Bear Claw or Partition?

Dogwood Creek

Dogwood Creek

New member
If I were to take my trusty "otter six" Elk hunting, would I be better served by the Trophy Bonded Bear Claw or the Nosler Partition? The rifle loves 180gr bullets,(60 gr of Rel 22) /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif so that would be the sensible thing to do. I have owned belted magnums in the past,.338, 270 Weath, .300 Win Mag, but find myself without one at the moment. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif I guess the question is,do the Bear Claws lend themselves to the velocity of the 30/06,from an expansion standpoint?
 
I haven't used the Bear Claw. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused1.gif I have used the Nosler Partition, and Barns X bullets on Elk, and moose in my .308, and 30-06 with great performance even on some fairly long shots. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinning-smiley-003.gif
Frank
 
180g Partition have not failed me yet.
If you do your part, it will drop an elk with-in 250yds out of an 06, no questions about it.
I can't speak for BearClaw, never tried it and had no reason to.
 
I have used the Partitions for years with excellent results. I only have a little experience with the TBBC and that was with small caliber bullets. Either one will penetrate well on heavy muscle and bone.
 
At '06 velocities either one will serve you well, but an accubond is just as good or better and shoots better.
Tests have proven that if the partition in the partition bullet ruptures it stops penetrating NOW, but the accubonds just mushroom and keep driving no matter what they hit, the bullet may become a mangled mass but it stays togather due to the bonded core, and retains alot of weight.
RR
 
I've never shot a TBBC, so can't speak with firsthand experience about them, just recaps from friends who have used them (by the way, these guys now use Barnes TSX). The Partition has always worked very well for me. That being said, I have used the Barnes X, XLC or TSX exclusively, on big game, since about 1992. Works even better!
 
We have dropped alot of elk, many one shot with good ole Remington Core Lokt 180 gr in 30-06 & 300 Win Mag. Most of the time the bullet is lodged in the shoulder or under the hide on the other side. I have little doubt you can do as well or better with these premium bullets. To me the bigger question is does your rifle like them, not just the weight, but how do they group for it. Good Luck
 
Lots of good input here fellas. Sounds like the Nosler has a good following. Justly so I might add.

Tripod3, The rifle in question is a Stainless Mod 70 Featherweight with the Walnut stock. One of the early Featherweight Stainless. She is a looker, and will repeatedly group 180 gr C.T. Ballistic Silvertips in 3/4". That is over 60 gr of Rel 22. I don't think the Ballistic tip is a good choice for a critter that heavy. As you said, the good old Core Lokt would be a good choice in it's own right. I was currious if the Bearclaw had developed a following yet. You make a good point, if they don't group, leave them at home. Wyoming is a Looong way from PA. Too far to go with a load that doesn't group.
 
There's also the A-frame. Although it runs twice the price of the Nosler partition, it's a bit tougher. Don't know if it's needed with the .30-06 velocities or not, but it's what I've started loading up in my '06 for my "all-around" big game load in the event I ever get drawn for a tag.

I started weighing some of the A-frames and they are pretty close to each other in weight. My best 100 yard grouping with them so far was 4 shots into .8" with the 5th shot opening the group to around 1.5". This was with the 165 grainers over 57.5 gr of IMR-4350 from a stock 700 ADL.
 
Either one will seal the deal. Shoot what the rifle likes better. DO NOT let anyone tell you one bullet is more accurate than another. You will never know until you shoot it out of that particular rifle. My good bud is elk hunting in Colorado right now with the exact same rifle. His rifle shot 180 TSX's the best, so that's what he's using. I wish I hadn't traded away my SS FWT in 7mag, it was also a looker---2MG
 
I'm not familiar with the TSX. Is that a Barns X bullet? I have a 243 here that likes the 95 gr Barns XLC coated bullet. Odd looking things, but they shoot great in the 243.
 
Good reference thread RR.

I'd shoot whatever the rifle likes. But, there's no need to pay a buck a bullet with '06 velocities.

BroncoGlenn; I used 150 gr. A-frames in the .270 to take a rag horn last year. I recovered two bullets; one weighed 145 gr. and the other 147 gr. One shot from about 275 yards and broke a shoulder, the other basically point blank range frontal shot. Tissue damage was minimal but they do break bones. If (or when) I use the .270 again for elk I think I'll load bonded bullets, like a scirroco.
 
I'm not familiar with all those bullets with the fancy sounding names.

Wanna know why? Because like millions of other hunters I've NEVER had a Partition fail to perform EXACTLY like it was designed to do. Get it?

I don't mind fiddling with rifles, scopes, camo clothes, etc.... But where the rubber meets the road is where the bullet hits the game and what it does after that.

The Nosler Partition is the perfect hunting bullet and anything else is just a wannabe....

$bob$
 
to each his own bob, but why spend that kind of money for a partition whenthe accubond does the same thing only better, is cheaper, and on avaerage shoots much better than a partition?
RR
 
Quote:
to each his own bob, but why spend that kind of money for a partition whenthe accubond does the same thing only better, is cheaper, and on avaerage shoots much better than a partition?
RR



OK... Let's dissect what you said and answer your basic three statements.

1.. " why spend that kind of money for a partition"
Answer: Lessee... I usually pay about $1.00 apiece for Partitions. I generally shoot about 20 per year and kill 1-3 game animals. Sometimes whitetail's, mulies, or elk. That's about $20 worth of bullets for one to three game animals. Considering all the money I spend for rifles, scopes, camo clothes, gas, time off from work... Well... It seems that even at $5.00 or even $10.00 per bullet it wouldn't be nearly too much... This seems like a moot point.

2. "only better"
Answer: After 30 years of killing game with Nosler Partitions and never one bullet failure in any way and get this.. I've NEVER even HEARD of a Nosler Partition failure after talking to hundreds, maybe thousands of hunters on the net and in person.... I think that the Accubond has a pretty huge reputation to live up to. How many thousands of head of game have you killed with them to live up to the Nosler Partition's reputation? I think your statement takes in a whole lot of territory that the Partition is the sole owner of. One day the Accubond may have proven to be a good or even a great bullet on game but that will be many years from now and not right now just because you said it.

3. "on avaerage shoots much better than a partition?"
Answer: I don't know if you have a problem shooting Partitions but I never have in 30 years of shooting them. In the many hunting rifles of my own I've shot them in and the many rifles I've helped sight in and watched sight in with them they seem to consistently and reliably shoot better than one MOA and that should be plenty accurate enough for ANYBODY shooting a medium to large game hunting bullet.

Now that I've answered your statements I guess I'll load up a few more for this season... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

$bob$
 
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