Like others have said its not an apples to apples comparison. Partitions are an excellent bullet and my go to bullet in timber. I have since switched and shoot the accubonds on most hunts. My longe range set ups I shoot the berger hunting VLD.
Hunting bullets: Partition vs ELD X
- Thread starter jerm8352
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Don Fischer
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Just wondering, why would you shoot an elk in the shoulder rather than just behind it? Shoulder shot will ruin meat with any bullet!
If you want to disable the elk right there on the spot I can see the utility in certain situations. In one scenario the elk may be very near inaccessible land . . .
CForest
Active member
Care to elaborate a bit?? I'm a huge fan of the accubond, it has killed many elk and deer for me, but they just dont shoot that great out of my 300.... thinking of giving the eld-x a try
I'll take the bonded bullet every time. I looked at all the info I could find on the ELD bullets. Some of the damage done by the ELD bullets seemed pretty extensive. More than I am willing to deal with. Lots of guys swear by them though. Just not for me. Look at the Hammer Hunter. Hammers are proving to be really easy to tune. mtmuley
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IME the meat loss from a shoulder shot with Barnes bullets is absolutely minimal.
okie_hotrod
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I love Hornady bullets and shoot them almost exclusively in my other guns but for elk I'd use the Accubond or Partition, preferably the Accubond. If I had a good source of Interbonds I would definitely try working up a load with those but from what I understand they don't penetrate quite as well as the Accubond, and they don't make a 140gr 6.5mm Interbond.
Edit: Plus it's hard to beat this kind of accuracy with a tough bonded bullet. The ammo is STUPID expensive but well worth it.
2 shots at 310 yards with factory Nosler Trophy Grade 140gr Accubond
1/2" apart
Browning xbolt in 26 Nosler
First shot was on a steel target at 215 yards, this group was the 2nd and 3rd
Edit: Plus it's hard to beat this kind of accuracy with a tough bonded bullet. The ammo is STUPID expensive but well worth it.
2 shots at 310 yards with factory Nosler Trophy Grade 140gr Accubond
1/2" apart
Browning xbolt in 26 Nosler
First shot was on a steel target at 215 yards, this group was the 2nd and 3rd
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Don Fischer
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Isn't that the truth. Been shooting Hornady inter locks way back when they were called spire points. Had a 7mm mag years ago that shot best with 160 gr Speer Hot Core's. Have tried Sierra's on game years ago, pretty explosive but really accurate! Never killed game with any other bullet I can recall. All of those bullet's killed very well, even the Sierra but they turned the animal into soup! When I had my 6.5x06 put together My idea was to use 140gr partition's in it. It shot them pretty well too. But it shot 129gr partitions even better and Hornady 129 and 125gr partitions shot to the same point of impact. Elk season came around and All I had loaded up were 140gr Hornady inter locks so I used them on elk. they have taken three elk with as many shots! Why double the cost of my bullet's when the inexpensive one's work so well. I have wondered off track with my 6.5x55 in that I'm working with 140gr Hot Cores in it. Having seen Hot Cores penetrate news paper and retain 85% of their weight and core and jacket still intact, say's a lot to me. They are as close as I get to the high dollar bullet's. They have worked for my like the much newer bonded bullet's! Wish Speer made a 130gr Hot Core, I'd give them a go. But for big game the bulk of my shooting is done with Hornady inter locks and for varmint's either Hornady v-max or Sierra match kings.
I think what a lot of people are looking for is bullet's that will turn their rifle into a bench rest rifle! Ain't gonna happen! Or they buy into the high BC hype looking for the bullet that is superior at 500yds even though they'll likely never shoot at a game animal that far and if they did, Their ability to shoot with far out weight the high BC! But selling bullet's is a business and I have a hard time blaming bullet company's for making and selling bullet's that sell well, weather they really better on not!
Had a discussion on another site several years ago about just how good the Nosler Bonded Bullet's were. I called Nosler and got info on weight retention for the bonded core bullet. Same as the partition, 70%, go figure! My Hornady's and Speer Hot cores shot into bundled news paper retained 85%!
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EastTNHunter
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I use .308 165 Hornady SPIL FBs in my Rem 760 30-06 for deer, but they only clock around 2750fps. I also use those bullets for practice rounds out of my Savage 116 30-06 pushing 100+FPS faster, but use a NAB for hunting. Since discovering SPS, I’ve found that I can shoot NBTs or NABs for cheaper than the Hornadys, but maintain a stock of them for my 760 since the old warhorse tends to favor flat based bullets.
Because God put the a whole lot of vital organs between those shoulders and depending on the angle may be the best way to get a bullet into them. Plus, since I've started shooting through shoulders, I notice critters make fewer steps after being shot...
claybreaker
Member
To me the Nosler Partition is the bullet whose terminal performance isn't questioned. If they work for you in your load, shoot'em. Find something less expensive that has about the same POI and practice with that.
Be Safe
Be Safe
whiskeydog
Active member
I've been using 143gr ELD-X out of my 6.5x284 for the past two seasons after switching from Berger. 2 bull elk, 2 antelope, a mule deer, and a mountain goat. Other than the deer, nothing went more than 10 yards...the deer was just a bad shot. Ranges were from 75 on out to 550.
