All,
I just returned from my Kansas hunt with a nice 8 point. I have some questions, concerns, and thoughts on the Nosler Accubond out of my 270 WSM.

The story is this. One evening spot a hot doe with 2 bucks trailing. My eight and a little basket rack fella. 200 yards out I take the shot and the deer drops. Wait a bit and up we go in the dark by now. Some blood, the bright red type and not a lot. Track for 2 hours and the trail runs out. Go back in the light and trail again with no luck.

Hunt the next day and then head back to the area of the shot the following day. We put on a little 2 man sneak and out pops a doe. No shot and we sneak some more and here comes the 8 and the little hot doe. Shoot the buck. We find him dead about 20 yards from where I hit the buck 2 days prior.

Set to the work at hand and back in the shed we find 3 bullet holes. 2 on the right side from that evening and one down on the thigh of the deer. This deer was the one from 2 nights before! I am relieved and all but started wondering about the Accubonds.

The deer did not have a broken leg. The bullet missed the bone and got a little of brisket but nothing serious. Since he was running on the second go around I hit him in the liver and the heart with the 2 shots.

Concern: Very little bullet expansion. Shot the buck at 200 yds, 65 yds, and 75 yds. Neat little hole in and out. Some fragmentation in that there was on other exit wound from the heart shot. As luck would have it I missed both shoulders and hit in stride perfectly. The liver shot seems to have expanded a bit more but still not all that much. We trailed back from the buck to "practice" tracking blood since this was early afternoon. Not a lot of blood. The cavity had it all.

Concern: When I was reloading there were several broken tips in the box. After the hunt when I was unpacking I found that a couple in my hunting coat pocket had broken too. Are the tips that fragile?

Question: Really any better than the standard Ballistic Tip, Sierra Game King, or any other in that 270 WSM? The Accubond shot the best group and was 140 instead of the 130's.

Question: What bullets are you guys liking in the 270 WSM?

Thoughts: I sort of question the round. I have been shooting 2 different rifles in 270WSM and tried all sorts of bullets. Pretty much all but the Sierra in this rifle. Are the 270 WSM's really very accurate inherently?

I will appreciate any feedback. I am sorry for the long windedness. Wanted to put the story out there.

I am not sold on the setup as it sits. Of course my hunt is over for this season with this rifle. South Texas will get the 7-08. Thanks again fellas.

Cheers,
Jason

I know a guy who had a similer problem with a 140 grain acubond and the standerd.270 winchester.
Of couse I am sure other guys would tell you they work great.
But It seems to me it might be a little to tough a bullet on white tail.
My hunting partner loves the 160 grain in a 7 mag for Mule deer and elk.
I think in the .270WSM I might try a 130 grain acubond, or a 140 or 150 grain balistic tip.
A 150 grain balistic tip has a very high BC.
If you can get 3000 out of them that should be quite a combo.
...tj3006

Hey jr

Perhaps this will help with understanding how the Accubond is designed to work.

Quoting from NRA's American Rifleman from their May, 2004 issue:

"While other bulletmakers tout 90 percent weight retention from their bonded bullets, Nosler took a different approach. Its goal is deeper penetration, even at the sacrifice of weight retention. The problem with bonded bullets that are designed for high weight retention is that they quickly form a large frontal area that impedes penetration. Nosler designed its bullet to have about 60 to 70 percent weight retention. That obviously means that it will lose some weight. That's because it's designed to shed some of the expanded bullet material to keep the frontal area of the Accubond bullet a little smaller than some other bonded bullets. Accubond is designed for early expansion, but rather than tear completely apart as a Ballistic Tip often will, the Accubond's petals are designed to fold back tighter against the bullet shank. This makes a slightly smaller diameter mushroom to allow deeper penetration."

So just because you had a small exit does not mean that the bullet did not expand.

The last shots placed in the vitals did the job and I would not give up on the AB yet.

I have no experience with the 270 accubonds. I do use them on pretty much everything else. I've pahsed out both BTs ad Part. I have used the 140 7mm from a 7x57 at 275yds and a 7STW at 50yds with good performance

You describe what happened to us a couple of weeks ago. One of our guys hit a buck that we trailed for about a mile before the blood trail stopped cold. The blood was exactly as you described: quite red; not pink and frothy; not dark; just very red. We concluded it was a brisket shot.

The cartridge was a .270 Win with factory Remington loads with Core Lokt bullets. Something that usually would work nicely on a north central Texas whitetail.

Bullet placement is everything.

LWD

While they may be a bit much for smaller deer, I have found the Accubonds to work extremely well and have used them in 6.5mm, 7mm and .30 caliber. Even from lower-velocity rounds such as my 26" 6.5 Bullberry Imp, consistent expansion at longer ranges is assured -- as the coyote below will attest (well, actually, he can't... ).


