Sorry bigngreen. Hijacked your thread. Guess we need to start a different thread!
Too funny...but kinda true. Yet, in a way, this is all still related though, right? He wanted to know if he should gun up for sheep or bears and part of that discussion is what BULLET to shoot out of whatever rifle he decides on.
What I find intriguing is we have all found a bullet (or bullet type) that seems to do it for us and have reasons for not wanting to use another bullet type. That's fine. Healthy discussion on such matters is useful. I'd never heard of a Partition failing, yet you reported one fracturing on the shoulder of a large animal. It's a data point and I appreciate that.
Over the years it seems like I've "learned" that quick expanding bullets (cup & core with lots of lead or a plastic tip) are great on deer and antelope, especially with that classic side view shot through the lungs. Lots of DRT reports.
The homogeneous (Barnes, Hammer, etc.) bullets seem to have a reputation for great penetration, allowing a person to drop a bullet weight (or two) and still drive the thing through the animal. But they tend to not have the 'DRT' rep the more frangible bullets have on light skinned game. Not that they can't produce a DRT moment...they can! It just isn't their primary 'reputation'.
The controlled expansion (bonded) and "H"-mantle type bullets (partition & A-frame) seem to strike a balance between the rapid expansion of the more frangible cup & core bullets with the penetrative qualities of the homogeneous bullets. They produce a lot of DRT moments AND penetrate pretty well. But they are splitting the difference between the other two, not out 'mastering' either of them.
None of this discusses varmint bullets since the conversation is Goats and Bears.
What strikes me is that any particular bullet, at any particular time, might fail miserably, regardless of how well regarded it is, and occasionally the 'wrong' bullet type (cup & core) still manages to do fine killing the big animals they are suppose to 'fail' at these days.
There are no ABSOLUTES in any of this. If an Accubond has been working great for you, are you really going to stop using it because some guy on here said it didn't work great for him? Nope. Until YOU have a failure to perform, you're going to keep going with it. Same for the Barnes guys. And the Hammer guys. And the Partition guys. Because we all have our own experiences and have come to trust a particular bullet type for the job at hand.
Now if a new bullet comes out (the
SpeerNoslerBarnes Super Killer) and suddenly a lot of people are reporting it is killing everything like lightning, perhaps we try it ourselves. Or if people report it fails to penetrate and a long tracking job took place every time it was used, perhaps we avoid it like the plague. The beauty is there are always "early adopters" to try new things to give us an idea of how they are working out.
The flip side of that is there are bullets that have been around for 'forever' and we pretty much know and trust how they will perform 98% of the time, which is great for the non-risk-takers in our midst. Something for everyone.
In my reloading closet right now I have Barnes TSX, TTSX, Nosler Partitions & Ballistic Tips, Speer Gold Dots (rifle version), Hornady Interlocks & SSTs, Sierra Game Kings, Speer Grand Slams, and probably something else I'm forgetting. Depending on the caliber I'm using and the game I'm hunting, I'll make a bullet choice I think will get the job done 'best' under the hunting conditions I'm expecting (dense forest? wide open plains?)
None of you guys are likely to change my mind, but I do pay attention to what you write. I file it away. If enough people start to say similar things, it might THEN sway my opinions moving forward. So, again, thanks for sharing your experiences and keeping it civil. I appreciate it.
