quote:

Originally posted by PC:
When it's all said and done is the accubond a tougher bullet than the normal old Nosler Ballistic Tip

I honestly don't think so....

I'm not saying that these bullets don't have their place they are a fantastic light animal B-slapper but they just ain't as advertised.. PERIOD.

Guys

This is pretty interesting. I'm not looking for the go to do everything bullet for the 375. I want a bullet that given the right circumstances. will make the 375 viable for medium to large antelope at 300 yards and maybe a little further.

It does seem that the results with the Accubonds has been mixed that is why I have some 270 TSX's on the way. Good BC and unquestioned penetration.

I have not given up on the NP it just does not shoot well in my rifle nor does the SAF in the lighter weights. NF's shoot well but the BC is pretty terrible and I cn't drive them as fast as I would like.

Thanks for the world wind of comments. This was almost like starting another Ballistic Tip thread.

Mark

Mark,
I have the same problem in my 375Wby. The 300gr NPs just will not shoot, but the Accubonds shoot nicely. Given my low opinion of them from use in smaller bores, I just use them for target practice. I bought a box of the 270gr TSX bullets and found the magic I was looking for. These TSXs have shot great in every rifle I've tried them in so I'm betting they will group well in your rifle too.

I talked to the nosler rep at the NRA show in Houston about the accubond and he claimed one of the owners had taken them to africa and shot an elephant and buff with the .375 260gr.

He was rather upset when I said he was full of $hit and any body who tried this was an idiot.

I'm sure there is no truth to the statement but with the less than stellar performance on smaller game it is poor marketing to tell people it is a great big game bullet, someone who didn't know better might have believed them and attempted to use it with disastrous results.

In the accubond's defense however it is extremely accurate, out of my guns anyways.

Hi All,
I used the federal premium 260 grain Accubonds out of my 375 last year in Zimbabwe. I also took and used solids and 300 gr NP's.

I was very pleased with the AB's. They are very accurate and I never had a lack of penetration. I took an Eland at 170 yards and the AB went there the chest and came to rest under the skin on the off side. I have pictures, but don't know how to post. Perfect expanded shape. Took other animals--impala, warthog, baboon etc with no problem. I think it is a better and "tougher" bullet then the NBT.

I would not hesitate to use them again.
Regards, PG

quote:

Please explain this one...it sounds like you saying that poor shot placement with a Ballistic Tip helped you succeed over the same shot had you used a Partition (hence deeper, and greater damage)? That seems counter-intuitive.

An example would be a whitetail that I shot in S.D. the other year in hilly prairie type country. Running shot at about 180yds quartering away slightly. Gut shot low, only about 3" up from the bottom of the belly. It ran about 50yds before dropping dead. The BST put about a 6" exit hole in the deer and the shock pretty much liquified everything within 12" of the impact. I have not doubt that on a hit like that where there is nothing heavy to expand a X bullet or the like, that the deer probably would not have been recovered.

It's simple, if I know I'm going to be shooting medium sized game under 200yds, I pick X bullets or NP's, If I know my shot will probably be 200yds+, I'm going with an Accubond or a BST. It's all about picking the right bullet for the job.

I've shot a lot of deer with NP's where the front is shed and exits with a hole the only slightly bigger than the diameter of the bullet and the back half is left in the animal with 1/2 it's weight gone. In those cases, I'd rather have a BST or Accubond expend all it's energy in the animal and lose half it's weight.

It seems where Mark is going he is confident there will be some very long shots, so why not the Accubond?

For some reason, threads on polymer tips always end up being a "my wife is better looking that yours" conversation.

quote:

Originally posted by bwanajcj:
I talked to the nosler rep at the NRA show in Houston about the accubond and he claimed one of the owners had taken them to africa and shot an elephant and buff with the .375 260gr.

He was rather upset when I said he was full of $hit and any body who tried this was an idiot.

They seem to have a hard time finding competent help.

Mark, if you want a long range bullet for your .375 that will still hold together, may I suggest a North Fork? http://www.northforkbullets.com

Mark,
I would have thought that you would know better than to take such a bullet to hunt the larger species of game in Africa...

