Okay I don't know how many times I've heard it before but I am getting tired of it. People keep telling me that bullets, esp tough, bonded, or "premium" bullets don't expand well at close range or where impact velocity is high. I get the whole "it just punched through" mumbo jumbo. Now correct me if I am wrong but VELOCITY MAKES BULLETS EXPAND!!! That is why most manufacters will list a minimum velocity at which expansion can be expected, for the Nosler Partition I think it is something like 1900 fps. Most will also offer a maxmium velocity at which it is safe to push the bullet it without it blowing up or fragmenting on impact. That is where bullets like the Partition come in handy, cause it is very hard to make them over expand.
I can't speak for other bullets but the Nosler Partition in particular can be expected to expand very well at high impact velocities. But not too well. I shot a muley buck once at 40 yards and had a 150 gr CorLokt blow up on impact from my .270. This year I shot a large doe at 50 feet and yet my 160 gr Partition punched through while basically liquifying the lungs.

I am just tired of having to call bullshit every time someone tells me my Partition or similar bullets are like FMJs at close range. I am more worried about under expansion at far ranges than close.

What you said! PLUS they are a hell of a lot less expensive than the others AND almost everyone stocks them AND in a larger variety of calibers and weights.......what more can a hunter want?

I do worry about under expansion also when I sit on a field where I hunt. It is intresting that everyone has their own opinion about bullets.

In my hunting camp my buddy was ripped on for the big hole that his 180 30/06 Failsafe did to his buck. ( I guess it was too "dead") The handload we put together was only medium velocity (didn't have time to load up to higher velocity) and it worked just fine. Some would say that we would need more speed to make that work but it expanded just fine.

X bullets people love or hate, same with ballistic tips, SST etc. The neat part about the whole thing is that there is bullet for everyone. I have tested in wet newsprint to see what bullets will do. You can reduce loads to get impact velocity to try what bullet you want and actually measure the results. If I remeber right the Speer manual has a bunch of reduced loads.
Hcliff

Well if the partition liquified the lungs....it obviously expanded. My little 7mm TCU(7mm-.223) is moderately loaded with 140 grain partitions at 2113 ft/sec.(it could do 2250) and the three year old buck I shot with it last year had two exit holes in his left shoulder after the bullet entered the right side of the neck(quartering). Apparently the the front lead core made the second whole. Anyway, it expanded well at the 80 yard shot with a very moderate velocity.

Far Right,
Your absolutely correct...A Nosler will expand like hell at very close range, and sometimes it blows the whole front end off in front of the partition, when that happens it is a virtual bomb inside the animal, but the exit hole is only caliber size because the base (behind the partition) exited...

A little knowledge being a dangerous thing, when some folks see that small exit hole they assume the bullet "drilled right through the bugger", not so....and when the front blows off they make few tracks, as it will kill them fast. you will hear a lot of BS in this business, Lots of one or two deer experts, but you apparantly can spot them pretty good....

High velocity was the catylist that caused the need for premium grade bullets. That is where they EXCELL! Personally I think that something like a failsafe or A frame NEEDS a good deal of velocity to function because of their tough design.

Ideally,I'd like to see someone come out with a bullet that you can drive at normal velocity,say 2800 to 3000fps. That will give a 2 inch entrance hole and 4 inch exit. You simply can't have enough destruction.

Destruction equals ruined meat, I guess thats a holdover with me from the depression days..I'll take a slower kill and a better blood trail, less meat ruined...

I have found the heavy Noslers to kill less quickly with runs up to 50 or 75 yards at the extreme, but always a good blood trail in calibers of 270 and up...

I have been using Nosler Partitions for more than 30 years now, and I have come to judge the performance of all other bullets by comparing them to the Partition. I would say that I have only recovered about 20% of all Partitions shot at game, the others have made exit, leaving two holes, one in, one out. Some of the 14 I have recovered have retained a little of the front core, the rest have shed the front core completely. The point made by Ray Atkinson about some saying that the Partition "pencils" through without expanding is right on the money. The base of the Partition makes an exit hole only slightly larger than bullet diameter, but the internal disruption from the expansion of the front of the bullet has already occurred, causing the rapid demise of the intended game. I believe that a "premium" bullet is mandatory when shooting at high velocities or when shooting dangerous game. I am not so naive as to believe that the Partition is the only bullet that fits the premium category, but it remains one of the best that is readily available.
Contrary to the experience of some, I have never found the Partition to be hard to develop an accurate load for in my rifles, but some rifles may not care for it. I shoot a lot of different bullets at paper, and have taken a fair number of animals with other bullet designs, but when I have seen the results, I invariably go back to the Partition, because it has never given me a reason to distrust it. Regards, Eagleye