Premium Bullet Performance on "XP2" Game?

[GTS9]

I'm considering running a 165 grain bullet (30-06) this season for everything. Something like a Partition, Accubond, or Interbond. Elk, deer, and antelope.
When I get to the antelope, do you think any of the bullets above in that setup will give me undesirable terminal performance do to being too strong? I've always used plain cup and and core bullets for antelope. Deer too, typically. I've hit some deer with bonded bullets but never with either of those two or a Partition, and it was always a big buck (not very comparable to a pronghorn); so I really don't know what to think.

 

[wgp]

I have used the same load in my '06 for years of deer hunting, using a 165 gr Partition. In my gun it is sub-MOA, year after year. Everything I have hit has gone down with no excessive damage. It would be cheaper to shoot cheaper bullets but it's not significant and I have great faith in the Partition, even with the newer bullets that are out there now.

 

[RPRNY]

I'm a "180 grains on elk" guy, but real world experience shows this almost certainly a prejudice arising from decades old issues with poor performance from lighter bullets. The 165 grs bullets you describe will kill elk. And they will definitely kill deer and antelope. Gut shoot a deer or an antelope with a 150 or 130 grs bullet and it's going to die a slow lingering death, just like if you gut shoot it with a premium 165 grs bullet. Even if you get minimal expansion on one of these bullets, delivery to heart, lungs, or shoulder will be devastating. In any event, my experience with antelope is that unless it's a spine shot or a broken shoulder or you're using a 20mm, the little barstewards have remarkable resilience and will give you 100 yard run with half their heart hanging out the exit wound. In my opinion, your plan is sound.

 

[Llama Bob]

Off that list I'd probably do the accubond. They're fairly soft and the tip helps them to start expanding. Should do OK for antelope pretty far out.

You probably won't get reliable exit wounds with any of them on elk.

 

[Glockula]

I have had less blood shot meat with 180 and 150 Nosler partitions on deer down to 100 pounds. I have killed 5 white tails with partitions and all died where they stood. All pass throughs. They really are good bullets. The rifle is a 300 wsm.

 

[LoonWulf]

Id go with accubonds as well, Ive seen 150 ablrs kill a few 1000lb feral bulls, no issues.
I would urge being selective about shot placement. Again ive never hunted elk, but with a bull the shoulder will greatly reduced the penetration of any of the bullets ive seen used on them. In fact the only round ive seen exit was my .458 socom with 405s, and im pretty sure i caught the very top of the shoulder and spine, not a square shoulder hit.
On deer size and smaller game breaking a shoulder, or both, is a sure way to anchor and animal right where they are hit. With rounds, and/or bullets, that dont blow big holes out the far side of stuff i prefer to break bones and get them on the ground as fast as possible, tracking wounded game is NOT my favorite pastime.

 

[cougar1717]

I feel like Chuck Hawks talking about CPX2 and CPX3 game. Elk are 3's and deer and antelope are 2's. IMHO, it all goes back to the shot that you take. NP, NAB, IB are all really meant for the CPX3's because you need a bullet that won't shed the jacket or shatter, while putting two holes in a thick skinned animal, like an elk. Deer and antelope are a different story - you want more rapid expansion and you don't want to track it. When you use premium bullets on CPX2's, you have to expect that the bullet will exit because partitioned or bonded bullets are designed for greater penetration than most CPX2's have. After all these years, many people still love the NP for everything because it has both expansion and penetration and just gives up a little potential accuracy without a plastic tip. If going the NAB route, I would at least think about buying an equal amount of hunting NBT's in the same weight and using those for CPX2's. Minimal workup should be required between NAB's and NBT's of the same weight.
Or you could continue to use cap and core bullets for antelope and just create an elk combo.
Or you could work up a premium bullet combo and make sure to hit the shoulder of CPX2's.
There are many ways to achieve the same goal in this, but there isn't one single end-all, be-all projectile.

 

[cdb1]

I prefer cup and core bullets for deer. But since you want to use one bullet for class 2 and class 3 game I'd go premium with what shot best out of the rifle.

I'm too lazy and too dumb to shoot different bullets through one rifle. All of my rifles get one and only one bullet run through them.

 

[TN Outlaw]

Impact speed of each bullet type dictates how it will behave. A hot SST up close could end in massive expansion, too much expansion and lack of penatration for instance.

A good compromise of expansion vs penetration at typical 30-06 impact velocities would be the Accubond imho. A whitetail probably wont catch one broadsided but will still be devastating and will have plenty penetration for elk.

Depends on how hard you push it and what distance your avg shot will be on each type of animal as to how well it will perform. Otoh, i know people who use 180gr Rem C-L's or Win psp's on everything, and i do mean everything.

 

[cdb1]

Impact speed of each bullet type dictates how it will behave. A hot SST up close could end in massive expansion, too much expansion and lack of penatration for instance.

A good compromise of expansion vs penetration at typical 30-06 impact velocities would be the Accubond imho. A whitetail probably wont catch one broadsided but will still be devastating and will have plenty penetration for elk.

Depends on how hard you push it and what distance your avg shot will be on each type of animal as to how well it will perform. Otoh, i know people who use 180gr Rem C-L's or Win psp's on everything, and i do mean everything.

One of my dirty secrets is my 30-06, .270 and 30-30 are fed CoreLokts.

 

[22250Rem]

I'd vote Accubonds as well. A 150 gr 30 cal. Accubond is my favorite bullet for my Savage in 300 WSM ( In my avatar) . Have taken pronghorn at 200 + yds. and mule deer at just under 200 yds. with them. Both were one shot deals with great bullet performance. Buddy of mine also runs them out of a 300 RUM and has had identical results on deer and antelope. But then; I've seen plenty of game cleanly taken with cup & core bullets also. My usual M.O. is to go with whatever seems to shoot the best accuracy-wise because the number one priority should be bullet placement. Proper placement = dead game that doesn't go far after being hit. If an elk tag were in the mix perhaps a 180 gr. Partition but that's only because I've also got a sweet 180 gr. Partition load for that rifle that's never been pointed at an elk, (not yet, anyway).

 

[Gtscotty]

I wanted to pick one bullet for my .270 Win to handle antelope, muleys and elk, and wound up going with 140gr Accubonds. Not a huge sample size, but so far I've killed one of each with that load and have been quite satisfied. The Accubonds (and Interbonds) are in a sweet spot of bullet performance in that they open quickly enough to do excellent damage on light game, but hold together well enough to penetrate adequately on larger game. A friend of mine shot a decent bull with 165gr Interbonds out of a .300 WM last year at under 100 yds, and got complete penetration in spite of the high terminal velocities.

The partitions use a segmented core to deliver performance similar to the bonded bullets. In your case, I'd probably opt for one of the bonded bullets for lower cost and higher BC, likely the Accubond because Hornady does seasonal runs of the Interbonds and they are sometimes hard to get. I wouldn't be the least bit concerned about using the Partition though, if that's what my rifle liked.