G'day, I'd would have to agree with Ray here, this lesson has been written in blood so many times it's not funny. For the bigger critters in Africa, a decently constructed soft point, Woodleigh, Swift, Nosler Partition, Trophy bonded, etc. Good penetration, hold together when breaking through heavy bones, yet reasonable expansion. Lots of blood out, lots of air in.
In .375, I can particularly recommend the Woodleigh 300gr Protected Point, used it for several years now on critters from deer up to buff, with no problems. I understand they can be hard to find, but there are lots of projectiles out there that will fit the bill.
I use the Accubonds on deer, out of my .270win, but I would really think carefully before I used them on large or dangerous game.

Cheers, Dave.
Non Illegitium Carborundum.

I just returned from a goat and black bear hunt in Alaska. I now have two recovered 160 gr Accubonds out of my 7mm Rem mag. I used Federal factory loads as I was short of time to develop handloads (mv 2935fps on my chrongraph, Win 70 LH- 26 inch barrel). Both shots were diagonally throught the chest. Both bullets were recovered under the skin on the far side. The goat was shot at about 100 yards and the black bear between 150 and 200 yards. The lack of exit wounds on easy game makes me wonder if this is a good elk load for next year...

I guess Nosler partitions and Accubonds aren't exactly equivalent. It seems to me that bonded core bullets are fundimentally different from partition bullets. I think bonded core bullets are excellent at the lower high velocity range, not the higher end of that range. I would have no hesitency in using an Accubond in a 7mm Mauser or a 280. I'm not sure about using them again in a 7mm Mag If penetration is an important consideration.
Paul

Last year at the end of May I traveled to South Africa. I have always used the Nosler Partition Bullet from Nosler, but I decided to go with all of the Reviews and try the Accubonds out for myself. I was using the 180 grain Nosler Accubond out of a Factory Model 70 in 300 Win Mag. The Only changes I made to the rifle was to lighten the trigger and put a Mcmillian stock on the rifle. The results I had with Accubonds were Awesome to say the least. On the 10 days in RSA I harvested 11 animals which took me twelve shots overall. Here are the Results and yardage. My father went on the trip also. Before leaving we called Nosler and ordered 20 boxes, same lot number and started shooting constintely. We took 3 boxes each over with us on the trip.

Impala-1 shot - 125 yards bullets exited after taking out one shoulder quartering away. Animal immediately dropped.

Duiker-1 shot - 60 yards bullet exited after going through the chest cavity. Animal was broadside and dropped immediately.

Bushbuck - 1 shot - 100 yards bullet exited after going through the front shoulders. Animal was broadside and dropped immediately.

Common Spring Buck - 1 shot - 125 yards bullet exited after going through the neck at the base. Animal was broadside and dropped immediately.

Gemsbock - 1 Shot - 250 yards bullet stayed in the animal losing 1/3 of its weight. Bullet went through both shoulders and stayed in the animal. Animal dropped immediately

White Springbock - 1 shot - 125 yards - Bullet went through both shoulders and exited. Animal dropped immediately.

Black Springbock - 1 shot - 200 yards - Bullet went through the chest cavity, hitting the heart directly and then exiting. The animal ran 20 yards before dropping.

Steenbock - 1 shot - 60 yards - Bullet went through both shoulders. The taxidermist hated me. (Full Mount) Bullet expanded and dropped the animal immediately. Horns measured 6 inches and 6 and 1/8 on the other. The thing was huge.

Kudu - 2 Shots - 175 yards - First Bullet went through the chest cavity and clipped the lungs, Kudu took off and offered me another shot facing away where I shot through his chest from above at about a 45 degree angle, almost. I was on one side of the ravine with him on the other. He ran up the hill a bid and we found laying down. Both bullets exited and were not found.

Blesbock - 1 Shot - 150 yards - Bullet went through both shoulders and exited. The animal dropped immediately.

Warthog - 1 shot - 250 yards - Bullet went through both shoulders and exited. The animal dropped immediately.

