Anyone know why this bullet has a longer than normal shank and shorter than normal ogive for this weight and bore size pertaining to the typical NP? The BC is only .314 so what was the ideal here instead of a more normal streamlined 270 grainer? I was told that the partition was more forward in this bullet and only alittle less forward than that of the 300 grain NP .375 bullet. Thanks for any input.

Hey leo - too,
sorry can�t help you.
Only thing i know that they work perfect on any game i have bagged with
From roe to boares and no matter of the weight..realy knock down power!
cheers
Konstantin

Can't answer the construction question, but wanted to provide some field experience that my hunting buddy had with the 260-grain .375 NP at 2500 fps muzzle velocity. He had two of them blow up on the shoulder blades of a large eland shot at close range (around 40-50 yards). Neither made it past the shoulder and into the body cavity. Needless to say we were both very surprised. Luckily the eland was crippled by the hits and he was able to finish it off.

I also have a hunting friend who used this bullet on a zebra, and was very unhappy as the bullet came apart without much in the way of penetration. I haven't tried it myself, but there are so many good .375" bullets that I just others.

The Nosler Partition .375"/300 grain works fine for me.

jim dodd

This is just another "try something different" story, without any justification. The .375 300 gr. bullets have proven themselves for a hundred years. I can't understand the motivation for using 270 gr., 260 gr., etc. bullets, other than to sell bullets (a la the lion story).

300 gr. Noslers work well on most everything but the biggest stuff (a la the zebra story), and even work on buff under the right circumstances. Tougher bullets like the Barnes-X, the Failsafe, and Swift should only be used on big stuff, and maybe lion!!

Hey will,
funny to hear, i thought one thin skinned game like lions it�s recommended to take a "soft" bullet that will even open up if the "targetweight" is not that high. Or am i Wrong
BTW: Woddleighs are a good (if not one of the best also), of what i�ve heared.

Cheers
Konstantin

Konst1,

I'm not talking about my lion. I used 300 gr. Swift's on my leopard and lion.

I totally disagree with the light, soft bullet theory on cats. Some just like to get chewed on, I guess, after the reportedly "perfect shot."

Gentlemen,

Hunting Africa, one has to remember one very important fact he has to take into consideration - PENETRATION, PENETRATION, PENETRATION. Anything else will get you in trouble sooner or later.

I have broken both shoulders on Eland and got exit holes several times with the 260 gr. Nosler partition and have shot them lengthwise with that bullet...Shot a lot of Eland and plainsgame with it without a problem...However, it has blown off the front portion on the tougher shots, but never failed to penitrate and 95% percent of the time I got exits. When the front blows off it kills very well so who cares?...However like Will, I do like the 300 gr. bullets better for the 375...

Here are a few recovered Nosler 260 and 300 grain Partitions. The 260 on the right was recovered from a kudu after a very long tracking job through head high grass (great job by the trackers). The shot was a quartering shot from the rear. It hit a couple of ribs on the way in, and only penetrated 6 or 8 inches into the left lung area.

In fairness these were early production Nosler 375's (early 90's). On this same trip I also had a 300 grain Partition deflect on the bones in a leopard's shoulder, exiting behind the rib cage on the off side, and leading to a very tense three quarters of an hour trying to find the leopard. He ran directly toward the blind after the shot, and stopped about three feet from my left side by the sound in the waist high grass. From there he crawled to a large bush about 15 or 20 yards away, and was waiting for us when he died. I know some will say "at what point in the animal's death did the bullet fail". My response is that these instances could have lead to a lost animal in the case of the kudu, and injury or death to the PH, the trackers, or myself in the case of the leopard.

I know other people who use the 300 grain Partition with great satisfaction (even on buffalo), and I use other caliber Partitions satisfactorily, but I can only report on my personal experience with the 375 Noslers. I suspect that they are tougher now, but there are too many other good bullets for me to try them again in Africa.

Jim

After two African trips and 35 animals shot with the 260 gr. partition, I have only been able to recover one bullet, all others fully penetrating the animals from Klipspringer to Zebra. The only recovered bullet is from a Gemsbok. Shot at 200 + yards left hip and found under the hide of the right shoulder. Pretty impressive penetration. Most of the shots were on or just behind the shoulder. I think the reason for the lighter bullet is obvious, sometimes you don't need the heaviest weight bullet of a given caliber to get the job done and the lighter bullet does fly faster and flatten the trajectory, somewhat, over the normal hunting ranges. I like the bullet. The extreme example of the Eland is a worn out arguement. How many hunters going to RSA are actually hunting Eland? Not many. If game as large as Eland are on the menue then use the 300 grainer. If not you will do well with the 260! If you use a tougher bullet (Swift) on smaller game it is the rough equivalent of using a solid anyway so you loose the hitting power of the expanding bullet- sacrificed on the alter of penetration. Just another perspective.

Mbogo375, it looks like the kudu bullet had it's shank deformed by a rib on the shallow angling shot(considering two ribs hit) and probably penetrated a bit sideways which is never a good thing.

I wanted to share the pictures of the recovered bullets from this year. A 400 gr. Swift A frame shot into a buffalo at about 60 yards, a 260 gr. Nosler partition shot into a zebra at 150 yards, and a 180 gr Nosler partition gold shot into a gemsbok at 250+ yards. All three found under the hide after penetrating at least 2.5 feet!

I use the 260 nosler for elk and deer. Wouldnt think of taking it to africa unless I was going for a plains game shoot.

My trip was strictly plains game and Kudu was the main attraction. Sadly not a single 200 Grain A-Frames I shot was recovered.

I did reload some .375 as a gift for my outfitter.

He specifically asked for Nosler Partician 260 grain. However I think it's a plains game use.

I asked Lee Jurras about this issue.

He refered back to his first african hunt...

In short, the african hunter asked him what would happen if his rifle was loaded with expanding bullets, and a bunch of elephant, or buffalo, attacked...

His hunter's point, always be prepared for the worst, and you should turn out ok.

His PH suggest only solids. So,
as others have said, 300 grain solids, what the 375 works with.

gs

Lb 404s photographs of expanded Noslers bring up a point I have heard all to often...Some have referred to this as bullet failure because the front lead was blown away...

Nothing could be further from fact. You will notice it is a perfect mushroom, much like one would want from a BarnesX or Failsafe but still has all the petals!! The weight loss is very little and 60 plus percent of the bullet remains with a long shaft and that 20 % or so of lead is flying around inside the animal creating havoc, while that base is driving the bullet deep....My friends that is not bullet failure, its pure killing power personified...

But for those who dislike such a phenomina, simply go to the next weight up and you will not have this problem with the standard Noslers except in .416 which has a design to do just that for dangerous game and its about the best purely Cape Buffalo bullet I have ever used, and as time passes it will become everyones darling..

The newer Nosler bullets with the partition forward tend to do the same thing but with a longer base to drive them even deeper with a little less expansion....

Nosler is the bullet by which all other bullet are compared too as you will notice...I have often wondered why Nosler didn't bond the front core, then after much use I decided they didn't really need to...

If anything they might consider locking the base in a bit better, but it seldom fails or fishtails as you will notice it did in one of the above photos... That is problematic in a bullet and it should never do that...It would be a simple fix...