Have a friend who summers in Alaska, did his 1st moose hunt this season (no moose). He is wanting to start reloading. He keeps a 30-06 at his cabin inland from Anchorage. Abundant black bear, some grizzlies around but expects to hunt moose only, but prepared for the worst if bears get aggressive.

I thought of Nosler partition 200 grain as a go-to bullet. How about suggestions from you Alaska folk? Thanks, Bob

quote:

I thought of Nosler partition 200 grain as a go-to bullet.

That's not at all a bad choice.....substitute an A-Frame if you want.

Any of the Woodleigh round nose bullets of 180-200 grains would be fine as well.

My cousin who lives in Anchorage and works for the Alaska Game Dept uses 180 Partitions exclusively from his 30-06. I make sure I keep him well supplied each Christmas.


ddj

I've hundreds of 180 Partitions but what I have loaded is either 200's or 220 Partitions for the aught six.....without question, a good bullet.

The 200 Partition is my favorite as well

Another Vote for the 200 Gr. Partition.

We are diminished by the recent passing of Mr. Nosler.

bobc:
I'm gonna kinda be the odd man out here but stay with me.
No flies on the Partition and yes I could easily go with a 180 - 200 gr. Partition in the 'ol .06. I've been using the 150 gr. bullet in my .270 Win. here for years with no problem but...
I use a .338 WM as my moose rifle and have gone to the 225 gr.NorthFork for it. I've found that it seems to be slightly more accurate than the Partition in that caliber and looses less weight after expansion. I have a 225 gr. NF I took from a moose I shot - perfect mushroom and weighs 218 (or 217 gr.) - offhand I forget. I'm even thinking of going to them for my .270, not because I think I need them but just curious to see how they work on caribou & maybe a grizzly. They're more expensive but the cartridge is the least costly item on a hunt anyway. If you want to practice at the range, load up a box of more inexpensive bullets and enjoy.
Bear in Fairbanks

Agree with the 200gr Partition.

No ought six experience with the heavies, but I do love the North Fork 200's out of my 300 H&H...

I had a 180gn partition blow up on a moose shoulder. He didn't even seem to notice, just kept grazing, and I thought I'd somehow missed a broadside 100 yard shot from a bipod. The 3rd one broke the shoulder and dropped him in place.

One example isn't much to go on, but I switched to 220 partitions after that and have never had a problem.

Bob

A 180 or a 200 Nosler Partition would be an excellent choice.

I would be just as happy with a Trohy Bonded Bearclaw, North Fork, or Swift A Frame.

I would definetly go with Woodleigh bullets...!

Have shot a number of animals with the 200 gn partition @2700 fps, Kampchatka Brown Bear, Leopard , two sable, two kudu, zebra four impals in Zimbabwae , and a number of deer , and the more i use the 200 gn nosler in the 06 the more i like it
With R17 its a great combo
Daniel

Seems odd to me that in twelve posts the Barnes TSX hasn't been mentioned yet.

I did use a Partition to kill a moose this year and it worked great, no complaints. On the other hand the last few years I've used TSX's exclusively and have been very impressed. The Barnes bullets are accurate, retain weight well, expand as advertized and penetrate.

No doubt the Partition in an -06 works well but the TSX it seems to me adds a little insurance.

i still have doubts about TSX/TTSX.....to many reports comming back, with photos of mono proj not expanding, i think the mono proj have more draw backs then lead core bullets, and with the 06 s moderate velocities there is no real need for them, i think the nosler is just right

If Phil S and a bunch of others like the 200 partition, hard to go wrong there. Thanks, Bob

This is just me. If I want to shot anything over 180 grain bullets in the 06 case I use my 338/06. For my 30-06 I use 180 partitions. They are a great bullet for the price. I also shot 210 and 250 partitions out of my 338-06 and 60 grain partitions out of my 22-250. I really like partitions if you cant tell.

I took my 91/2 ft. Brown Bear with a 200 grain Nosler Partition with my .300 Winny at 2950 fps. The 30-06 would be some 300 fps slower, but would still do the job nicely. If I were doing it today I would use a 200 grain North Fork and have no worries. Good shooting.

There is an abundance of excellent 30 caliber bullets. I've used the 180 Partitions and they worked great. Doubtless others will work too.

180 TSX or TTSX would be my choice

I've killed a couple of black bears with partitions and they work but I use 180gr failsafes out of my 30-06 exclusively.

It shoots them great and kills animals, downside they are getting harder to find so I maybe forced to change my loads since I am only down to a couple of hundred left.

Norma Oryx 180.

quote:

Originally posted by bobc:
Have a friend who summers in Alaska, did his 1st moose hunt this season (no moose). He is wanting to start reloading. He keeps a 30-06 at his cabin inland from Anchorage. Abundant black bear, some grizzlies around but expects to hunt moose only, but prepared for the worst if bears get aggressive.