In all of my 22 years, I have hunted for 12 of them. I have only used Nosler Products for big game. I know I don't have as much experience as many of you who post on the boards, and since I have only shot Nosler products for hunting, I know this limits my knowledge on many other bullets. I have only always shot Nosler bullets though because they have worked. And I have stuck with the phrase "If it works, don't try to fix it!!!" I have shot Mule Deer, Whitetail and elk with Nosler Partitions, some of those out to 350 yards, where they have dropped. I have found that the Accubonds group better out of factory Winchester and Browing rifles. ( I have tested them in 4 rifles) My father shot accubonds in RSA and had similiar results as listed above. He did have to chase a zebra, shooting it three times in total. The first shoot was far back and so was the second. The third got it through the shoulders. I helped recover these bullets and found that they lost about 1/3 of the weight. Most of the bullets weighed around 120 to 130 grains. That was after removing all of the grisel form the bullets. I feel that this bullet is good for lighter skinned game. If I ever get a chance to head back to Africa for plains game, I would probably take these bullets. That is to say that the largest animal I would be hunting is a Kudu. I would not use this bullet to hunt eland or anything bigger than a Kudu if I was trying to shoot that animal through both shoulders.
I hunted bear all spring in North Idaho, and if you checked my rifle, you would have saw that I was using Nosler Partitions. I do not feel that the Accubonds have the best penatration on heavy big boned game, they knocked down a Kudu and Gemsbock but did not exit. The Accubonds are a great bullet for plains game in Africa. They worked great for me and my father. That's all I could ask for.

This has been said before, but they might be alright as long as you keep them under 3000 fps. After that they just fall apart.

quote:

Originally posted by CanadianLefty:
Trust our (myself and two buddies)experiences. Do a search on Accubonds fail on Deer here or especially on 24hourcampfire.com

I would never use them again in .30 cal at 3000 fps or more. Our 180gr. bullets failed to penetrate more than 6-10" on whitetailed deer chest, shoulder and pelvic shots! We put them througfh the test and they failed.

I would only use either TBBCs or Northfork bullets with absolute certainty- why? because again, I tried them out and they just plain penetrate AND expand- both in game and in test media.

I also shot 5 african plains game with a .300WSM using 180gr. TBBC's and all were 1 shot kills, great penetration.

I have had similar experinces on whitetail with the accubond 180's...
Go with another bullet.. The hornady interbonds have always served me well

Mark,

I have a 900 yard rifle range on my ranch. Balistic coefficient makes almost no real world difference until past 500 yards. At 600 yards you can actually measure a difference between an open point BTHP and a hunting bullet, but seldom at 500 yards on real targets.

Muzzle velocity out to 500 yards is more important than BC.

Since you are hunting rather than target shooting at 600 plus yards, may I suggest using the best killer rather than the best BC?

North Fork, Swift, Kodiak, and Nosler Partitions are probably the best killers based on frontal area and retained weight.

Accubonds, Interbonds and Scirrocos are trying to be all things to all shooters and are just bonded varmit bullets.

Andy

Direct and well said Andy.

Sometimes we put wayyyyy too much importance on B.C. and benchrest accuracy. Instead, we should be focusing more on super premium bullets and practicing shooting from field positions.

"Bonded varmint bullets"....Bravo!

What about using the 375 hh federal premium 260 grain Accubond for european red stag?

Why in the world would anyone even consider a less than super premium on an expensive Safari where optional bullets could not be had at the local gun shop....

ALWAYS USE PREMIUM BULLETS ON SAFARI....

Folks,

Thanks for the advise and particularly the comments that I asked for from people who actually have used the 260 ACCUBOND in Africa. I have some 270gr. TSX's now and will try them next. In reality I see no reason the TSX should not handle everything from sitatunga at 300 yards to buffalo up close. Hopefully they will shoot closely with my TCCI solids in the 375. The North Fork softs shot just 2" above the solids. Perhaps I'll get lucky.

