Partitions vs Ballistic Tips

[DaveA37]

I've been reloading my own hunting ammo for some time but have never tried this senerio.......

Say your working up a new load in .308 cal and want to use 165 gr. Nosler "Partition" bullets as the final selection for hunting purposes.

Is it possible to work up that new load with a "Ballistic Tip" bullet and then "finish" the fine tuning of the load with the "Partion" bullet?

Using the same grain weights, both bullets have similar shape charactistics, except for the bullet tip.

At the cost of bullets today, it would appear to be a way to save some money and still wind up with the end desired result

 

[DrMike]

DaveA37,

Welcome to the forum. Good question. Short answer is, "Don't do it." It is a false economy. Bearing surface differs enough between different bullets to create the potential for serious pressure spikes. This says nothing of the different gilding metals used for the bullets.

Years ago, I tried this, carefully working up a "safe" load with a cheaper bullet for a lever action rifle and then switching to a more expensive bullet. Fortunately, I knew enough to drop the charge back 5%. As it was, when the first bullet was touched off, the lever flew down and I still have a souvenir on the knuckle of my middle finger to remind me that I was seriously over pressure with a "safe" load. Upon reflection, and a bit of measuring, I discovered that the bearing surface was quite a bit longer on the more expensive bullet, creating unsafe pressures.

 

[JD338]

DaveA37

Most likely they will shoot to different POI. You may be able to work up different loads that will hit the same POI but I would recommend you work up separate loads for max accuracy. You can practice with the BT (buy seconds and save even more money :wink: ) and than rezero with your hunting load.

JD338

 

[SJB358]

Or just shoot AccuBond 2nds and stay with the price of regular Ballistic Tips and the reliability of the Partition. Might save you some bucks in the long run, instead of having two different loads. Scotty

 

[chet]

you could probably get away with it if the two bullets were AccuBond vs ballistic tip but I cant think of any other scenarios....

that bearing surface changes things alot more than people think

 

[Divernhunter]

Actually I have done this. I have found that the BT bullet will show pressure signs before the PAR bullet. So if it is ok with the BT it will be ok with the PAR bullet. I also had a bunch of 150gr .308cal bronze points by remington which showed high pressure signs even before the BT bullet does.
The BT bullets have shown high pressure problems before the PAR bullets in the following cartridges for me 6mm rem/257Roberts/25-06/257Weatherby/7mm Rem mag/300 and 338win mag/308win/30-06/7mm-08 and 6.5X55. The 308win and 257Roberts were tested in a TC Encore pistol as well as rifles. All others were only in rifles. I have Ruger/Rem/Tikka/Weatherby rifles. Some cartridges were tested in more than one brand/type of action rifle also with constant results of BT showing signs before the PAR bullet.
I found that if the BT bullet worked safely then the PAR bullet would be fine. But if the PAR bullet was safe the BT bullet could show high pressure signs and the Rem bronze point wold show signs before the BT would.
Still it is smart to drop back a couple of grains when switching bullet to test. I will load 1-3 cartridges with a lesser powder charge and check them for pressure signs before loading up a bunch and finding out they are too hot. Plus that gives me another reason to go back to the range the next day or weekend.

 

[6mm Remington]

DaveA37
Everyone is correct when you have to work up loads for each of these bullets, and you just cannot work up a load for the BT and expect pressures and everything to be okay with the Partition. Plus they will most likely shoot to a different point of impact.
Sometimes you can get lucky and have both bullets of the same weight, with different loads of course, but have both with a relatively close points of impact to each other. If that is the case on your load work for your rifle, then you could use the BT for practice since they cost less, and the Partition for the real hunting. I found something like this in a friends 325 WSM using 200 gr. Partitions and 200 gr. Accubonds. :shock: :shock:

200 gr. AccuBond- 65.5 grs of IMR4350 2.900 OAL 2.5" high at 100 yards

200 gr. Partition- 64.5 grs of IMR4350 2.865 OAL 1.5" high at 100 yards

They both shoot about the same with the Accubonds grouping about 3/4" with the Partitions shooting groups of around 1" usually. I didn't write down the FPS for each load and can't think of it off the top of my head. He was very lucky though because the difference between the two bullets was only vertical and was not horizontal. They also impact very closely to each other which I think is very fortunate. He can use this site-in with confidence and use either bullet. It was just luck, and it worked out much better than I could have imagined. :grin:

Has anyone else been lucky enough to find a combination like that with two different bullets of the same weight in ONE rifle?

 

[DrMike]

6mm Remington,

In my 7mm RM, 175 grain TBBC and 175 grain PT have the same POI. However, they are different loads, the former using WXR and the latter H870. I have witnessed this on a couple of occasions, but it is not often.

 

[super-7]

WE pretty much did this in my nephews .243, using 85gr. bt and 85 grain parts., We developed each load seperatly but wound up both the same load, and pretty close to same groups, bt's a little tighter. we wound up with middle of the road load using hy-brid 100, 43 gr 3240(fps). He uses the bt's for target practice and coyotes, and next year he'll be old enough to hunt deer, thats where the parts come in.

 

[Antelope_Sniper]

My first bullet in a new gun is almost always ballistic tips. If a gun won't shoot BT's, there's a good chance it won't shoot. Work the kinks out with an inexpensive, accurate bullet, then start loading the expensive premiums. Nothing quite like shooting half a box of partitions before you realise your scopes canted, mounts are loose, you have bedding issues, ect.

Besides, it's always nice to have a good deer load.