Nosler Partition's in .300 Win. Magnum?

[jphendren]

Today I put together my first batch of .300 Win. Magnum ammunition.  I used new factory Winchester brass, Fed 215 primers, IMR 4350, and 200gr Nosler Partition spitzers.  I full length resized the new cases, and trimmed them to the trim length.  Today I noticed while loading the Nosler's, that they do not have a crimp cannelure.  The .300 Win. cases have a short neck, and the bullets seem to seat with very little effort.  I am concerned that the bullets will pull out under recoil; does anybody here load Nosler Partitions?  Am I okay without crimping them?

Thanks,

Jared

[Drilling Man]

  That's a fantastic bullet in the 300 Win. Mag., i used it quite a bit in them.  Anyway, i never had a problem with bullet movement, but if you feel the bullet goes in too easy, you can reduce the diameter of your expander ball a bit.  Use an electric drill and fine emery, measure it often to make sure you don't go too far!

  DM

[drdougrx]

Hi,

I use 180gr partitions and 200gr accubonds...I never used to crimp them.  I do now with a Lee factory crimp die...matter of fact...I actually crimp every rifle cartridge I load now (10 calibers) with it except for the 35 whalen because there isn't a die to be had yet.  I think it helps....some say it actually helps concentricity.  No matter....I crimp with the lee crimp die.

[billy_56081]

I would use a Lee Factory crimp die, the 300 win mag will bounce the ammo around your magazine. BTW that sounds like a killing combo, you are not undergunned for any North American game animal with it.

[jphendren]

My Lee die set came with the Factory Crimp die, but is it okay to crimp bullets that do not have a cannelure?

Jared

[billy_56081]

My Lee die set came with the Factory Crimp die, but is it okay to crimp bullets that do not have a cannelure?

Jared

Yes absolutly. It will even crimp the case slightly into the bullet.

[Dand]

Since 1981, I've shot lot of 165, 180 and 200 gr Nosler Partitions in my 300 win mag - and I seat them out as I  have a long mag box and long throat chamber. I have always used a set of RCBS dies I bought 2nd hand and have NEVER had a problem with bullets backing out of the cases. Never have done any sort of crimp. I do agree if you want to crimp the Lee Factory is the way to go - love it for my 30-30 and 348.

I prefer IMR 4831, H 4831 in my Win Mag. I'm working with Rx22 now and its done very well too. Got a .37" group (3 shot) with Rx22 and 200 gr Speer hot cores a few weeks ago - one of my best ever groups. No chrono work with the Rx22 yet - just working up loads for a bison hunt.

BTW my guide is trying to talk me out of the 200 gr Nosler Partitions - he says he' seen bad performance with them, especially on brown bears - too brittle he says. Heck, I mostly hunt with partitions for caribou and moose, haven't seriously chased brown bears. They have always worked well for me. I'll be trying Barne's tsx soon.

[Lloyd Smale]

I too have never had a problem with bullets pulling in the 300 mag. If you do notice it just chuck up your decapping rod in a drill and use a bit of emery on the expander ball to make it just slightly smaller.

[Drilling Man]

  Personally, i won't crimp a bullet that doesn't have a crimping grove.  The crimp has to go some place, and squeezeing a cup/core bullet like that, can loosen the core from the jacket.  That's NOT something i want on a hunting bullet, that i expect and want to stay together.  Does it happen every time?  no.... but it DOES happen...

  I do as LITTLE crimping as i can, and haven't found it necessary in my bottle neck rifle rounds.

  DM

[jphendren]

I decided to to see how well the brass holds the bullets on my finished rounds this morning, and I found that I can turn the bullet in the case with my fingers, it takes quite a bit of force, but they can be turned. I don't feel that is enough case neck tension to prevent the bullet from moving under recoil in the magazine box, so I will have to crimp them.

Jared

[Drilling Man]

  I'd emery the expander ball down a bit...

  DM

[sr sawyer]

Your expander ball should be about .002 smaller than bullet diameter.  If you can turn the loaded bullets with your fingers you need to reduce the size of the expander as suggested in previous posts.  Also make sure before loading you remove any case lube that may be in the case mouth.