If I had just started this thread and included that I was also shooting the Accubonds in a Model 700 or Blaser this thread would really have taken wings. If I really wanted to add fuel I would also have said that I was additionally bringing a 458 WM in a pushfeed something. Actually I'm taking a custom Dakota in 375 and a tweaked MK 10 in 458.

I would like to address the North Fork mantra. I also believe they are good bullets but as in some similiar experiences that folks have had with various bullets I did not get an exit with them. I shot a big bull caribou quartering through the lungs at about 200 yards with the 270 gr. NF at 2680 fps muzzle velocity. The bullet did its job but I would have thought I'd get an exit. That has stuck in my head and kind of put me off on that bullet. I do have some 450gr. NF's to try in my 458 and I expect they will be great for buffalo.

Regards,

Mark

Mark,

If I was beating up on a fellow hunter, and premium bullet shooter, I appologize. It was not my intention!

I respect anyone who uses a premium bullet.

I am just not sure the "bonded varmit bullets," are premiums. If they do have alot of penetration its because they blew off the front end, and when they dont, its because they over expanded, just like a conventional bullet, which basically they are.

The 375 North Fork is a dandy but I also lost 100 fps compared to the Bitterroots I normally shoot. You may also be disapointed in the TSX velocity. They just take up alot of powder space.

I honestly would not worry about not shooting through the off side. The NF expands to over 70 caliber and hide is so eleastic it is difficult to get a shoot through, even with a .458. Yet that same bullet will go 5-6 feet on a front or rear on shot.

I shot an American bison once in the neck with a .54 muzzle loader using a maxi bullet (400 grains I think) and it expanded back to the base and would not exit their skinny little neck (6-9 inches?) Same bullet would go side to side, 3-4 feet on a lung shot behind shoulder angling into off side leg.

I am not a big Barnes fan as I like frontal area. No offense to Randy Brooks, but he has taken a real liability (the Barnes tendancy to blow off the front end) and turned it into a must have through good advertising.

Give me frontal area any day over a copper wad cutter. That said, the TSX is the first Barnes bullet to shoot well in my rifle. Having a place for that soft copper to displace into like NF and now TSX really works. Neither bullet "leaded" my barrel w copper fouling, while the old Barnes X made a mess of it.

You will like the 450 gr .458 NF. I checked my 450 Dakota loads the other day at 200 yards in a 10 mph full deflection cross wind and could hit center of a 6 inch bulls eye using a 3 X scope and a little bit of windage. Same point of impact at 50 yd and 100 yd as my 465 gr TCCI solid RN. Got it to regulate perfectly by adjusting powder charge 2 grains.

Good luck, Andy

Andy,

No offense taken. If you post on this thing you have to expect a great divergence of opinions and comments.

I'm not a big advocate of huge frontal area. That is why I like the Nosler Parition. I like the bomb effect the exploding front end has. It would appear that the Accubond is not in the same league or up to the task as an all around bullet though. Too many comments about high velovity and close range failures.

All I ever really had in mind for the Accubond was a shot at a sitatunga at 200 yards or so. They are only about as big as a deer and I can't imagine that a 260 gr. Accubind would not work under those circunstances.

I also found that the 270 TSX only needs to be seated slightly deeper in the case than the 260 Accubond so there is plenty of powder space when using RL-15.

Thought about what you said about the 465 TCCI's. I have a couple boxes of original A-Square 465 solids and the overall length is almost the same as the encapsulated 500gr Hornady. The point is the 450NF softs are even longer so I may try to get the A-Squares and NF's to shoot together as there should be plenty of powder space with Accurate powder.

Later,

Mark

Mark,
It is not unusual to not get an exit with Northfork soft point bullets, seldom in fact on such large animals as Buffalo, however they do hold together, do a lot of internal damage as they expand to a very wide cross section, and they normally stop on the off side skin or you may get an exit on rare ocassions....Most premium bullets fall into this catagory, Swift, Trophy bonded etc....

If I wanted two holes then I would opt for the Nosler as its the only lead, copper bullet that can just about guarentee two holes. a monolithic such as GS Customs HP, or Barnes can give the penetration you need but at a trade off in expansion....I personally prefer the GS Customs bullets over Barnes.