I thought of Nosler partition 200 grain as a go-to bullet. How about suggestions from you Alaska folk? Thanks, Bob

168g TSX 52.0g Varget CCI-250 = 2855fps in a 24" vz-24 30-06 that has become my go to gun & load.

I've always been a NP fan and I have an excellent load with the 200 NP in my '06 but if I was to load one bullet for everything in AK these days I'd use the 180 TSX. You literally can take any shot presented and expect bone to be broken.

Mark

200 grs Swift A Frame or Nosler Partitions would be my choice. Or use North Fork bullets, they are excellent as well

Have slowly grown to love the heavier bullets in this "grand dad" of a round. Especially after seeing a 150 TSX fail to penetrate enough to hit the off side lung when my son shot his moose broadside at 100 yards last year.
For bolt rifles we now use 180 NP and in my 06 double I use 220 Hornady Interlocks.

Even though I have yet to kill a moose with the Hornadys they show good promise during penetration tests. The 06 velocity is low enough they seem to hold together well, are very accurate, and inexpensive to purchase.

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Reply

I've had bad luck with the 220 gr. Hornady. Bullet blew up on a black bears ribs at a distance of 20 feet. After attempting to track that bear all day we lost him. Knocked him down on the shot but he got up and ran off. Only thing we found was a piece of rib bone about 1&1/2" long where I shot him and some hair and frothy blood. Signs of blood ended after about 100 yards. Apparently only damaged one lung. Shot was witnessed by 3 other people, everybody said he was hit in the center of the ribs, but he got away from us. I searched for him for 2 days.

In forty years of hunting, ten Africa safaris, Asia, Alaska, etc. I now seldom use anything but TSX's. I've never had any performance that could be even remotely classified as failure. Every single one recovered was perfect. Few recovered, though. One Cape buff straight on shot with 375. All buff with the Lott were all the way through, even one going away through the hip to the front shoulder.

I always used 200 gr NPs in my '06 and '06 Super Imp. I wouldn't be opposed to using a 168 or 180 T(T)SX either if they shot well in your rifle.

A good 180 grain bullet from a 30-06 will kill a brown bear and a 180 grain in the right place is undoubtedly better than a larger caliber bullet in the wrong place. However in my opinion and very limited experience on brown bear the 30-06 and 300 magnums are too light for brown bear. If you can shoot them well, you will be far better off with a 375+ caliber rifle. You are dealing with a tough, dangerous 1000lb+ size animal that's as big as two lions + it's an expensive hunt! Wouldn't this be a good enough excuse to buy a new heavy rifle .

i use a 200gr partition in my 06 with H4831. lader tested them ended up around 2500fps it was the groups I got that sealed the deal. took first shot right where I wanted, 2nd 2in to the right but I knew right away that I pulled it, 3rd right beside the first,4th (only cuz I know I pilled the 2nd)felt good but couldn't see it in the spoting scope went to check and put it almost right through the first hole. ended up being just under 3/4 I was pretty happy with that

quote:

Originally posted by reddy375:
A good 180 grain bullet from a 30-06 will kill a brown bear and a 180 grain in the right place is undoubtedly better than a larger caliber bullet in the wrong place. However in my opinion and very limited experience on brown bear the 30-06 and 300 magnums are too light for brown bear. If you can shoot them well, you will be far better off with a 375+ caliber rifle. You are dealing with a tough, dangerous 1000lb+ size animal that's as big as two lions + it's an expensive hunt! Wouldn't this be a good enough excuse to buy a new heavy rifle .

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I couldn,t have said it better myself . . I am hard pressed to understand how someone could switch from a modern premium bullet like the Partition or much better the Barnes , N F , Swift , T B . ect . to a Hornady 220 gr in the 30 cals .
more people should do Rip,s water bucket bullet test ..

Got a link-to or more info on his water bucket test? I'd be interested... -Nick

Alaska is big country and open in many places. The 200 Nosler Accubond would be my single choice. The powder I would load under it would be either RL-17 or RL-22, whichever shoots the best.

The good Doctor did a nice thread on how he set up the bulleet trap and his results . . It was just after he got his 395 up and shooting . . On the big borw forum .
.I am technologically challenged with my phone , havn,t figured out attaching stuff yet .

You might consider a 180 gr Winchester XP3 factory load. A hybrid TTSX / with lead back core. A lot like Barns MRX.

EZ

150 grain Corelokts worked great on two moose. Had many telling me they are too light---funny thing some telling me that were using .270 with 130's---and they work too. Moose are large and have large lung capacity--but like other animals, let the air out and you have them.

I`ve never been to AK, but for the majority of my hunting here in Sweden, I use 200 grs Woodleigh, which is meant for .300 WM. They have always opened up good, penetrated excellent and flown great. BC of .450 makes it good at longer ranges too.
Handloaded in my rifle ive gotten velocities at 790 m/s and ive zeroed the rifle in at 180 metres. Then I can aim at the same place on a moose between 0-275 metres, and still hit the lungs.