Rick,
Am I ever glad you tested the North Fork bullets! Lord knows how long we would have to wait for Leeper to shoot anything with them. I like the bullets conceptually for a couple of reasons. First, they have lead. I just like bullets with lead in them. There is something about the solid copper bullet that bugs me. Second, they have a nice semi-spitzer shape with enough of that lead exposed to start expansion. The semi-spitzer may not be as efficient at maintaining velocity but it is just fine for real world game ranges. Those who like to poke holes in various parts of an animal's anatomy at long range can use Matchkings or ballistic tips.
In general I am a believer in conventional bullets at reasonable velocity (23-2600 at the muzzle)but, for totally reliable performance,it's pretty hard to deny the effectiveness of the soft copper jacketed, bonded core bullets. This especially if one wants to up those velocity levels.
Interestingly enough, I get more reports about Nosler Partition non-performance than any other bullet. I swear this was never the case with the original partitions with machined jackets but this might just be a mature individual's selective memory!
By the way, the small whitetail buck I shot the other day was taken with a 20 year old Norma 180 fired from the 30/40. It worked fine but then a whitetail doesn't really need much. Regards, Bill.