Two schools of thought on penetration, pick your school....

Mark,

I think the original A-Square's are TCCI. At least thats what TCCI says, and their patent belongs to them not A-Square.

I also have the current A-Square and they are similar except for a taller and deeper cut crimp groove, and they have been polished.

TCCI's are one-half the price though.

I was actually able to use more powder (RL-15) with the 465 grain TCCI than the 450 grain North Fork, but the TCCI is about 50 fps less velocity.

Anyway they were a snap to regulate together. Even without adjusting the powder charge they were very close (within an inch). And they were exactly overlapping at 98 and 100 gr RL-15 even thought they were 50 fps apart.

This is a great combo!

Andy

Have never recovered a single Nosler Partition in 33 years of big game hunting.
LLS

I have shot very small whitetail does with Barnes X bullets and the devestation and destruction is amazing. I think that too many people dont do their own butchering, because if they did and used Barnes X bullets or variants they would see tremendous damage along the whole bullets path. Because X bullets petals are sharper than a lead mushroom they cut through the off side instead of ripping through it, making it look like a smaller exit that "just penciled through" when in fact it could not have done a better job.

quote:

Originally posted by fgulla:
I have shot very small whitetail does with Barnes X bullets and the devestation and destruction is amazing. I think that too many people dont do their own butchering, because if they did and used Barnes X bullets or variants they would see tremendous damage along the whole bullets path. Because X bullets petals are sharper than a lead mushroom they cut through the off side instead of ripping through it, making it look like a smaller exit that "just penciled through" when in fact it could not have done a better job.

The TripleX are absolutely devastating on game. Execllent expansion and they keep on drilling right through. Accuracy is superior to the North Forks in my opinion, better price too.

Accuracy:

In my 450 Dakota, the North Fork soft pont, CP and FN shoot a composite group of 3/4 inch at 100 yards with only a 3 X scope. (2 shots each, six shots total).

Done this several times.

The Barnes 400, 450 and 500 gr. Barnes X shot about 3-4 inches each, and slimed my barrel after just three or four shots.

The 450 grain Triple Shock was alot easier on my barrel and would go into about 1 1/2 inches which is tremendous for a Barnes.

Exiting:

The Barnes exits because it has low or no frontal area. Not because the X petals are sharp.

The X petals blow off both the Barnes X and Tripple Shock so I am not sure how they can do any damage to the off-side hide.

I normally do not see any sign of a sharp edge cutting tissue until the last 1/3 of a bullet track. Even low velocity pistol bullets like the Ranger SXT (follow on to Black Tallon) do this.

In higher velocity ctgs like, even a modest 30-06 shooting a 180 grain WW Fail Safe, the temporary cavity has made a gelatenous glob of blood shot meat out of tissue in the first 2/3 of the bullet tract.

The FS does not normally loose its petals.

When are you seeing this cutting of tissue by the X petals?

Maybe the Barnes has such low or no frontal area it does not do much damage and you see it from begining to end of the tract, I dont know?

But it does not sound like such a good idea to me if you can see this phenomenon at all. Id rather see a five gallon bucket full of mush!

Andy

I just returned from South Africa on a plains game hunt. The cartridge was Nosler custom .300 Win Mag with 200 grain Accubond. The animals were Kudu, Nyala, and Zebra and were killed with well placed shots. As is good practice, I kept on shooting until the animal fell. As I am an advocate of full penetration, the 200 grain Accubond performance was not consistent. Two broadsides on the Kudu did not pass through, nor did two on the Nyala. However, I did get one pass through on the Nyala and one on the Zebra. I plan to use Nosler Partitiions or Swift A-Frame on my next safari. By the way, the Nosler custom ammo was loaded so hot that there were significant problems with ejection.

this is interetsting, i bought a box of factory 110 gr 25-06 shells for my 9 year old son to hunt a black bear, and it did great(100 yds)! smoked the bear at took 3 steps and fell over. complete penetration, the bear was looking at us sittng down, he hit it in the sternum and it went out a few inches from his back bone.

soooooo, i just got a custom 257 roy and used about 10 percent of its barrel life working up a load around 3550 fps with the 110 accubonds and wonder if it was a waste of time.. i heard a lot of good stuff before. hmmmmmm

Allen Day has a pretty good report of the Accubond from his last safari at 24hourcampfire site. End story, the 225 grain out of his 338 didn't perform well for him.
http://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbthreads/showflat.php?C...5&an=0&page=0#971465

yes, it is.

