Friends-

Are Nosler Partition bullets capable of .5 MOA accuracy? What is your experience?

I can seem to get them to group inside of a inch but, inside of a half an inch seems to be difficult.

Your thoughts are appreciated.

Yes they will. That last little bit of accuracy is always the hardest to achieve.

I can get in the .3's in my 9.3x62 and .5's in my 6.5x55 with Partitions. I'm still developing loads for my 30-06 AI with Partitions. Right now it will get just under 1 inch, but I am confident I can do better.

The bullet is capable, but it dipends on your rifle, not even a barrel likes a bullet.
Faina

quote:

Are Nosler Partition bullets capable of .5 MOA accuracy? What is your experience?

I have never been able to get them to do that well or, for that matter to shoot as well as others such as Barnes, Hornady, Speer, Berger & Sierra. The .308 caliber Nosler match bullets, on the other hand, give me excellent accuracy.

My 7-08AI shoots .5" groups with Partitions, just like the Ballistic Tips, albeit, the point of impact varies slightly.

I'm sure you could. I average just a hair over 1MOA accuracy from Federal factory loads w/210gn Nosler Partitions out of my 338WM. I'm sure if I reloaded for it I could get more.

But what am I ever going to hunt with a 338WM where I need more accuracy than that?

180g. NP,s shot 10 rounds the size of a golf ball for me out of my 308 at 100 yards. Two weeks ago

I consider the Nosler BT to be virtually a match bullet. It is my experience that a partition will shot about .5" wider than a BT. This would be similar to your experience, ie, sub-moa with best bullet and just over with partitions. Kudude

I've never gotten the NP's to group as well as Nosler Ballistic Tips....

Though the difference is small.

Most rifles I've had group the BT's ~1/4" tighter.

But small group side doesn't impress any deer that I've ever met..... fact is I've never needed to shoot any
game animal twice with a Nosler Partition.

I HAVE shot a deer twice with them, but I believe today the deer was "dead on it's feet" and just not smart enough to fall down....

AD

I had a hart barreled M70 7mm stw that would shoot 140 gr partitions into .3-.4" so they can be made to shoot that well. They might not be as easy to get to shoot as a ballistic tip, but they're certainly capable of extreme accuracy out of the right rifle with the right load.

My 7 mm Mag will shoot three 150 grain Partitions into 1/2" groups at 100 yards. The 100 grain partitions in my 257 Roberts will do better than 1/2" for three shots at 100.
I did no accuracy work with partitions as all I was interested in was a good hunting load for both rifles mentioned above.
A side note. My son used the 7 mm Mag to kill a Deer last Wednesday, at 80 yards. He broke both shouders, and wiped out the lungs in the process, and the Deer, a Buck, merely flopped over dead, bang flop...

Don

I've never managed to get any real guilt-edged accuracy out of them. Worked with two guns a 308 and 7mm-08....one gun 1" and the other 1 1/2" while accubonds and ballistic tips both shot very well. The day I was thrashing them in my 7mm-08 a fellow came to the range with a 7mmstw and shot several groups in the threes with the same 140gr NP bullets. Its all whether the gun likes them or not. I'm still looking for that load with NP's that shoots like a bugholer in my deer rifles....I know its possible....

Dave

I've had the same "luck" with the 140gr 7mm Partitions as Boltman and Dave. My 7mmRemMag will overlap 2-shot groups. Haven't wasted a 3rd shot in the group since a 3rd is NEVER needed.

Come to think of it, I'm wasting the 2nd shot, because it has never been needed either.

This 7mmRemMag shoots the 140gr Partitions tighter than B-Tips or Sierra MatchKings, so I don't waste many from this Lot on paper. Way too many other Bullets to use for Trigger Time.
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I've not found Partitions in general to be this accurate. But most will break an inch once the correct Load is found.

Good Hunting and clean 1-shot Kills.

quote:

Are Nosler Partition bullets capable of .5 MOA accuracy? What is your experience?

Not in my experience but then hunting bullets aren't at all required to shoot this well. If you get a good hunting bullet to shoot into a real 1.25" group then you're ready for hunting!!!

I've had great groups from A-Frames and Northforks but haven't ever had exceptional groups from Nosler's partician.

