip. Neither one seemed to open up much and neither left much of a blood trail. Didn't take a picture of the exit hole of the second deer but I did post one of my first(about a 1/2" exit wound). The first deer went about 40 yards while the second went about 100 yards. I'm guessing by the angle of entry and exit that the second one took the right lung and liver before exiting (took it to a processor so no "dissection"). Only experience with bullets on game I have personally had is two hogs using a 44 magnum carbine and a 240 grain softpoint. My reason for going with the Partition is because I was worried that on a close shot (ie 20 yards) the bullet might "blow up". Sooooo . . . is the Partition too stiff for deer or is this typical/normal of the Partition and what brand and type of bullet do y'all use for deer?


Thanks in advance,
RustyJr

[TedH]

I've killed quite a few deer with my 270. Many years ago I used Remington 130 gr. Corelokts. After I had one fail to exit a broadside shot through the ribs I started using 130 gr. Nosler Ballistic Tips. They seem to kill deer like a bolt of lightning with my 270. I have never had one stay in a deer, and have always had very dramatic wound channels. I suspect they are a bit more explosive than the Partition.

[86er]

A Nosler Partition typically loses the frontal portion right up to the partition if driven hard. The few I have recovered regardless of caliber have all been a copper dish nose with virtually no lead left in it. Of course, the rear shank is still full of lead and intact. This accounts for the smallish exit holes, also somewhat typical in my experience. I used the same rifle with the same load using a Nosler Partition for 30 year and 410 big game animals. I recovered exactly 7 bullets. There were probably a few more that did not pass through but I did not find them. I still have 6 of them in my bullet tray. They all look the same. I have seen some big exit wounds and some as big as a half dollar, but that could be bone pieces, or a variety of other factors. Most of the time the exit wounds were the size of a dime to the size of a nickle. I cannot speak of the 130 grain .277 but they all work similarly. I've used a 160 gr 7mm and 165 gr .308's.

[ollogger]

Ive used partitions one time on deer, good shot but the deer went along ways
didn't seem to expand much if at all, that was a 264 Win Mag, have used them on Elk
with better results, the few deer I shot with a 270 I was using hand loads with
a Rem. 130 gr. bullet & that worked much better, the Partitions may well be to stout
for smaller deer, but then im not a expert on that bullet either

ollogger

[n2t]

Yeah that's pretty typical of that bullet, it sheds it's front portion imparting quick shock, then the shank continues on penetrating quite far. Usually this results in smallish exit wounds compared to some bullets, but great penetration and surprising bone breaking ability. IMHO and this is just opinion, I like to shoot them into shoulders and bone structure, they usually do quite well at imparting energy to the internal organs and still breaking shoulders. On a double lung shot, they are lethal, but may not produce the fast kills of a more violently expanding bullet in all situations..that's just my view of course, and in the end, it's going to be quite lethal as long as something vital is hit. Contrast this to my exp this year, I shot a doe with a 150grn hornady interlock out of a 300 savage..twice. First shot, deer was facing me, so I shot her in the chest at 100 yards, exit hole was on the left side of the ribs and 8" long and 2" high, she fell and turned and I shot her behind the shoulder again, exit was 6" x 6"..however, I found both jackets inside my deer. Personally I would have been much happier with your performance as I fear on a shoulder shot, I may not get to the vitals after core jacket separation. I do think the distances the deer went were odd, but I would blame it on tough critters more than the bullet. I shot a buck with a cast bullet at 50 yards, 1" exit hole, it ran 25 yards and died mid stride crashing impressively into bunch of brush. I don't think my 215grn cast bullet expanded much if at all, sometimes deer just to funny things.

[madman4570]

60 grain Nosler Partition from .223 worked wonderfully this year on a 205lb 8 point wall hanger!

Federal Premium Ammo(#P223Q)


If you want to with a decent placed shot drop them like Thor's hammer load up some pretty stiff 110gr BTHP loadings.
Think I used to load them with IMR 4350 powder (58.3grs) and out of a 24" barrel they be tooling about 3,255 fps
And still, with deer we are talking now the penetration was still very fine!

They would fall like lightning hit them. However, you will lose more meat! Myself, it is worth it. Screw the running 100yds no blood trail thing cause sometimes all depends where you are hunting that can be a big deal!

If you do reload verify for yourself what the correct loading is because what loading I am stating is only out of memory.(do it at your own risk)

I use to have similar issues with .243
100gr Factory loads, and they would run 50-100yds
Then loaded hot 85gr BTHP's and they would fall like lighting hit them too. (on all my BTHP bullets Sierra Mfg. was always top choice)

Good Luck!

[Griff]

All of my deer have been shot with either a 7mmRM or a .30-30, In the 7mm I use 140 grain Nosler Ballistic Tips for excellent results. In the .30-30 they've all been with Federal HiShok 150 factory loads. Neither has ever resulted in lost game. Longest distance traveled after the shot was about 40 yards... and that was a 238 yard (lasered) shot with the .30-30. A 375-400 yard (SWAG*) shot with the 7mmRM went about 25 yards. Both of those were full broadside shots, with the .30-30 being about 4" up the side, and the 7mmRM being right thru the heart. I've never recovered a round.

The .30-30 150 grain @ 238 yards surprised me that it exited. Didn't hit any ribs on the way thru... I have a box of Partitions, as well as a box of Speer Grand Slams, both are saved for larger game than deer.

* SWAG = scientific wild-assed guess - used a range finding scope which indicated a range of 275 yards... but point of impact was some 16" low... using the ballistic chart I figure the range had to be between 375-400 yards.

[wolfdog]

Don't shoot a 270 but have had good performance with 120 Nosler bt in 6.5x55 and 150 grain in 30.06. Neither of which are going as fast as 130 grain out of a 270. I would probably try the 150 grain nbt out of your 270, should drop the velocity down to the point the bullet will not come apart.

[Pisgah]

That is the exact performance the Partition was designed for. At almost any range and velocity, you will get expansion; depending on velocity, usually the front section of the bullet expands and separates from the shank, which then proceeds to penetrate the rest of the way through, leaving a fairly small exit wound.

If you adhere to the cockamamie (IMO) theory of "dumping ALL the energy in to the deer", the Partition is not your pill. It was designed with the sensible requirements in mind of both rapid expansion at any range PLUS through-and-through penetration.

[Canuck Bob]

I used partitions in a 243 for deer and a 7MM Mag for bigger game and found that up close 86er nailed it. When shooting at longer range they behaved more like a sturdy cup and core. It was just about the only commonly available premium bullet back then in my area. Everything tended to fragment up close with that 7 Mag.

The rapid expansion seemed like a good idea as the bullet did a lot of explosive damage in a deer's chest but survived bone collision well and always exited or penetrated deeply for a double blood trail. It was and is real hard to get a bullet that does both. What was the internal wound channel like? I would still use a Nosler or Swift partition if loading real speedsters for hunting. I have always valued heavy deep penetrating bullets over rapid expansion.

My solution was to sell the speedsters and settle on big bore performance in a lever. However as is often quoted about the 30-06 the 270 is never really a mistake south of Canada and most of Canada as well. A real dandy deer cartridge.

[piller]

I have never used the partition bullets in my .270, but the Winchester 130 grain soft points never failed me. When I couldn't find them, I switched to Remington Core-Lokt in 150 grain and once had a deer go as far as 50 yards before piling up dead. I don't see a need for the partition bullets in deer sized game, but my experience is limited to about 20 deer in my lifetime.