I used a Federal factory 140gr AccuBond load out of a .270WSM on a Dall/Caribou hunt a few weeks ago, and although it performed fine here (especially on the sheep, one quartering-away shot at ~200 yards), I have no plans of using the AccuBond in Africa and will stick with the NorthFORK & TBBC for the .30cal.

https://forums.accuratereloading.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/300106493/m/494101725

I guess like many topics on this forum, you either love 'em or hate 'em.

I used 160 gr Accubonds in my 7mm Rem Mag for 2 Caribou and a Musk ox in Canada's Northwest Territories in 2004, and for 6 Plains Game ranging in size from Common Duiker to Red Hartebeest in South Africa in 2005.

Shots were from 75 to 250 yds. Most were one shot kills, and the most of the animals dropped in their tracks.

All animals except the Musk ox had a 7mm entrance hole and a 1/2" exit hole, and a 6-8" wound channel through their chests and/or shoulders. My first bullet was behind the shoulder in the Musk ox, and I put two more in him as he walked away. I did not recover any of the bullets from the Musk ox. One of my PH's at the ranch that I hunted in the Free State, who also shot a 7mm Rem Mag, kept remarking on how large the wound channel was inside the 4 animals that I shot there.

Loads were not chronographed, but were in the 3000 fps range from Nosler's book, and grouped 1/2-1" at 100 yds in my rifle.

Bottom line is, I am very satisfied with this bullet, will use it again for PG in Africa, and would not hesitate to use it for elk here at home.

As previously stated, there are two fairly extensive threads on the subject, replete with good and an almost equal number of bad experiences with subject bullets. I've never used them and have no plans to, but I was bright enough to glean that Accubonds are consistenly inconsitant. jorge

WOW Mark! Got the 'ol blood pumping with this one didn't you? My experience is limited to one Safari for plainsgame using the 180gr Winchester Supreme load in my .300 Win Mag.
I recovered 5 bullets from 16 animals. Four weigh a consistant 125gr and are perfectly mushroomed. The fifth was relatively clean and missing its poly tip weighs 132gr. It was an anomaly because it had nicked a small twig 5 yards in front of my Blue Wildebeest, and entered him where aimed, just behind "the crease" on a slight quartering away shot at maybe 100 yards. It continued about 6 or 8 inches inside him, before veering forward and striking his spine at the low point. He dropped like the proverbial ton of bricks but required a finishing shot from the front into the mid chest. That second bullet was not found but he died instantly from the heart shot.

The Zebra, at 60 yards was hit in the left front shoulder joint which was shattered. The bullet and bone fragments continued through the lung and into the paunch but was not recovered. He reacted to the shot with a jump, ran 40 yards on three legs and collapsed.

The Eland, at 120-140 yards in late evening was hit through both lungs, breaking the first shoulder, a rib on both sides and lodging just under the skin. He walked 20 yards slightly up hill and dropped. The bullet was recovered perfectly mushroomed. As an aside, we had to go for reinforcements and it took 10 of us to load him in the truck AFTER he was dressed so he was BIG!

The Gemsbok shot was a double lung pass through at 75 yards, breaking a near-side rib. He ran about 70 yards with a lot of lung tissue hanging out the far side, and dropped.

My Red Hartebeest was quartering away at 221 measured yards. I took the shot at very near sundown after a series of stalks that had each "failed", but finally managed to get within reasonable range. The shot penetrated the shoulder and broke a rib, continued through both lungs and an off side rib and lodged under the skin. He ran about 50 yards. The recovered bullet was perfectly mushroomed.

