Which would you choose for whitetail deer and elk for a 300 WSM

Question:
Help me choose

Choices:
Barnes Triple Shock X
Nosler Partition

 

I voted NP but really it would depend what one shot the best. I have never shot either bullet as I have not hunted Elk and find the Nosler BT to be all the bullet I need for white tail.

180 gr Nosler Ballistic tip launched between 3000 and 3100 would be my choice.

Chose NP.

I had 400 gr. Barnes out of .416 Rem. deflect pretty badly on a large whitetail. Perfectly broadside buck, shot from ground, entry low and tight behind the shoulder, exit very high on off shoulder. Heard ricochet upon exit. Bullet deviated several inches from entry to exit. Deer was still DRT, though.

partition for me. the bullet has always worked.

quote:

300 WSM

"Short Magnum?" ..... a 180 grain TSX or TTSX's bullet's base will be somewhere down there close to the primer pocket (O.K., a tad exagerated in a Short-Fat!) with monometal bullets in a WSM case.

Partition's are good bullets and IMO will serve your purpose.

As Lavaca stated with his experience on the TSX bullets, it is not uncommon for the pointed spitzer type solid copper front-end bullets to vear off course, when hitting bone. I have seen this myself. I have a friend who once guided on the King Ranch for a guiding service. He used the CT Failsafe bullets in his 338 WM. He told me he had them do the same thing on Nilgai. Of course there was always a dead animal but I suppose it is somewhat unsetteling to see a bullet entrance near the shoulder and find the bullet near the tail, on a broadside shot.

I voted for the partition. They have never let
me down

NP. long history of positive experiences with them. I know nothing about the latest whiz bang.

In the rifles that my friends and I shoot, the TSX has almost always been significantly more accurate than the Partition. We have always used Partitions for big game, but last fall we did an antelope/mule deer hunt, and all ended up using the TSX in case we needed the extra accuracy on a long shot. In the end, all the shots were at 150 yards or less, four animals were DRT with the first hit, and we've got a lot more respect for the Barnes TSX. Does such a tiny sample mean anything? Probably not, but from now on, when faced with the choice, we'll just use whichever of the two shoots best in a given rifle. One nice thing about the TSX is that it seemed to do less meat damage, causing little harm even when pushed out of a .257 Weatherby, while killing very well.

Im a bit old school and the partitions have proven themselves over and over to me. I dont know about the newer barnes bullets buy i tried a bunch of them when they first came out and never found one good load for any of my guns with them.

I've seen three elk dropped at long distance using the TSX/.300WSM & all went down with one shot, so I'd happily use that combination.

I'd choose the one that is most accurate in your rifle. Either one will kill an elk, depending on where you place it.

I've killed a couple dozen elk with 180 gr Partitions, and a couple dozen African Plains Game animals with TSX bullets. Both are good bullets.

I kinda dislike apples vs oranges polls. They are both good but different. The bottom line is it depends upon which one my rifle liked best.

A study found that deer hit with X type bullets travel further than when hit with a bullet that fragments like the Partition does.

Deer run further from X bullet hits.

quote:

Originally posted by Conservative Rifleman:
A study found that deer hit with X type bullets travel further than when hit with a bullet that fragments like the Partition does.

Deer run further from X bullet hits.

Looks to me more like one person's experience rather than a study.
I just read all 7 pages there & the majority appear happy with the Barnes' performance.
They appear to cause less meat damage too

I n the last 15+ years that I have been hunting with rifles and reloading, I have used the Nosler partition on deer including red stags in 243 and 6.5X55. But in the last fair while I have been using the TSX in 7mm08 and the results have been spectacular. In BC while using a borrowed rifle I took a nice colour phase black bear at 307 yards with 7mm Mag & 160 gr TSX. Again spectacular results. The bear went down with the first shot low in the chest. Then he started to run & I hit him on the back femur bone & that just tossed him up & dumped him. I have shot fallow stag, red stag & Tahr with the TSX and all have been very decisive kills out to 250+ meter shots across a gully. I think the TTSX is potentially even better but I have not tried them yet.

I voted Nosler Partition, but as others have said, I'd probably go with whichever shot the best, but to be honest, I've not been able to get the Barnes to shoot as well as I'd like--maybe I just haven't learned the knack of loading them yet.

NP

quote:

180 gr Nosler Ballistic tip launched between 3000 and 3100 would be my choice.

Wow, that would be the LAST bullet I would use on Elk....right behind a military surplus FMJ.

quote:

Originally posted by Oddbod:

quote:

Originally posted by Conservative Rifleman:
A study found that deer hit with X type bullets travel further than when hit with a bullet that fragments like the Partition does.

Deer run further from X bullet hits.

Looks to me more like one person's experience rather than a study.
I just read all 7 pages there & the majority appear happy with the Barnes' performance.
They appear to cause less meat damage too

"They appear to cause less meat damage too"

If that's so then they will 'cause' less damage to vital areas also!

quote:

Originally posted by Conservative Rifleman:


If that's so then they will 'cause' less damage to vital areas also!

Proper shot placement sure beats having small pieces of lead spread through edible meat.

quote:

Originally posted by jro45:
I voted for the partition. They have never let
me down

x2

quote:

Originally posted by Conservative Rifleman:
A study found that deer hit with X type bullets travel further

Then all of the ones I hit must have had longer legs and a "further" drop straight to the ground.

Nosler Partition! I'm sure Barnes makes excellent bullets but I just don't want to go monometal unless the law makes me. IMO bullets are supposed to have some lead in them, period. The sheer fact that the treehuggers are trying to ban lead deters me from the monometal bullets. I feel like I would be supporting that nonsense.

You should choose the one your gun likes the best.

For white tail AND elk? I wouldn't use either for both animals. The NP and TSX are both overkill for white tail, unless you are talking the biggest of bucks like an Alberta monster or something, and only at very far distances.

For elk, pick the one that shoots best, both will do just fine. In the Barnes, however, I would choose a 165gr over the 180. Barnes are much longer then conventional bullets of the same weight, Barnes even suggests in their loading manuals that you step down one "size" from normal. If you usually shoot 180's, use 165 or 168. If you normally use 165, step down to 150...so on and so forth. A lot of people will disagree, but with the new bullets coming out today, the old standards of bullet choices/weights, really are starting to apply just to that, old standard bullets. Never heard of a person who lacked penetration with an X/TSX/TTSX.

For the white tails, maybe a LIGHT NP, like 150's. Still, going to run into possible increased meat damage, so heck, use the Barnes for both IMO

Swift A Frame

quote:

Originally posted by bobgrow:
Swift A Frame

TSX and Accubond are my favourites.

We, my two kids and I, switched from Ballistic Tips to Partitions in the mid 1980's, and never looked back. Terminal performance is ALWAYS there.
I've never tried any of the fine Barnes bullets, so I can't say anything about their performance. If I needed a bullet today, I would include them in my testing. But, I have no bullet needs.

Don