Observed Accuracy From a Partition

S

Stats Shooter

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I am curious as to what y'all have experienced as far as accuracy from a Partition?

I'll spare you the details but in summary I have spent several weeks, off and on, working on a moose/elk load using 200 gr partitions in my 300wm. I burned almost 150 rounds testing, trying to find the most accurate load. It seems with the partition, the harder I pushed it, the better it performed.

I was limited as far as jump adjustment due to mag restrictions, but max mag length of 3.340 (2.79" CBTO) at 2995 fps gave me 1.1 MOA accuracy.

I tried the accubond buts it's too long at 200 gr for this magazine without sticking way down in the case. I did try a box but gave up when I couldn't get a consistent seating depth due to too much powder compression.

I'm not too disappointed, I mean an honest MOA hunting load at 3000 fps with a 200 gr bullet like the partition will kill anything in North America, but I have NEVER worked that hard for MOA+ accuracy.
 
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95% of my handloads for cartridges of larger caliber, or larger case capacity than .223 Rem or 6x45mm are intended for hunting.

With one exception*, Nosler bullets are the most consistent bullets I have tested. Partitions are great. Ballistic Tips are good. I don't mess with Accubonds or that other new-fangled crap.

In most instances, I didn't have to try for sub-MoA performance. Any more fussing was just to see how good I could get the load.


*The only exception is the Hornady 265 gr SuperFormance factory load for .444 Marlin. The proverbial "one hole group" is the norm (100 yd). The last time I had it out, I fired six rounds, and the target looked like only one .45 caliber bullet had hit the target. If only I could get my other rifles and my handloads to do such...
 
You can play around with various powders and load ladders, but as you say, it runs into a lot of expensive bullets and time. If you found a near MOA load with one if your favorite powders I would call it done. MAYBE given enough effort you could shrink group down to 3/4 inch (partitions are not target bullets after all), but so what? Any practical difference in the field?
 
It is my go to bullet in two different 7mm firearms I have, have always worked with one shot.

What are your other loads that work better with less effort and what we’re the loads you had with the partitions?
 
Partitions have been my go to bullet for more then 50 years. Only bullet I use in my 340 backed with RE-19
 
What are your other loads that work better with less effort and what we’re the loads you had with the partitions?
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Jmorris,

The load I had with the partition was H1000, Fed215 primers, Norma brass.

What I mean by "work better with leads effort" was that I found a suitable accuracy faster, with less components used and the accuracy was better. Of course Im talking about hunting bullets, but I have tried speer hot cores, hornady interbond/locks, nosler accubonds, hornady SST's.

On elk, I had used the speer hot core. I have never hunted moose but I am going next fall.

As I said, I tried the accubond which, according to Nosler, is suitable for elk but Nosler says the partition was/is better for Moose.

Im excited to use the Partition because of the terminal performance...it is a tried, tested, and true hunting bullet. This thread is regarding accuracy. I have very little experience with loading partitions, so I'm just not sure what accuracy to expect. A hunting bullet does not need to shoot match grade accuracy, and the toughest hunting bullets, from what i understand, don't.

Nosler told me on the phone that the accubond is capible of match grade accuracy, but I already knew that from experience. Also the accubond is suitable for elk and other four legged critters in north america....but if the targets include bears and moose, use a partition.
 
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I have never had a rifle that would not shoot Partitions with more than acceptable accuracy with some attention to seating depth and powder charge experimentation. Many of my rifles have shot them just fine with minimal experimentation.
 
My 300 Weatherby slightly prefers 180 grain Partitions over the 200. Still the 200 grain Partition has plenty good hunting accuracy at 1 to 1 1/2". Test your loads at longer distances rather than only 100 yards. You may be surprised that the 200's will group better farther out?
 
That may be the upper limits for 300 win mag and 200 grains but if it shoots well go for it. That thing should just about drop anything on the planet...:)
 
. You may be surprised that the 200's will group better farther out?
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Rifles can not group better at longer distances than they do at short distances. I have seen them "group" better at 200 than 100, but the "group" was either a statistical anomaly and not a true group or it was shooter caused. What is happening is one of two things. The most common being due to optics, paralex, etc. etc; the shooter is holding better at 200 than 100. The second major cause being an improperly stabilized bullet is corkscrewing and they just happened to corkscrew closer together for that "group." Physics is physics. Rifles do not defy physics.
 
I never used Partitions in any of my rifles after I tried them in my 223’s first barrel. Wouldn’t group very well though it was good enough for hunting, but naturally I wanted better. Second barrel loves the 60 gr Partition and groups tight and has the same POI as the 40 gr Nosler BTs. I do remember that my attempts with Partitions and that first barrel were with quite a few powders, but not the one that works so well now.

So...try a few more powders is what I recommend. You might find the magic load.
 
How much better than 1.1 MOA do you really need to hit a moose??????????????????
Today 08:21 PM
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1.1 MOA is plenty accurate for my hunting purposes. I do not have delusions of shooting elk/moose at 1,000 yards like I read about on the interweb. I try and get as close as possible but I have dropped a cow elk out as far as 375.

That may be the upper limits for 300 win mag and 200 grains but if it shoots well go for it. That thing should just about drop anything on the planet...
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Yes....it's a hammer, a 200 gr partition at 3000 fps means I have all the firepower I need in North America. And the terminal performance is what I bought them foor.
 
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