The Waterbuck at a paced 60 yards was a double lung pass through with exit wound only slightly larger than the entry hole. This animal was very muscular and in prime condition for an estimated 9 year old bull. Massive even! I didn't get to see the carcass after skinning as he was taken with 30 minutes of light left on the last day. He ran 40 yards, spun around once and fell over, leaving only a thimbleful of lung tissue on the ground where he had been standing when hit.

The Kudu was a slight quartering shot from about 80 yards, entering behind the left shoulder, breaking ribs on both sides and passing through the lungs and right shoulder. The bullet was found under the skin, perfectly mushroomed. He left very little blood trail of course but ran only 30 or 40 yards into some very thick brush where he fell over dead. We had to chop a few thorn bushes to get him out.

The Black Wildebeest was taken from 40 or 50 yards, quartering slightly toward me. Hit just behind the near-side shoulder, the bullet passed through the near lung and rear of the off-side lung. He ran 30 yards, twirled in a circle and dropped. The bullet was recovered under the skin, displaying that perfect mushroom shape.

The Blesbuck was at something like 250 yards and quartering-toward about 30 degrees. My first shot was too far forward, but caught the off-side lung and rib and exited. He ran about 150 yards, and stopped broadside hidden in some brush. As it was getting very dark, we had run after him so I was able to take a second shot from about 70 yards. Hit through his near-side shoulder and both lungs the bullet exited and he dropped on the spot.

Smaller animals were all pass-throughs, with the Steenbok dropping instantly with a very clean exit hole from 150 yards. This was an acute quartering-toward shot, as he was head down and feeding on a steep downward slope. One of the Springbucks dropped instantly at a severe quartering-away shot from 150 yards with the bullet exiting the left front shoulder. The second, from 70 or so yards was a slight quartering-toward shot. Hit a couple of inches too far back, he ran 200 yards at top speed, before suddenly piling up in a great cloud of dust. This shot culminated a very long, tedious, but exciting stalk to an area we thought might hold him, but not knowing for sure he was even there. Picking him out of the terrain and cover without blowing it was very exciting and is a story in itself.

At 10-15 yards, the Wart Hog was shot broadside, breaking ribs and leaving a 1 inch diameter exit hole after passing through both lungs. We had stumbled into one another in a fluke incident and I had to shoot quickly. All I can say is it pays to walk slowly and quietly!

My shooting on Impala was uniformly poor. The bullets did their job, I did not. The best one of three is the one in the photo on my hunt report. He was at 175 yards and I hit him in the neck. NOT where I was aiming. He went down instantly, but needed a finishing heart shot from 6 feet, front to rear and this bullet which did not exit was not recovered though he died instantly from the shot.

My first Impala was also a beauty, hit in a sharp quartering-away shot at about 225 yards. I hit him way too low with the bullet ranging forward, exiting low behind the right shoulder. He left a small pile of hair and stomach contents on the ground. I had lost track of how far he had walked after first spotting him from about 125 yards totally covered up by ewes. When the shot presented itself I took it and didn't even think about all the distance he had covered since we first sighted them. I had let my excitement dominate my thinking I guess and didn't adjust my hold. So we found him the next day and the poor result wasn't the bullet's fault, it was mine.

Another nice Impala was taken at 125 yards, passing through him from in front of the right ham and exiting behind his left shoulder. He ran a short distance into very thick brush. When I got to him he was still on his feet, shaking his head. My immediate sickening thought was I had hit a horn but that proved not the case thankfully. Another shot through both lungs dropped him.

I was very pleased by the ammunition performance. The PH too, was very satisfied with the bullet performance, and commented several times about it. He will recommend it to others, and I left him a couple of boxes for his own use. He particularly liked how it performed on the Steenbok, not blowing it up, and on the heavier animals which took the full energy of well placed shots. My relatively inexperienced theory is, if well placed a bullet should be found under the skin. If poorly placed, it should exit. The results bear this out and I see no reason to use any other bullet on any thin skinned game.

what about the new winchester XP3? thoughts?

I too, would be very interested in hearing reports on the XP3 from those of you with actual expertise in using and analyzing it.