Bullet failure 130 grain nosler partition with 6.5 creedmoor

richhymas said:
Not sure if anyone else had this problem, but my son almost lost a cow elk yesterday due to bullet failure. He hit his cow elk low in the front shoulder smashing the bone above the elbow. Bullet appears to have completely come apart and did not enter the chest. Follow up shot smashed the same shoulder high but also failed to penetrate the chest. All this at 325 yards with a 6.5 creedmoor and a 130 grain nosler partition. We came back the next day and found the cow bedded in trees. She got up and ran off. Ultimately he killed her with a 270. So should I blame the 6.5 creedmoor as being too light for cow elk or the 130 grain nosler partition??? Anyone else kill elk with a 6.5 creedmoor with a solid shoulder shot? If so, what bullet did you use because my 11 year old daughter has a tag next month and can't handle the recoil of much more than my creedmoor.
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Just bad luck. If I were you I'd send the bullets to Nosler as there was obviously a production problem here.

There's just no reason the bullets should not have penetrated completely, this is exactly what they were designed to do.

Honestly I've never heard of a Partition not penetrating. The one complaint I have seen on them is that when they don't smash bone, sometimes they fail to expand at all or just appear to pencil through.

Mind you, I don't shoot partitions and have no particular love of Nosler but this just isn't what the partition is known to do, they are a great bullet when you have to get through tough hides, heavy muscle and heavy bone.
 
richhymas said:
We quartered it out gutless. First bullet may have deflected low. Second bullet was centered on the shoulder (scapula I believe). The quarters are on ice. When I cut and wrap after my deer hunt I will look carefully for the bullet or fragments thereof. I will give it one more shot next month with the 6.5 but will probably use a different bullet. I will also instruct my daughter to stay behind the shoulder. Hopefully she doesn't stay too far back and get a gut shot. Any recommendations for a good bullet choice for a 6.5 on cow elk out to 400 yards?
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If you're going to get off of the shoulder pick a different bullet or you're likely to be unhappy watching the next one run off.

The partition is designed to do one thing, and one thing only and that's to penetrate the toughest and heaviest part of the animal. It is not designed to be shot into soft tissue and will not expand like say the Accubond or Hornady Interbonds and Interlocks.

What you're most likely to get hitting only soft tissue is a caliber sized exit wound and very little more and you don't have the mass or energy with a bullet that size to do massive damage from the shock on an animal the size of an elk with this cartridge at these ranges.
 
WildRose said:
Just bad luck. If I were you I'd send the bullets to Nosler as there was obviously a production problem here.

There's just no reason the bullets should not have penetrated completely, this is exactly what they were designed to do.

Honestly I've never heard of a Partition not penetrating. The one complaint I have seen on them is that when they don't smash bone, sometimes they fail to expand at all or just appear to pencil through.

Mind you, I don't shoot partitions and have no particular love of Nosler but this just isn't what the partition is known to do, they are a great bullet when you have to get through tough hides, heavy muscle and heavy bone.
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This makes the most sense. I'd contact Nosler to see if there was a recall on that particular lot. Unusual for a partition to destruct like that, esp. at lower velocity of the 140 grainer at 300+ yards.


https://load-data.nosler.com/load-data/65-creedmoor/

That would be my go to choice if there was a chance of a misplaced shot.

Then again for every bullet out there that got used zillions of times, one could probably find an instance or 2 where something didn't go according to Hoyle.
 
I don't put much thought into a one time thing. I'll say this you put enough bullets into things and you'll eventually have one do some weird stuff. Mine was a Barnes losing it's petals on a whitetail.
 
predator 22 said:
Partitions will expand in soft tissue just like any other soft (lead) point bullet.
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My experience with Partitions is that they ALWAYS expand. Most of the time they exit so you can't see what the expanded bullet looks like. On close shots, however, it is typical to blow the whole front core off and have the shank penetrate on through. I have recovered very few before a recent trip to Africa. I was very impressed by their performance. So was my PH.

I was very underwhelmed by the 168 TSXs I shot.
 
predator 22 said:
Partitions will expand in soft tissue just like any other soft (lead) point bullet.
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No they can't, the partition prevents it. They have a very heavy jacket which allows only minimal expansion if any unless they hit something hard. When they do, you simply lose most of the frontal core and what passes through then is the caliber sized remainder behind and including the partition.

They will perform as designed virtually every time unless like as appears in this case there was a flaw in the manufacture of this lot.
 
