6mm Nosler partition 100 gr. .243 Win.

Hi,
We use the Nosler Partition in our 243's , but the 95 gn version, as we don't get good groups with the 100 gns. They certainly open up plenty, and retain the rear core, on everything from Roe to Fallow and Sika.
Marcher
 
I have use both the 100grn Nosler Partition and the Remington Core Lokt Ultra Bonded in 100grn. Both in a Parker Hale M81 Classic in, in fact, 6mm Remington rather than the more usual .243 Winchester. Simply they are too long to stabilise in many standard twist rifles in .243 Winchester or 6mm Remington. I don't know how they would perform in any .240 Weatherby rifle however.

My results were that I used neither on any live quarry as neither could be stabilised by the standard rate of twist that these 1980s P-Hale rifles came with. The problem is that the 100grain Nosler Partition was simply too long for good stabilisation. 3" to 4" and WORSE groups were the normal and at three hundred yards the things were going through, about half of the time, the target sideways on. Where you were aiming, 'tis true, but sideways on in nearly half the hits.

So I am with MARCHER on what he says. And welcome that he has confirmed what I thought was my fault of the fault of the rifle. 'Cos some P-Hale rifles are, despite what Brithunter would have had, not quite of the best when it comes to fit of metal to stock and how they bed.

As I've posted before this rate of twist issue is going to cause problems for many .243 Winchester owners if mandatory non-lead bullets come into law AND the minimum weight is still stuck at 100 grains. I did 'phone BASC with this observation but the one of their firearms team (no names) I spoke to didn't seem bright enough to realise the implications.
 
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Thanks for the info guys. I'm trying to figure out one load that will work from muntys up to red deer. Sounds like the 95 gr partition is the lace to start.
 
Hi,
In the .243 win. the 95 gn Partition has been the bullet of choice for us for some time, and no regrets. I was interested to hear from Enfieldspares that he had trouble with stabilizing the 100gn. Partition. It certainly is on the edge of stability because of its length. No doubt the same problem could occur with the longer copper bullets.
Marcher.
 
Enfield - you say the 100 grainers wouldn't "stabilize" - did they keyhole? or simply print a large group pattern?
Instability usually leads to tumbling - often with "reasonable" groups. Big groups are often a result of bullet velocity & barrel harmonics in slim profile barrels. These big groups can often (allegedly) be reduced by altering bullet muzzle velocity.
That said over 30 years & in five 243 rifles of different flavours, I'v found that light bullets (75 grain) do in fact print smaller groups than 100/105 grainers. - Half inch or less groups with the 75 grainers & 1" or so with the 100 grain bullets.
Having plenty of bigger calibre rifles I am now moving towards 85 or 90 grain bullets in 243n as the best compromise.
None of my rifles ever gave shotgun patterns, & none had tight twist barrels.

Ian

p.s. Not trying to preach or criticise here - just trying to learn & understand a bit more.
 
Hello YORRIC. Groups 3" to 4" at one hundred yards with the bullets seemingly going straight. But by he time the things reached three hundred yards they were "side on" in that the strike holes were elongated showing yaw and pitch in usually 50% of the strikes. But yes still a "group" as such in that they were on the target.

I think that it is both a twist issue and a velocity issue in that loads were worked up until pressure signs showed that loads were approaching maximum and then the load backed off by so many fractions of a grain of powder. So I deduce that with the twist in the rifle used that I coudn't safely generate enough velocity to stabilise a bullet that is over long as the 100 grain Nosler partition is.

So half of one thing and half of the other I fear. But simply as these Nosler Partition are overlong of their weight they, like the .303 MK VII, suffer from yaw and pitch issues. The .303 Mk VII was so deadly because it was designed with an aluminium tip filler to make it so that on impact it would with its induced yaw and pitch then tumble.

As you may be aware bullets that have this yaw and pitch issue fly relatively straight immediately after leaving the muzzle but as they progress down range the yaw and pitch (as the velocity falls) becomes evident.

So as Freddie Mills (a forensic ballistic expert) said in a lecture, on lessons of small arms wounds from the Falklands War, twenty years plus ago I attended that) that the best thing to do on a battlefield was to fight naked (webbing is a real "no go" as it causes bullets to tumble) and bits of cloth and dirt on it get "sucked in" to the vacuum created by the temporary wound cavity being formed.

And if the enemy was using a rifle run towards him so that his bullets were not yet starting to become unstable and beginning to yaw and pitch! But if he was using a pistol or SMG then to run away from him as its velocity would have rendered the bullet less harmful.

As he said you've got to guess that one right. Is it a rifle or is it an SMG! So do you run towards the enemy or away from him!

He also advised that if you had to wear body armour to only wear it on your front and nothing on your back for the reason that if you got shot front on and it didn't stop the bullet going in then it was best that there was nothing then to now stop it going out of your back. As if there was that in itself then increased your injuries by causing the bullet to "rattle" about inside you as it were like a pebble in a cocoa tin.

Finally FWIW at the start of the lecture he held up a Lee Enfield No 4 and declared "As the Falkland Islands Defence Force were captured before they could use their weapons there are no .303 Mk VII injuries to learn lessons from in this particular conflict..."

But that was all a long time ago!
 
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I found the 85g partitions were the cream of the crop and could even put down 300lb stags with quite some authority..not that I would use a .243 and 85g'ers on stags of course...
 
Like others have found my best groups were with 90 -95grn bullets rather than 100grn in .243, the best performing bullet that I have used so far in terms of knock down power without excessive carcase damage is the 90grn Nosler Accubond.

atrb Tim
 
I thought it odd that Nosler would make a 95 and 100 gr. partition in 6mm. Now I know why. Likely a 1 in 9 would stabilize. You all have told me my Tikka is a 1 in 10, still haven't shot it yet! Life keeps happening. Gotta get cracking as we are leaving for Eastern Oregon on Friday.
 
I have failed to get enough expansion from these 100gr using RL19 at 2920 -2950 fps. Going straight through broadside engine room shots on red stags. Given up with them so have about 75 for sale !
Now using 95gr nosler BT's now, which is not deer legal in Scotland of course.
 
The .243 Winchester and 6mm Remington (6x57mm) have come in a mix of rifling twist rates.

The Model 70 was 1:10, so most .243s are the same. The .244 Remington's were 1:12,and shot 75 and 85-gr bullets very well, but the Model 700 was changed to 1:10, then when the .244 Remington became the 6mm Remington, all Remingtons were change to 1:9 ( M700, M660, M788). When Remington started offering rifles in .243 ( which was far and away leading sales ), they made them 9 1/8" twist. Savage went with 1:9.25 in its .243s.

The Browning B78s were offered in 6mm Remington, with a 1:9 twist rate. I had one, and it shot everything into cloverleafs or bug holes. It has a longer barrel than most .243s or 6x57s, so it is steaming the bullets out faster than most. Stabilizing flat based 105-gr bullets or boattail 100-gr bullets was no problem for it, whereas a .243 Win with a 1:10 or 1:12 twist and a short barrel cannot muster the muzzle velocity necessary to impart the RPMs necessary to stabilize heavier bullets.
 
I have failed to get enough expansion from these 100gr using RL19 at 2920 -2950 fps. Going straight through broadside engine room shots on red stags. Given up with them so have about 75 for sale !
Now using 95gr nosler BT's now, which is not deer legal in Scotland of course.

We gave up on Nosler BT after the last antelope we shot with a 120 gr out of a 7/08. Soooo destructive.
 
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