I've taken a number of hogs with them and even recorded several doubles (2 animals with a single shot).

quote:

Concern: When I was reloading there were several broken tips in the box. After the hunt when I was unpacking I found that a couple in my hunting coat pocket had broken too. Are the tips that fragile?

I've had tips installed backwards from Nosler.....I think they need some finess tinkering here.

IMO the use of bonded bullets on deer just may be a defecit....I've used bonded bullets this year and killed three deer with three shots....but any bullet would have worked on the shots I've taken

ive seen adverts saying the accubond being maximum weight retension big game bullet. to me they are just an overpriced ballistic tip that doesnt shed the jacket. ive used them and the interbond know and i load almost exclusively the interbonds. i shoot mainly wby cals and yes the interbonds open up and have a very large frontal diameter but i still find they penetrate very well with the high weight retension and the fact i push them reasonably hard in the wby cals. ive used them on buff, scrub bulls, deer, pigs goats foxes cats in cals from .25 to 460wby. very few bullets recovered as they mostly punch right through. even shot a camel with the 30-378 and 180gr ib from 60 metres in the ass and dug the bullet out near the sternum. bullet was leaving muzzle at +3500fps and still went near 90% weight retension. its a bit of a go to bullet for myself as doesnt matter how close or far they seem to work a treat. i think i remember reading somewhere that the bullet tube testing consistently found it to leave one of the biggest wound channels of any projectile in a variety of cals as well.

my thoughts anyhow

Cup and core bullet.....90% retention is 100% sales hype. Not in anything but gell or water...not hair,hide,meat,and bone.

quote:

Originally posted by jrswick@yahoo.com:
Concern: When I was reloading there were several broken tips in the box. After the hunt when I was unpacking I found that a couple in my hunting coat pocket had broken too. Are the tips that fragile?

Jason, not too long ago I posted a mishap with a 140 AB from my 270 and got the usual flame for it. My batch also had broken tips so I contacted Nosler and sent them the box and remaining bullets. They replaced them with partitions per my request.

I won't revamp my old post but I stand by my position that the bullet definitely failed or went off course once it struck the deer, or both, but it was a chip shot at ~45 yards.

I've also had 200gr 30 cal ABs with broken tips. Mike, at Nosler explained something to me about their washing technique with the bullets and it was causing problems but that is now fixed.

You likely have a bad batch of bullets, obviously since the tips break off readily. Send whatever you have back to Nosler and they will replace them.

quote:

Originally posted by ted thorn:
Cup and core bullet.....90% retention is 100% sales hype. Not in anything but gell or water...not hair,hide,meat,and bone.

i must have faulty scales then. the worst ive recoverd was about 83%

Bought my first box of Accubonds tonight! This is a departure for me but am going to try them in my 6.5 WSM that is going out for trials this weekend. Still going to try the 123gr SMK's but they will not be here till next week.

130gr and 140gr Accubonds have performed very well for me in 270 Win.

quote:

Originally posted by battered:




i must have faulty scales then. the worst ive recoverd was about 83%

Then you are in no need of a "premium bullet" you are getting above average results with what you are useing.

quote:

Originally posted by ted thorn:

quote:

Originally posted by battered:




i must have faulty scales then. the worst ive recoverd was about 83%

Then you are in no need of a "premium bullet" you are getting above average results with what you are useing.

So the interbond bullet bullet he has had such good success with is not a bonded bullet? I thought the interlock was the cup and core bullet. There are so many bullets out now it sometimes gets confusing.

Interbonds are bonded. Interlocked bullets are not bonded.

I've shot several deer and moose with Accubonds and never lost an animal. All were hit in the vitals. Last fall I shot a moose at 504 yards with a 200grs AB in a Savage 112BVSS. The bullet entered behind the right shoulder blew off half the hart and exited the left shoulder The lung cavity was one wholly mess! Here's a photo:

http://i147.photobucket.com/al.../DSC00829_resize.jpg

I like 'em. Nosler fixed all the bad stuff on their BTs with the Acubond. Accurate and perform well on the other end. The old BTs had a bad habit of performing like a hand grenade if they hit a bone or something.

quote:

Originally posted by ted thorn:

quote:

Originally posted by battered:




i must have faulty scales then. the worst ive recoverd was about 83%

Then you are in no need of a "premium bullet" you are getting above average results with what you are useing.

sorry guys i read that first post as being the interbonds wont hold 90%, ( i must be on drugs or something..lol) yeah the interbods are pretty tough but i think the interlock is about as tough as you would get in a non-premium bullet. anyone else agree

I tried Accubond's (150gr in a 300wsm) last season on over 50 animals very dissapointed with the terminal effects, I have now returned to using BT's much better bullet IMHO.