Did these recovered Nosler Partitions perform correctly?

[C-Money]

Saturday morning 230am, I open up the safe and reach for my .270. My wife awoke, and said " since I am staying home with the kids, take my rifle, that way a part of me will be with you!" I know that sounds mushy and sensitive for a man going deer hunting, but my wife had just harvested a good size 2x3 on the 3rd day of season, and she was excited to have me hunt with her rifle. So, I took the 7mm-08 out of the safe and was soon on the road for the 3hr drive to my friends family farm. I will post a full deer story with Firefighter4607, him and I both contributing in the comming days. Now to the point. I fired two shots into my buck from 162 yards away per Leupold rangefinder. Both shots were in the ribs, close to the front shoulder, one bullet breaking the shoulder on the exit side (though it did not exit, recoverd both bullets in the hide after traveling through the deer). With the animal skinned for quartering, the damage was massive, looked like the bullets did great. When we found them, I noticed that it looked like the hardened, rear portion of the Partition was intact, but where was the softer part that mushrooms? Both bullets appeared to fall apart. I do not think this is how they are to preform, What do you think? No bullet recovery on the buck my wife harvested, the bullet went clear threw. She was shooting the same rifle, same hand loads, same batch of Nosler Partitions.

[Yak-NDN]

Not what I would like to see. But the real test it passed it killed the deer and you got it.

[BOWHUNTER45]

Here I go again  1ST of all shoot hornaday bullets ..never have this problem ...2nd its obvisious why you needed to shoot twice and 3RD @ 160 yrds a shot threw the ribs with thin bone with a 7mm-08 should of blown clean threw ...my son has taken 5 deer with his and we never not had a pass threw and they either dropped on the spot or ran very little before tipping over ...throw those partitions away  actually I best ask what grain bullet it was ....140 gr works the best ....I think !

[Huntbear]

That is not normally what I have seen out of partitions.  Normally you get a very nice mushroom folding back over the base of the bullet.  Even after going through an elk shoulder.

However, once in a while a bonded bullet will separate from the core.. nature of the beast.  I love my partitions, however, we are slowly switching over to accubonds for everything.  They fly better, and still perform fantastically.

[C-Money]

Yes, the ammo was loaded using 140gr Partitions. My Buck, and my wife's dropped like a ton of bricks. I did not need to shoot my buck again, but I did to speed up the death process, even if death was only seconds away. Every time he slightly moved a leg, or moved his head/neck, he tumbled down the canyon further. Once he died, he stopped moving, his tumble slowed and stopped, coming to a rest with his neck twisted back in a way that is body rested against his antlers. This tumble down the canyon equaled a boneout, and 4 quarters of meat up to the top and quite a pack out. I did enjoy every second of this experience, like Colockumelk said, "remember, this is fun!", and honestly, it was.

Here is a top view showing the separation.

[Yak-NDN]

That is not normally what I have seen out of partitions.  Normally you get a very nice mushroom folding back over the base of the bullet.  Even after going through an elk shoulder.

However, once in a while a bonded bullet will separate from the core.. nature of the beast.  I love my partitions, however, we are slowly switching over to accubonds for everything.  They fly better, and still perform fantastically.

accubond all the way.

[whacker1]

Some folks like partitions, but I don't.  I prefer the Accubond if the gun likes it.  My .270 loves the accubond, my 300 rum does not.  The accubond would have retained much more of its weight.  Where are the pics of the buck?

[C-Money]

Some folks like partitions, but I don't.  I prefer the Accubond if the gun likes it.  My .270 loves the accubond, my 300 rum does not.  The accubond would have retained much more of its weight.  Where are the pics of the buck?

I like the accubond too. I shoot the 140 Accubond with my .270win. I have never found a bullet as they have all exited cleanly. Guess I will get some Accubonds for my wifes rifle, and give them a try! Buck pictures and stories are coming. So far, the immediate family has 5 out of 6 bucks tagged. Firefighter4607's Dad is still looking for "the one". I will get a hold of FF4607 and try to get a story started soon. We had an outstanding year even with deer sighting numbers down for us. 3 of 5 hunters harvested their biggest bucks to date.

[whacker1]

Some folks like partitions, but I don't.  I prefer the Accubond if the gun likes it.  My .270 loves the accubond, my 300 rum does not.  The accubond would have retained much more of its weight.  Where are the pics of the buck?

I like the accubond too. I shoot the 140 Accubond with my .270win. I have never found a bullet as they have all exited cleanly. Guess I will get some Accubonds for my wifes rifle, and give them a try! Buck pictures and stories are coming. So far, the immediate family has 5 out of 6 bucks tagged. Firefighter4607's Dad is still looking for "the one". I will get a hold of FF4607 and try to get a story started soon. We had an outstanding year even with deer sighting numbers down for us. 3 of 5 hunters harvested their biggest bucks to date.

I recovered an accubond that I shot in a mule deer in 2007.  Texas Heart shot.  It retained somewhere in the neighborhood of 90% of its weight.  I wrote it down, but can't recall off hand right now.

[PA BEN]

My kids have shot 3 white tails w/140 gr accubonds w/a 7mm-08, they go clean through. I did recover a 160 gr accubond from a elk I shot at 100 yds w/a 7mm rem. mag. and it's wt was 122 grs. The buck this year broke ribs going in and went clean through.

[thinkingman]

I'll deviate from the Accubond love-fest.
I can't tell from the second pic, but those look like empty jackets.
Did you weigh the recovered bullets?
They don't look like the Nosler marketing materials.
I like Swift A-Frames and Barnes TSX's.

[elkinrutdrivemenuts]

Try Speer grand slams.  They are less expensive and have the same effet on game as the partitions. 

[C-Money]

They are Nosler Partition bullets. I am not silly enough to load something that I have no idea what it is. I have been a Nosler and Hornaday fan all my life. Since this is my wifes set up, I took my Dads advise and went with the bullet all others are compared to. I wanted her to have the best, from bullet, rifle to scope, she has a set up most people would agree would be hard to beat. Just to be clear, I am a long time reloader and the bullets are Nosler Partitions. 

[C-Money]

Here is a view looking at the rear end of the Partitions.

[Curly]

I've never used partitions myself, but isn't that what they are designed to do?  They are supposed to come apart or "partition".