I used sst's in two rifles when they first came out and was less than impressed.I strictly load accubonds and ttsx's in every rifle I have now and the results are 100% consistent.

 

Does anyone use the Nosler partition bullets ?
I have been using the 140 grains in my 270 for the past 25 years with great results on dear .

 

Partition was Nosler's bullet for deep penetration before Accubonds came along. They are also a great bullet. The Accubond is a bit less expensive due to the fact it uses a chemical bonding process to bond the core to jacket, where as in the Partition a physical partition keeps the core and jacket together. The Accubond also has a bit more intrinsic accuracy due to design difference. Probably won't be noticed at normal PA deer distances.

So both the Accubond and Partition are going to perform similarly....the Accubond is just a bit less expensive and a bit higher bc.

 

I have used Federal Fusions in my 270 and had no issues in the performance of the shots or the knock down power but did run into a batch where 7 out of the box of 20 blew the primers back and jammed the bolt from cambering a follow up round.
This was on a brand new Remington 700 adl .270. I never reloaded my own ammo and know excessive head pressure will cause blow back so took the gun back to the dealer and there was nothing wrong with the gun.
Since that box I have not had issues with the Federal in this piece again,but it is not my first choice when buying ammo for it.
I have used Fed in other guns and no such issues

 

In the Federal Premium the 6.5CM 140 grain Nosler Accubonds are loaded to 2675fps and at 400 yds still maintains velocity over 2,000 fps. Has an excellent BC of .509 with a proven bonded bullet construction. The Federal Fusion 6.5CM 140 grain BC is .439 which still isn't too shabby. Coming to the conclusion that the 140 Nosler Accubond should handle any deer/bear encounter I throw at it assuming ole Loggy can do his part!

 

Nosler has some really good bullets in fact I was looking at the 129 gr. Accubond Long Range bullet for reloading it has a B.C. of .530 and S.D. of .291 but most all my shots are 100 yards or less so I don't really need anything like that. If I was going to shoot out past 250 yards that Accubond L.R. would be my pick.

 

My .243 shoots SST's really well so I continue using them but they are on the explosive side if you hit bone. I would never consider shooting a bear with one.

 

I haven't personally shot SST at game, but what you described is exactly what I witnessed when a friend shot a cow elk with the 165 gr. factory load in Colorado. The load shot extremely accurately, so it's what he brought for the trip. He put it directly into the shoulder and, best we can tell, it didn't penetrate nearly enough. The elk took off on 3 good legs never to be seen again.

Lesson learned - it's a good whitetail bullet, but definitely get something less explosive/tougher when stepping up to bigger game.

 

If you are limiting your shots to stationary whitetail at ideal angles,keeping the shot in the rib cage, and are a capable shot on game, SST should work fine. But even a whitetail shoulder will play havoc with an SST. Definitely not a projectile for shooting whitetail on the move.

And a very poor choice for any elk....except perhaps at extreme ranges. And even then there are better choices.

 

If you are limiting your shots to stationary whitetail at ideal angles,keeping the shot in the rib cage, and are a capable shot on game, SST should work fine. But even a whitetail shoulder will play havoc with an SST. Definitely not a projectile for shooting whitetail on the move.

And a very poor choice for any elk....except perhaps at extreme ranges. And even then there are better choices.

Yep. We found that out the hard way. I had zero experience with the SST bullet at that point, and didn't know to tell him any differently about his bullet choice. I was personally using a handloaded 160 gr. Sierra GameKing BTHP out of my 7mm WSM after researching that bullet a good bit for the job. When we shot (simultaneously) my cow dropped, but his cow just stood there for a moment, hit, and then then ran off. In hindsight, it was simply the wrong bullet choice, and left him no room for error.

As for the Accubond that Loggy chose, he should be great for anything from deer through bear with the weight he's using. I used the .284" 140 gr. version handloaded out of a 7mm-08 in South Africa about 10 years back. It smoked everything from tiny steenbok, all the way up to 600+ lb. kudu and gemsbok. No problem. The catch with that bullet is that it does noticeably more meat damage than some other traditional cup-and-core bullet choices. I also noticed that it can occasionally throw an uncalled flyer when shooting groups. Otherwise, it's completely up to any task he will face and plenty tough.

 

Thanks for everyone's great input here!!! It's what this site is all about!!:thumbs:

 

Happy to provide some help, Loggy! If you get good accuracy, you will be all set. My handloaded AccuBonds were going almost the exact same speed that Federal advertises for your 6.5 CM factory load and had great terminal performance. Just keep an eye on that meat damage issue I mentioned above. Long term, that was the only reason I switched to a Barnes TTSX of the same weight in that same 7mm-08 used in Africa: the meat is a good bit less bloodshot.

 

Ended up buying 3 boxes of Federal Fusion bonded 140 grain for starters. Was back & forth(and then some lol) with Nosler Accubonds but concluded the bonded Federal Fusion would do all I need especially considering most all my shooting would likely be in the 100 yard or less range. Tons of review reading coupled with all your great input here helped me decide. Now...hopefully my X-Bolt will like them!!:smile2:

 

Hope that Browning likes them, Loggy. It should be a great bullet for your intended purpose....make that purposes, since it will be doing double duty on both deer and black bear!

 

Thanks Simon. If I were mainly looking for 200 yards & beyond performance maybe I'd opt for some of the other premium bullet choices such as the Hornady ELD-X (Extremely Low Drag - eXpanding) bullet) etc. specifically designed for such. I liked the ELD-X but for close hits it's non-bonded construction concerned me.

 

You made a solid choice with the Fusions, Loggy.
I've heard similar stories/concerns with the ELD-X at closer range... The performance envelope on that bullet is fantastic for the longer range hunter, but gets close to the red line in many calibers until it's slowed down after flying 150 yards or more....