Accubonds so far have pretty much sucked. Switched back to BT's and just shot a 3 shot group of .138 @ 100yds. This is my best group ever. Have some Accubonds for sale 7mm 140 & 160's several boxes each.

Wayne

Started at .005 and now .015 with a stop at .010 seems to make no difference with the bullet. The biggest problem I a have with them is the first shot might be dead on and the next two 2" high to the right .5". Or they might alternate back and fourth. I try to always shoot a 4 shot group. I have found no ryhme or reason. I have shot from a clean cold to cold dirty, warm dirty nothing makes sense. I had 8 rounds down the barrel with the Accubonds switched to the BT's without cleaning and shot first group of four into .5" and the next group of three into the .138 went up to 57 gr. N560 and the first two went into the same hole and I pulled the third one still less than .750. Continued to go up 1 grain at time and groups grew larger. I had high hopes for the Accubonds because in my opinion Nosler has changed the BT's in the last few years and are not worthy of shooting at a living animal. I have purchased some Hornady 139gr. SST's. Have read of other people expeirencing the same thing with the BT's and have found the SST's to be accurate and perform well on game. Two years I would have fought somebody for talking about my beloved BT's this way, but have had dismal performance the last few years on whitetails. I am not talking about a few shots either, me and my father hunt together and usually kill close to 30 combined between us each year. The search goes on.

Wayne

Montana, would you mind detailing some of the BT failures on deer that you have been having? 30 in a year! Wow I may need to move there!......DJ

Federal ammo out the box accubond 260 Grain .375 H&H

3 shot group center to center .26 distance 200 yards
5 shot group center to center .51 distance 200 yards



Roland

Wow Roland, What velocities and Rifle?

Custom rifle: Karl Guenther .375 H&H, on a pre 64 Winchester 1953 action and barrel.

Velocity in Feet Per Second - Muzzle 2700 FPS - 200 Yards 2300 FPS
Energy in Foot Pounds - Muzzle 4200 - 200 Yards 3100

Scope: Leupold LPS 3.5-14x50mm Side Focus - the scope was set on 14 power.



Roland

As I said before I used to swear by BT's but now they are unpredictable. I am still shooting the same gun same load nothing has changed from my end. On some deer they are bang flop dead in their tracks not one step. The deer that manage to take a step usually take quite few and more often than not never leave a blood trail. I hunt in very thick cutover and the deer have paths through it. Most deer that are not in their tracks have left no blood we just walk these paths back and usually find the deer dead laying in it. Then there is a small puddle sometimes under the deer. The deer after the shot just run off like they are not hit, then when you go to investigate there is no blood you would assume you missed, I assume I always hit and go searching. As the deer hardly never move until it is almost dark there you are wandering in a cutover with a flashlight not being able to see 5ft in any direction. In the past every single deer I shot 99.5% fell in their tracks or left so much blood, bones and other parts it was very easy to find them. Most were knocked down and got and ran only a short distance with a blood trail that looked like it was poured out of a bucket. The last 2 years have been a very different story. Actually it started 3 years with my father saying the deer were not dying on the spot and no blood trails, I figured well he is getting older maybe not putting it in the right spot. The next year I had a couple questionable kills and one buck that was knocked down and got away, no sign at all.
Background info, I reload for myself, my father and a friend we all shoot 280 Rem 140 BT's @ 2900fps. I do not load as many rounds for my father at a time as I do for myself, for him maybe 60 at a time for me 200. I believe he had shot up his old bullets and was into a new batch before I was and that is why he ran into this a year before me.
Anyway the deer in the past all looked like that had been RPG'd if you centered a shoulder that shoulder was ruined and most likely the other one was too, just utter destruction, I have shot 3 deer that dropped so fast their legs were underneath them didn't even roll over. Now the majority of deer we shoot are 100lbs does for the DMAP program so were are not shooting 300 lb bucks and having problems, most bucks are only 135-150lb. The problems I am seeing are there is a bullet diameter size entrance hole, some internal damage and if it exits a small hole. It used to be a small hole in and a fist sized or larger hole leaving. I shot one doe one time high, it entered broadside just under her spine and was angling up and took out her spine. The piece it took out was about 10" long it completly ripped her spine out sideways. When I walked up to her her liver was laying on the ground behind her mostly intact but completly seperated from her body.
I firmly believe Nosler changed something about this bullet two to three years ago. the internet boards are full of guys with the same story as mine. If you read them they all state "two years ago I noticed a change".
I have no faith in them any more yes they will kill quicker than greased lightning some times. But they are not the same as they used to be. I do love shooting them at paper though. Hopefully these SST's I have ordered will do the trick. Before I get blasted let me state one more time I was the biggest fan of BT's, and for shooting does on the back 40 they may be fine and if one gets away well it is not the greatest loss in the world. What if you are on a $6000 Texas Golden Triangle hunt, I know I will not be using BT's.

I will try to experiment with the Accubond's some later as it seems most on here are getting very good accuracy with them. But for now my groups look like a shotgun with 00 buck.

For the record my Ruger #1 7STW using 160 AB's shoots pretty decent have not had much time to load test. Got some groups around 1" and took it hunting last year shot 5 deer with it one afternoon and none of the deer took a step Thor's Hammer. Heard it explained another way not sure who to give credit too. If bullet is built as a bomb and then it is bonded it is still a bomb it just doesn't throw off shrapnal(sp). They deer were very dead without excessive meat damage and I was impressed, maybe my 280 just doesn't like them.

I know this is long but it is my thoughts and feelings on this matter.

Wayne

Montana, thanks for the reply, it wasn't too long, I read every word.
I haven't had near the experience killing deer as you have but do agree with you in my experience on a couple things. I like exit wounds with parts coming out the other side. I'm not the greatest tracker so want lots of blood on the trail - which usually isn't very long if there's lots of blood on the trail........DJ

Great post Montana.
JCN

Does anyone have a picture of an expanded Accubond ?
Is it a bonded BT or is the design new ?

Ok groups are better today, first four under 1" this morning. I am getting some vertical stringing will check for complete free float on barrel. The new barrel is slightly larger than the old one but I have already done some sanding and thought I had that fixed. I will try and find a place to shoot longer distance but right now I shoot out the back window of my workshop and 100 yards is all I got.

Now to the question, my chrono is not working need some aprox. data.

24" barrel .284 140gr Accubond .015 off the lands OAL 3.250

54gr. VVN560 best group so far, using the Nosler #5 for N160 at 54gr it shows 2929fps. lose two inches on the barrel and I should be 2879fps. N560 is one tick slower than N160. Can someone help with this?

54.5gr of RL19 seems, by the way the gun kicks (more) and the lower impact on the target, that it is a faster load. It prints about 1" lower, but this load gives me the vertical stringing. I had been using 58grs of RL 19 in this gun with the old barrel and gave excellent groups with BT's.

I am not as concerned now with raw horsepower ( getting older) plus don't want the shit kicked out of me everytime.

Anyway if some one can help with an aproximate fps. I think I am close but want confirmation. I normally sight my guns in around 1.5" high at 100 and that should be dead on at 200 and 7" low at 300. I might need to go close 2" high with this round to get that though. I assumed the BC would be the same as the BT's

Thanks
Wayne