jjt,

I' ve used the Nosler Partitions on quite a few animals, and have never regretted it. It tickles me when I read the expectations of some of us on bullet performance. I include myself it that comment as well. With all the success I' ve had with the Partitions, I' ve also wished they would retain more than 60% to 65% of their weight. Why? Hell, I don' t know! The only reason I can think of is that at sometime in my formative years I must have read something that declared deep penetration was critical, and could only be gotten with high retained weight. I' ve killed more deer with a .22LR HP than any other single cartridge/bullet combination in my life time. It all happened about forty years ago, during a late week in April, in Montana. The local game warden knew what we were doing, for he was doing the same thing, as were all the other ranches outside Lewiston. It had been a mild winter, and green grass had come up about a month earlier. Then the blizzard hit. There were several hay stacks on the meadows of this ranch that the owner let the deer have. The stack nearest the house had to be saved for the stock. Several of us sat on the stack all night long. In the later part of the week there was a 24 hour watch. We used sling shots and small marbles to try and drive the deer away. We actually shot the deer only after they started on the hay. Most shots were at arms reach. The bullets penetrated only a few inches, but since it was straight into the brain it did the job. I often think that if a bullet does the job, why is it necessary that it looks pretty afterwards? No matter how sexy a bullet is before being used, if it doesn' t do the job, it' s not worth a lead penny. If a bullet is accurate and does the job, it' s worth its cost, whatever that may be.
I don' t talk about the haystack very often, I' m not very proud of it. As far as I know None of the meat was wasted. The ranch I was at took all of it to a catholic and babtist church in the area and ended up feeding a lot of people. I know that many will throw rocks, but those that have been there will understand.

By the way. I think I' ve found a bullet that may give me what I want in a bullet. The new Hornady Interbond seems as if it will give me what I want. Out of a .308 Win. fire at 100 yards retained 91% of its weight. When fired at 20 feet it still retained 86% of its weight when fired into wet newspapers. Next month I hope to try it on a cow elk. Please excuse the rmablin' .