Saw this over at another forum. Looks to me like the newer Ballistic Tips look identical to the Accubond....just without the bond and white tip.

cross section of bullets

Look very very closely...the Accubond is ever so slightly thicker in the jacket material. Also, the bonding, as you noted, is the kicker. Nice bullet on deer, but I did not like the way it performed on my elk this year.

Take care!

It really makes it easy to see just how much the 180gr ballistic tip has been strengthened over the original ballistic tips.It really is much tougher than people realize.The biggest difference between it and the accubond in the bonded core.

Thanks for the link.....very informative.

A year or so ago I talked with the technicians at Nosler in depth about the Ballistic Tips and Accubonds. I was told with absolute certainty that the bullets are identical in every way except the bonding process that bonds the lead to the copper in the Accubonds.
I was assured by Nosler that the bullets are so identical that you could interchange Accubonds for Ballistic tips and they will shoot to the exact point of impact. I happily tested this and found it to be true.
I've only taken one elk with the accubonds and it performed well, not astounding just good performance. 180 accubond, 2800 FPS, impacted large bull elk broadside at 180 yards, penetrated both shoulders and found under hide on far side, recovered bullet weighed 114 grains.

quote:

Originally posted by Hank H.:
Look very very closely...the Accubond is ever so slightly thicker in the jacket material.

Yup. And the thickest part extends farther up the shank. Similar, sure. But not identical.

They look close enough to believe they are the same, but what about the CT ballistic silvertip, I would have thought it to be the same as well. Not so it looks a lot less substantial.

quote:

Look very very closely...the Accubond is ever so slightly thicker in the jacket material.

I see what you are talking about. I think, however, that it might be an artifact...I don't think the cutaways are at exactly the same depth, so the jacket thickness looks a bit off. Maybe my eyes are playing tricks on me though.

I think the pictures "lay to rest" the old story about how "my partition zipped right throug the animal but was to tough to open up"!
The front of the partition is just as thin as any bullet there. That's the end of that silly rumor in my book!