45-70 300 gr PT Discontinued!

JD338

Range Officer
Staff member
Nov 4, 2004
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6,781
Posted on the Nosler web page is a discontinuation notice for the 45-70 300 gr Partition! Need to understand why, this is an awesome bullet.
http://www.nosler.com/
45-70Nosler300GRPT-1.jpg

JD338
 
Possibly the best all-around hunting bullet for the .45/70 - darned shame to see it discontinued...
 
No..You guys can't take the Nosler choice away from all the 45-70/450 Marlin shooters out there...I have bragged them up for years and now your putting them out to pasture?

Shame on Nosler. :lol: Why did you choose to do this?Sales I assume..Atleast come up with an alternative for the .458 Leverguns..Maybe a 350 grain FP?

Jayco :shock:
 
Well they were averaging about $1.25 each bullet. So maybe not cost effective?
 
The Hornady Leverevolution bullets have been available for reloading a while now and they have probably helped to make a dent in sales. I believe the price is a lot cheaper also. And to be quite frank, a bullet going 1700 fps at the barrel and much less at the animal probably doesn't need to be a Partition to hold together reasonably well.
We may see some bullets being dropped due to the lead bullet restrictions also as time goes on. I'm guessing Nosler has some new products in the R&D stages that may replace some existing bullets and offer innovation as dramatic as the AccuBond was.
I don't suspect it's as easy to come up with a revolutionary new product as it was when the Partition was born. Especially with the leadfree restrictions. Barnes has done it with the MRX but they cost too much for the average reloader just like the Swift A-Frames if you plan to shoot often. IMO
Good Hunting
Elkhunt :grin:
 
I am sure it is due to low demand. If you think about it, the .458 500 gr PT and even the .426 400 gr PT would be relativity low volume too.

Maybe there will be a new offering from Nosler. AccuBond? E-Tip?

JD338
 
Greg Nolan":jpmnnjk7 said:
The Hornady Leverevolution bullets have been available for reloading a while now and they have probably helped to make a dent in sales. I believe the price is a lot cheaper also. And to be quite frank, a bullet going 1700 fps at the barrel and much less at the animal probably doesn't need to be a Partition to hold together reasonably well.
We may see some bullets being dropped due to the lead bullet restrictions also as time goes on. I'm guessing Nosler has some new products in the R&D stages that may replace some existing bullets and offer innovation as dramatic as the AccuBond was.
I don't suspect it's as easy to come up with a revolutionary new product as it was when the Partition was born. Especially with the leadfree restrictions. Barnes has done it with the MRX but they cost too much for the average reloader just like the Swift A-Frames if you plan to shoot often. IMO
Good Hunting
Elkhunt :grin:

Actually I was loading more like 2,300fps & the Hor. is not near the bullet.
And yes, I can imagine cost was an issue.
 
I have to say I am alittle disappointed Nosler will not answer on there own forum first.You have to read it somewhere else like I did when Nosler answered an e-mail to someone asking the same question we asked..

The answer was No sales....

Disappointed Jayco
 
I have no doubt that price was the factor that decided this fine bullets fate. When I first started shooting them they were around 35.00 for 50. When raw material cost jumped up they were selling for as much as 78.50 per box. When raw material cost fell the price of the 300PP didn't come down with it. It is true that there is a limited number of hunters that actualy need the awsome performance they gave. In side by side un-biased tests they made a great showing vs. a .416 Rigby out of a guide gun. But.........when it came down to the shot on a hunt of a lifetime for a big Alaskan moose or a 375" elk there is simply nothing better. I am just thankful that I have a few hundred of them. reflex264

here is part of the test:

Test overview from .416 vs. .450 5/17/07

In this test I decided to use the toughest media I know of which is dry vinyl coated paper. It will generally destroy bullets and penetration is very limited. The two rifles are as different as they can possibly be. The .450 marlin guide gun is a lightweight short barreled lever action. The .416 Rigby a Ruger #1 Tropical SS/ laminate. Typically the .416 makes its living by generating around 5000flbs of muzzle energy.
First off many would consider this a David and Goliath test but nothing could be farther from the truth. The fact of the matter is when fired into dampened media the .458 Nosler 300gr PP generally out penetrates bullets that weigh more than it does even when fired at slower speeds. This has been proven over and over. In my previous testing I discovered that as media tensile strength rises the bullets of similar construction generating more kinetic energy did have an advantage so to my way of thinking pitting a rifle generating around 3000flbs against one generating around 5000ftlbs would help to establish if the 300gr Nosler was truly as good as it acted in softer medias.
The method used for determining penetration and wound channel score was as follows. After the shot the media was examined to determine the position of the bullet and that stack of media would be removed to that point and placed back flat on the surface of the ballistic buffalo and measured. The wound channel observations were made in layers to determine how quick expansion started, peaked and subsided. Since the dry media wouldn’t hold the shape of the wound channel like the damp media no true wound volume could be established but reasonable description of the damage could be easily observed.
The bullets were removed, measured and weighed. General observations were made on the condition of the bullets. All of the results are free from bias.



Bullet test 5/17/07
.416 Rigby vs. .450 Marlin in dry vinyl coat media

.458 Nosler PP 300gr

Velocity: 2100fps
Energy: 2938flbs
Penetration: 5.00"
 
Yep fellers it let the 45-70 and .450 perform all out of proportion to paper ballistics. It is going to be a shame to see this fine bullet drift off into obscurity. reflex264
 
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