WildRose said:
No they can't, the partition prevents it. They have a very heavy jacket which allows only minimal expansion if any unless they hit something hard. When they do, you simply lose most of the frontal core and what passes through then is the caliber sized remainder behind and including the partition.

They will perform as designed virtually every time unless like as appears in this case there was a flaw in the manufacture of this lot.
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Unfortunately you are very wrong. The nose section of every partition I have sectioned is tapered from very thin at the nose and only slightly tapering thicker where it meets the partition.
Partitions expand at lower velocities than their Accubond counterparts.
The partition STOPS the expansion at a given point. It doesn't prevent the expansion.
Some weights in certain cals have the partition further forward than the nominal 60% of the total weight point in the shank. In 25 cal, the 115gr has the partition placed further forward than the 120gr pill.
The 225gr 338 cal also has the partition further forward than the 250gr.

I use LOTS of these, and Accubonds, bullet failures or manufacturing defects are very few. Recently had 2 plastic tips out of 500 rounds appear to have been affected by oil, the plastic has melted/crumbled and fell out. I have used hundreds of these 338 225gr Accubonds and never encountered this problem before.....both shot to the same POI @ 300mtr as the unaffected ones did.

Cheers.
 
MagnumManiac said:
Unfortunately you are very wrong. The nose section of every partition I have sectioned is tapered from very thin at the nose and only slightly tapering thicker where it meets the partition.
Partitions expand at lower velocities than their Accubond counterparts.
The partition STOPS the expansion at a given point. It doesn't prevent the expansion.
Some weights in certain cals have the partition further forward than the nominal 60% of the total weight point in the shank. In 25 cal, the 115gr has the partition placed further forward than the 120gr pill.
The 225gr 338 cal also has the partition further forward than the 250gr.

I use LOTS of these, and Accubonds, bullet failures or manufacturing defects are very few. Recently had 2 plastic tips out of 500 rounds appear to have been affected by oil, the plastic has melted/crumbled and fell out. I have used hundreds of these 338 225gr Accubonds and never encountered this problem before.....both shot to the same POI @ 300mtr as the unaffected ones did.

Cheers.
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I'm not wrong in the least, it's exactly why they will of ten pencil through when all that is hit is soft tissue. It's not a flaw, it's simply how they are designed.

I've seen literal hundreds of deer, hogs, and elk killed with them and they do a great job but only if they are put in the right place to take advantage of their structure/design.

Use a hammer for a hammer, not a wrench, use a Partition for punching heavy bone, muscle etc not shooting for the soft vitals.
 
130 grain 6.5mm creed punching through elk shoulder? Im not surprised at all. The only failure was the choice of caliber and shot placement. If you want a guaranteed shoulder punch on an elk the creed aint it. This why SO MANY guys recommend 30 cal and bigger for elk. Its not about the times the smaller guns work, its about the times they DIDN'T and bigger would have made the difference.
 
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I don't think the bullet was t blame. Plenty of VLD's and lighter constructed bullets than the Partition have taken elk. There's even a video of a 6mm ELD-M in I think 6mm CM taking a cow elk at over 400 yards. Not something I would advocate, but it illustrates what a well placed heart/ lung shot will do. Like others have suggested I think your bullet choice is good, just stay off the shoulder and go heart/ lung shot. Here's an article that's good reading on the topic. https://www.24hourcampfire.com/how_not_to_shoot_an_elk.html
 
WildRose said:
I'm not wrong in the least, it's exactly why they will of ten pencil through when all that is hit is soft tissue. It's not a flaw, it's simply how they are designed.

I've seen literal hundreds of deer, hogs, and elk killed with them and they do a great job but only if they are put in the right place to take advantage of their structure/design.

Use a hammer for a hammer, not a wrench, use a Partition for punching heavy bone, muscle etc not shooting for the soft vitals.
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It's been my experience the partition has a tendency to pencil through. I shot a whitetail buck with the 7mm 150 partition in a 7mm rem mag high in the shoulder once(going for drt) and the bullet smashed through both shoulders and broke the spine and I only got a dime sized exit. Maybe a nickel. My grandfather shot a doe with the same load right through the lungs with no bone hit and it wasnt a heck of alot bigger than a 7mm exit. I also shot a coyote with a 125 partition moving at 3000 fps and I got the same pencil effect. I swore off partitions after those experiences.
 

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