Well some of you might remember a post I had about what rifle to get my nephew who lives in AK and we decide on a 30/06. I figured if it was good enough for MR Shoemaker to use as a BB backup sometimes it had to be good enough for my nephew. Now for the question about bullets. What bullet out of the 5 would you chose and why? We will start with the 180gr Partition then there is the 180gr Barnes TSX, the 200gr Nosler Accubond, the 200gr Nosler Partition, and the 200gr Barnes TSX. They all shoot about an inch or a little more at 100 yards in this rifle and I really do not see him shooting anything past 250 yards. He will be hunting Caribou, Moose and Coastal brown bears with the neighbors this fall. From what I was told the father of the family he is going with uses a 338 WIN so they will have a fight stopper with. I know Nosler is time tested and I have used a lot of there bullets but I also know the Barnes bullets seem to hold more weight after impact. Any advice guys?

dakor

I really shot quite a few animals in Alaska with an '06. The 180NP is the do it all bullet for that caliber. If the gun has a long enough throat and magazine box to allow seating the bullet out you might get the 200 NP up to 2650fps. The rest are just too long and intrude into the powder space too far for optimum performance. Stick with the 180 NP and he'll never know he is not shooting a magnum.

Mark

quote:

Originally posted by dakor:
Well some of you might remember a post I had about what rifle to get my nephew who lives in AK and we decide on a 30/06. I figured if it was good enough for MR Shoemaker to use as a BB backup sometimes it had to be good enough for my nephew. Now for the question about bullets. What bullet out of the 5 would you chose and why? We will start with the 180gr Partition then there is the 180gr Barnes TSX, the 200gr Nosler Accubond, the 200gr Nosler Partition, and the 200gr Barnes TSX. They all shoot about an inch or a little more at 100 yards in this rifle and I really do not see him shooting anything past 250 yards. He will be hunting Caribou, Moose and Coastal brown bears with the neighbors this fall. From what I was told the father of the family he is going with uses a 338 WIN so they will have a fight stopper with. I know Nosler is time tested and I have used a lot of there bullets but I also know the Barnes bullets seem to hold more weight after impact. Any advice guys?

I've been using the 180 grain FailSafe for everything. Just as tough as the Barnes but not nearly as long if you have concerns. As far as that goes, I've switched to FailSafes almost exclusively regardless of calibre.

I have seen some poor penetration with the fail safes, but that is just my observation as I have read where others like them well. I also am not impressed with the noslers, but have read where others like them as well. I have pretty much decided to use the barnes triple shocks exclusively now. I just reloaded some for my .375 ultra and they fit in the casing just as well as the swift a frames. I don't think there is a better bullet built to withstand muscle and bone and deep penetration. I think the 06 is a good rifle and is great for a kid. My daughter is shooting a tikka t3 in .300wsm and she feels real comfortable shooting it, so I am going to get her one. I was going to get an 06, but figured if she could shoot the .300wsm comfortably, then that would be even a little better. Good luck with whatever you use. I believe that the set up you have will be just fine.

Don't use the damn Accubond. That is a glorified ballistic tip. I would use Northfork. Swift A-Frames are still super bullets. Lastly the Partition is hard to beat. Those are in my order of preference too. Good Luck!

For what it's worth, I really like the Accubonds out of my .300 Jarrett. I'm starting these bullets (200 gr) out at 2980 fps. The Sierra gamekings that shoot so well from the rifle always came apart and failed to give complete penetration of elk unless shots were out around at least the 300 yard mark. I shot one elk last year (80 yds) with the accubonds so this is a sampling of one, but the bullet performed great. I had a 50 cent piece sized exit hole and a dead elk. I plan to use them again. I have used, and seen used, a lot of Partitions. They work great, but the nose section generally gets destroyed and I'm not sure the % of weight lost. The Swift A-Frame bullets have a bonded front section and are said to retain weight in the 90+% range. There is an article about the Accubond bullets on a african safari on the opening page of 24hourcampfire.com that give a strong recommendation based on actual field experience. I used an '06 for a couple decades before going to the magnums and, like Mark Young, I think the 180 gr bullets to be THE weight for this round.

If your shooting is inside 300 yds. then 200 gr. n.p. if shots go longer then 180 gr. n.p.

n.p. is like a 1911, a really good design...

I've shot, and seen a bunch of other hunters shoot a lot of game in Alaska with Nosler Partitions. Bottom line is they work. I have a loaner rifle in 30-06 that I let visiting hunters use and load the 180 NP for everything. I shoot a 300 mag with 180 and 200 grain Partitions.

With the 06 I would use the nosler partition 180gr.

Between the Northforks, A Frames, TSXs and Partitions you really can't go wrong. I'd pick the one your rifle shoots best in the 180gr flavor and go hunting. jorge

Federal premium High Energy load with 180gr NP is a hard load to beat.

I am a believer in the Fail Safe, in my book it is the best closely followed by the Barnes X and then Partition Gold than Partition.I witnessed the shooting of a 1500 pound Buffalo shot with a 30-06 factory winchester failsafe and each bullet did complete penetration coming out the other side with such velocity you could hear them fly down range. Again some people might take a different look at that but with big dangerous game the name of the game is penetration penetration penetration. Most need to go to a solid to achieve that giving up internal damage in the process, the fail safe has such intregrity it is a solid in soft points skin. I used a 300 fs in my 375 on a moose of similar porportions at 150 yards and again the full penetration that that bullet is noted for occurred and dropped the animal in its track.
The name of the game with any caliber is marksmanship, there is no substitute---closely followed by bullet choice...good luck and again it is this mans opinion.

Thanks for the info guys. I went with a 180 Partition. We will see how it works out for him.