I've never had issues getting Partitions to shoot well. Maybe not dime size groups but never more than 1.5" at 100 yards. That's been in bolt guns and single shots from 243 Win to 30-06. I absolutely love them for deer and hogs. They are also excellent at lower velocities like out of a single...
Have you checked the COAL or base to ogive on the factory loads compared to your handloads? ABLR's can be finicky at times with seating depth, often preferring to be seated deeper than normal cup and core bullets.
I have a couple pounds of N565 to try in my 6.5 & 7 PRC's. N565 has consistently been getting rave reviews for accuracy and velocity in those cartridges and others. It has a decoppering agent and is suppose to be temp stable. IIRC all their newer powders have the decoppering agent.
I'll second what Johnly said about annealing. With the 6.5-270 JDJ, it was a big change from the parent case and annealing was the only way to not lose a bunch. There's very little change from parent to formed case in the 338-06. Maybe just try forming a few and if you start losing cases, then...
With my 6.5-270 JDJ, I used a top load from the 270, jammed a long bullet in the lands and just got some good trigger time. Every fire form load I tried was accurate and I hunted with them, shooting deer & hogs. I think I'd only do the COW method if accuracy was really bad.
I'll be watching this thread closely. I'm interested to see how Weatherby fixes/handles this and to see what it takes to stump FOTIS in load development.
I'm dreading a move to hopefully a new house in the spring. Not just because moving sucks, but because I will have to move 40+ years of reloading equipment & supplies! I inherited my dad's stuff and have steadily added to it over the years. It doesn't help that all this stuff is heavy as crap!
I agree, if a load isn't safe in hot weather, then there's no place for it in my rotation. My deer season can be 100+ degrees or in the teens. I need a load that works in any temp I'm likely to encounter.
I went out to my hunt club today with my BIL and we got into some wood ducks. I got my limit and he knocked down two but only found one. We had a blast, even in the rain. Hoping to go again in a few days.
Awesome, looking good! I'm loving my Accumark in 257 Wby. Hoping to take it to Alabama at the end of January for a whitetail hunt. How's the gen 2 Leupold?