Does anybody know how soft are Nosler accubonds bullets? Are they softer or harder than the hunting ballistic tips?Does anybody has experience with the 180 gr acccubond in .338 caliber?

Thank you in advance for your interest

I've tried both in the 7mm 140gn at about 3150 FPS . I think that the lead alloy is probably the same . Difference is that the core is bonded to the jacket in the accubond and is designed to hold the 2 together . Don't hear anything like as much criticism of the accubond .
I've had pretty good results with both but didn't find the accubond quite as tough as I thought it would be . Maybe the secret to more penetration is to go with a heavier accubond and drive it slower ?

I used the 160 AB's at everything I shot in a 7mag(Lopes, deer, elk). Can't really say how the bullet performed as they were all pass through shots.

Nosler's website claims much less weight retention for their accubonds than other bonded bullets claim. Accuracy reports however are very favorable for them. I suspect the bullet may have either a less heavy jacket or less antimony in the lead but in either case I'm not at all sure it makes a difference.

Many many posts on AR are very positive about the accuracy and terminal performance. I wouldn't hesitate to use them for anything appropriate to the caliber.

RE: the 180 .338 bullets.....If you're hunting animals less than 300 pounds on the hoof It really don't make a lot of difference what you use. If the game is larger than that I'd opt for a 225 grain or bigger.

The 180 will work fine on American whitetails.....not sure what you're hunting there in Spain.

Vapodog:

I hunt with this bullet deers and boars (in any case less than 300 pounds) in drive hunting. The results (in 9 animals shooted) impresive, it stopped all them on its tracks, even with poor shoot placement (When you shoot in this type of hunting, shooting on running animals, it's not possible to center the shoots properly, in any case).

For plains game in Africa I have used 250 gr Hornady Bullets.

All my accubond loads are more accurate than the corresponding Ballistic Tip loads, which surprised me. However, they DO shed more weight than I anticipated. My 200 grain Accubond (300 RUM) dropped a nice 6x6 bull this past fall @ 167 yards, but ended up weighing 106.9 grains if memory serves me. It was a nice, classic, broadside shot that did not have to plow through the shoulders...lungs and ribs only. I was thinking that too much lead wiped off inside the bull for my satisfaction. I am going back to my partitions or old (Jack Carter's) Trophy Bonded Bearclaws on elk.
Whitetail deer? Love the accubonds for deer though...just the right amount of penetration, expansion, etc for them...could be the perfect deer bullet for me.
Just my 2 cents.

I shot some 180's through an empty 5 gallon bucket at 200 yards into a dirt bank and recovered them. One of them weighed about 70 grains. It was through a .300 ultra, and that's a pretty rough test but I thought they would have held more weight. I did shoot one though a bunch a dry phone books at 200 yards and it weighed 107 grains. Don't think they are as tough as a partition, and not near as tough as any monometal bullet. But they are very accurate out of my gun and think they are tough enough for tissue.

I shot a huge cow elk in Nov. with a 180 grain Accubond out of a 300 Win. mag at a MV of 3150. She was 462 yds. and quartering towards me. Hit her in the near shoulder, broke it, went through the lungs and busted the third to last rib on far side and stopped just under the hide. Perfect mushroom and dropped her in her tracks. It looks just like the partitions I've recovered. Seems to have similar performance with slightly better accuracy.