That said, I've never had such poor groups from any of the three that I wouldn't use them. Only Speer's Grand Slams have that distinction.

If I loved the Nosler bullet and it shot a real 1.25" 5-shot group, I'd be off hunting with them and never loose a moment's sleep over it! There are a very long list of admirers of the Nosler Partition.....and it's accuracy has always been adequate for me.

FWIW, I was lucky to get anything under 1.5" with them in 180 grains in my M70. I had originally bought a box of 150 grainers, and they were almost twice as bad but I think I had them seated too deeply (used them a long time ago and can't remember)

I've used Sierra Game King 180 gr now for almost 20 years, which give me around 1 MOA, maybe less and sometimes more if I've had too much coffee. My reasoning is that I like to use only one bullet for hunting and non-hunting shooting, and this gets shot a lot more at targets and stuff than it does at game animals anymore.

bigger question is whether or not the shooter is capable of that kind of accuracy. not to many are

The Partitions are capable of fantastic accuracy. I've used them in .22 caliber, 6mm, .25, 6.5mm, 7mm and .30 caliber and have never had any issues.

I just shot a few groups the other day with 125 grain Partitions in a 6.5mm Bullberry Imp (26", 1:8 Contender barrel by Match Grade Machine). THese were some test loads that I will have to sort through, but it will be tough as 3 different charges of N160 powder each resulted in tiny cloverleaf groups.

And best of all: these were FACTORY SECONDS that I bought for 9.95 per bag of 50 during a recent sale by the Nosler Shooter's Pro Shop.

quote:

Originally posted by kudude:
I consider the Nosler BT to be virtually a match bullet. It is my experience that a partition will shot about .5" wider than a BT. This would be similar to your experience, ie, sub-moa with best bullet and just over with partitions. Kudude

I'm with Kudude--except I generally see something more like .25 or a little larger spreads with the Partitions compared to the BT's.

I too consider the BT's to be virtually a match bullet in big game cartridges, and use them to evaluate a rifle's potential--although I won't use 'em for hunting.

If I can shoot 3/4 inch five shot groups with the BT's, I can generally expect 1 inch groups with the Partitions.

But once I can put five shots pretty consistently at an inch with a hunting load--it's time to go hunting--'cause anything better is mostly for showing off

Casey

1/2 inch is pretty demanding for any hunting rifle. Nosler Partitions, like any bullet, may be "liked" by some rifles and not by others. On average, I've been able to do as well with Partitions as with virtually any other hunting bullet, maybe even a little bit better. However, if you can realistically place three shots under an inch with any sporter-weight rifle in a "hunting" caliber, then your doing well, regardless of bullet.

Will Nosler Partitions shoot as well in a "bench" gun as some other hunting bullets, i.e., shoot consistently at 1/2" or less? I'm not sure, but it seems an academic question.

My 375 H&H likes the 260 grain Partitions. These groups were shot at 100 yards with a 4X scope.

quote:

Are Nosler Partition bullets capable of .5 MOA accuracy? What is your experience?

Yes they are. My Ruger No. 1B in 7mm Rem. Mag. will put five of the 175-grainers into 1" at 200 yards with 66.5 grains of Norma MRP1. The MV of this load is 3070 FPS......

A friend and gunsmith had a son who shot competition quite well (tried to get on the Gary Anderson team but that didn't work out)... he told me of one competition shooter who competed with Nosler partitions. That is the bullet his gun shot best with and that is what he shot in competition. A hunting bullet! News to me. So keep plugging, but as suggested, this is hard work for the shooter and the barrel,-?- well all are not up to this standard. luck.

Friends-

I want to thank you all commentary and your collective experience.

What prompted my query was that I finally had a chance to do some load development with my .264 Winchester Mag this last weekend. I started with 77 grains of WC-872 and worked up to 79.5 grains using Nosler 140 gr Partitions. This rifle has a new Krieger 26 inch barrel.

79.5 grains gave the best accuracy and as you can see below I had a group just under .8 inches. In addition, 79.5 grains is about all of this powder that I can physically cram into virgin Winchester brass.





I do plan on trying the Nosler 130 gr Accubonds but, I just like the idea of a 140 gr bullet in a .264 Mag. I think I would also like to try North Forks but, looking back, the best groups that I have ever shot were using plain old Hornady flat base spitzers.