Anyone seen the performance of the PP in the article I mentioned??

Jonny-----I read something on the comparsion of bullets using a 300 Win Mag. I found it thru a thread on this site. I'm not sure if it is the same one as you are talking about. The Win PP came out as a "Best Buy" it was very close to the "Premium " bullets.

Hey Bob,

I believe the article you saw was at Guntests. I have seen the same article.

The one I am referring to was in Handloader magazine 4 or 5 years ago.

BTT

I had a Model 70 Featherweight .270 Win. that loved 130 gr. Power Points, but I never shot so much as a deer with that bullet - only paper.

Nor have I taken an elk or anything else with Power Points in any caliber, but I know guys who have, and I've seen the results of several kills with these bullets. For deer hunting, this bullet works about like the Hornady Interloct, and in fact Winchester may well source many (if not all) of the bullets it markets as Power Points from Hornady.

For elk hunting, Power Points get mixed reviews. Some guys have used them with superb results, while other have had them come apart, and I've seen it go both ways with recovered specimens.

I would not consider using them for the hunting of big bears or as an "all-around" North American hunting bullet. There are too many better choices, such as the Nosler Partition, Swift A-Frame, Fail-Safe, etc., and if you can't get one of these to shoot extremely well in your rifle, I'd be greatly surprised.

Yes, all of these bullets are more expensive than Power Points, but so bloody what? Price some of the hunts that would allow your .30-06 to become a true, blooded, "all-around" rifle (instead of a theoretical one) and see if bullet cost is really a viable consideration in the grand scheme of things.

If I had one bullet to cling to forever for serious real-world, all-around use in either the .30-06 or my favorite .300 Win. Mag. it would be the 180 gr. Nosler Partition. Most rifles shoot it with superb accuracy, and its consistent performance and utter reliability on game are legendary around the world. No bullet has served me better.......

AD

johnny - to answer your question, yes! i think you'll be just fine! and you will actually have money left over for coffee!

I have used and still use that bullet a lot in my .308 and 30-06 and its an excellent bullet and I have never had it fail, but on Moose and elk, I still give myself an edge by using a Nosler 180 or 200 gr. in the 30-06...I just feel better with that choice...I would hate to lose a big animal like that because I hit the big sholder knuckle or whatever and the bullet didn't do its job and that could happen..I put more emphasis on bullet construction than I do on caliber btw...

Bottom line with me, rather be safe than sorry.

The Nosler Partition has stood the test of time. It's the one that all others are compared to. I have used the 180-grain Nosler Part. in .30-06 and .308 on moose, elk, black bear, and caribou, and have never been dissatisfied with their accuracy or their performance on game.

There are many good premium, controlled-expansion bullets on the market that are much newer than the Partition, and I do not want to bash them as I have no doubt they work well. But I have had no experience with them, as I have never had cause to switch from the Nosler.

I think the best all-round rifle/cartridge is relative. Personally, I am suspicous of all .308 bullets (30-06, any 300 mag)...they simply are too small for truely big game. I own and shoot a .300 Weatherby and I shoot 180 Noslers with it when I'm shooting spring caribou. But the bullets these guns shoot are not round enough and they do not weigh enough, and frequently they are pushed by too little gun powder. In Alaska lot of folks use .30-06, but it is the absolute smallest rifle that you would or should seriously consider taking into the field. If you were just shooting spring caribou, when that is all you would be shooting, other than wolves, the .30-06 does fine, as long as the animals are relatively close. But I have to say that the best all round rifle is some type of medium bore that pushes a sort of big bullet sort of fast (250 gr bullet at 2800fps). If you are only hunting deer sized animals in Oklahoma, then I bet the .30-06 would fit the bill most of the time. So the question you may be trying to answer is "what is the best all-round deer rifle?" But the choice of rifle, for me anyway, is based on the toughest thing that I might have to shoot. I think the best all-round rifle is the biggest rifle that I can accurately shoot. I carry a .378 with 250/300 grain bullets. Along with proper bullet placement, a fundimental and essential requirement, you must use enough gun. And that is a personal choice. I have seen plent of folks that think .270s recoil too much. There are lots of folks that think any .300 mag recoils too much. So I think you need to find a rifle/cartridge combination that is as big as you can handle that you can properly shoot.

rwj:

I haven't been to Alaska, and am curious to know what the natives carry, since they often can hunt 365 days a year and likely account for the most big game kills in North America.

In the NWT, they seem to carry .270s.

kk

I haven't read Jones' "One Man, One Rifle, One Land" but I'd be curious to know what he used. Was it one bullet for everything, or various by application.

Anyone know?

RSY

Some of the folks that I know in Kotzebue and Barrow use .223s. .270s, and .375 H&Hs and I bet if I talked to more people I would hear about more calibers(including .30-06). One guy I know shoots seals on the ice in the head with a Bushmaster .223. Folks in rural Alaska can be as eclectic in their gun selection as anyone else...some shoot .223s because they are cheap (both the gun and the bullets) and because the person can shoot caribou whenever they are seen (as opposed to restricting yourself to a 7 day hunt period when the closest caribou might be 300 yards away)...In a few places folks are allowed to shoot caribou while they are swimming (in the head) with .22s. I have never seen this done and I have not asked anyone if they shoot their caribou that way. But the regulations specify when and where you can hunt this way. I will say that if you go into a store in a fairly large bush community, like Barrow or Kotzebue, you will probably be able to buy bullets for anything from .22 through .458 Win Mag., just like at Wal-Mart. And I assume that somebody out there has guns for those bullets. In Barrow, they have a special shop that sells something like a 4-bore exploding projectile (bullet if you will) that they use to shoot whales with...they shoot this big grenade-looking thing in to the whale at close range, on the water, and after it penetrates the whale it explodes inside and kills the whale fast. That is a big game rifle. Even though folks use .223s for caribou, that fact has not made me think that I should use one too.

A few months ago I shot some feral cattle with a 30-06 using 180-gr. Trophy Bonded Bearclaws and 220-gr. Remington CoreLokt factory loads, and some with a 9.3x62 using 270-gr. Speer semi-spitzers and 286-gr. Nosler Partitions. The '06 killed them just as dead as the bigger rifle. If I ever have to do that again, I'd prefer the 9.3, but would not hesitate to use the 30-06/180. As Finn Aagaard said, "The 30-06 works. Period." Hope this helps, Okie John.

How did the CoreLok bullets work on these animals? Did they shoot through the beast? I have shot lots of deer with Remington bullets (CoreLok) and I like them if I do not have tougher bullets. These are pretty tough animals arn't they?

One young bull of about 450 lbs. was facing me at 20-30 yards when I shot him through the brisket with a 220 CoreLokt factory load. Impact velocity was probably about 2,300 fps. I didn't do a post mortem, but he only made it about 15 feet before he keeled over. One animal is not much of a test, but this load seemed pretty effective at the time, and I would use it again for close shooting on big animals in thick cover. Hope this helps, Okie John.

You asked how Core-Lokt bullets work. I have taken six black bear, the largest was 7 foot and 400 pounds. It was an angle shot, right inside shoulder to base of left lung, 180 yards, Win 338, 225 grain. The base exited, leaving a small hole and the bear never took another step. I have found these bullets are best for chest shots and avoid hitting big bones or asking the bullet to penetrate a long ways into the vitals. Placement, as usual is everything with this type of bullet.