Bullets in the magazine of heavy recoiling rifles have a better chance of being driven deeper into the case than getting longer or pulling.  Bullet nose deformation from bullets slamming into the front of the magazine box was the mother of the invention of the plastic tip bullets. 

I have never crimped any bullet for single shot or bolt actions and never, that I am aware of, experienced bullet movement in the 300 Win Mag or the 300 Weatherby.  Of course you could not move the bullets with you fingers after loading either.

Good Shooting, Ken

[jphendren]

"Also make sure before loading you remove any case lube that may be in the case mouth."

I always put my sized brass into a Tupperware bowl and wash them in hot water with dish soap, it seems to remove all of the sizing lube, inside and out.

"Bullets in the magazine of heavy recoiling rifles have a better chance of being driven deeper into the case than getting longer or pulling."

That makes sense, I guess I was thinking more from a revolver standpoint.

"I have never crimped any bullet for single shot or bolt actions"

I always crimp my .375 H&H loads, but then again I am using the Hornady 300gr Interlock, which has a cannelure.  The .375 will do under MOA from a rest.  The Nosler Partition does not have a cannelure, but seems to be held in place with a very light crimp from the Lee Factory Crimp die.

Jared

[Lloyd Smale]

if your bullets spin you definately dont have enough neck tension. You will either have to emery down your expander a bit or contact the die company and tell them to send you a new expander.

[paul105]

After decapping and expanding, remove the expander/decapper from the size die and run the cases thru it once more.  This will give you maximum neck tension and will tell you if whether the expander or size die is the problem.

[jphendren]

"After decapping and expanding, remove the expander/decapper from the size die and run the cases thru it once more.  This will give you maximum neck tension and will tell you if whether the expander or size die is the problem."

That is great advice, thanks, I will give that a try.  I actually don't really need the decapping pin, I decap in a universal decapping die before I size my brass.

I would also like to mentioned that yesterday I went out and fired 12 rounds of my 200gr Nosler Partition loads.  I loaded three cartridges at a time in the magazine, and checked the bullets after each shot, no bullet seating depth changes were noted, so the slight crimp seems to have worked.  It was too windy to do any good paper target work, so I killed a bunch of water filled juice/Gatorade bottles instead.  I noticed that the Partitions completely penetrate the bottle and do little damage compared to my usual Hornady Interlock bullet.  I am assuming that is due to the Partition holding together so well.

Jared

[BBF]

If you size the cases without the expander ball, be careful not to collapse the neck or scratch up the base/side of the bullet.

[paul105]

Most of the Partitions I've seen have a slightly beveled base, so they should seat without any trouble.  Also, if you chamfer the case mouth, you shouldn't "shave" the side of the bullet.

I know I've used the "no expander" approach -- just can't remember the circumstances.  Thought it might have been some 300 Win Mag that I loaded w/200gr partitions and a heavily compressed charge of H Retumbo but my load notes don't mention it.

Paul

[jphendren]

Update,

I went out today with the rifle to check a couple of loads using the Nosler 200gr Partition spitzers.  I loaded 3 in the magazine, and fire the first two, and then ejected the third and compare the OAL to a fresh one from the box.  The bullet nose was smashed flat, and the bullet had been pushed back into the case substantially.  I did not fire this round as I know that higher pressure would result.  For the rest of the morning the rifle was a single shot.  So 1/2 turn on the Lee Factory Crimp die is not enough to hold the bullets in place, there just simply is not enough neck tension to hold the bullets.

Upon coming home I decided to pull the bullets and resize the case necks using my Lee Collet die.  I adjusted the die to one turn past contact with the shell holder and sized one neck.  I then put back on the bullet seater die and seated a fresh bullet in the empty case, again it barely required any force to seat the bullet.  What is going on here?  Both my .375 H&H, and .224 Weatherby require some effort to seat a bullet in the case after being sized.  They both have much longer case necks than the .300 Win. Magnum, but quite a few people shoot the .300 Win. and I am not reading of anybody else having trouble.

Jared

P.S. I just decided to measure the inside diameter of a couple collet sized cases, and they measure .305", does this sound correct?  And strangely, my Nosler Partitions are running .307", not .308".  I measure a Remington Core-Lokt, and it measured around .307.5".  A speer 150gr RN measure .308" perfectly.