I know the technical side of the bullets, but what is the practical difference in performance, if any?

I sure prefer the price of the accubonds. I've also heard that they are supposed to pretty much mimic the BT, which I already have a good load for.

I'm shopping for a new bullet for my 7mm rem mag. The BT's blow up and waste too much meat, so I'm thinking about stepping up to a tougher bullet.
Thoughts??

One example: My 264 likes 125gr Partitions and they work GREAT on deer. I tried a box of 130gr AB's, just for grins. Accuracy is essentially the same, velocity is about 20fps less, but the BC is marginally better. So the difference in trajectory at any reasonable range is so small as to be ignored. Decided to stick with tried-and-true....at least until the supply is gone.

But, if I was starting from scratch, as you seem to be, I'd lean toward the AB's: slightly cheaper, slightly better BC, arguably slightly more accurate on average, and terminal performance is essentially the same as far as I can tell, and have read.

I personally have never seen an NBT fail from the 7rm, but I will say the NAB holds together better and gives smaller exit wounds(less damage). I'm running 3 7rms, they are set up for the 150NBT, 140NAB, and 140VLD.

Some will disagree, but the NABs have performed like the NPTs for me and the other guys I hunt with. They do edge the NPT in the accuracy department in nearly every rig I've tried them in. I can't say they shoot as accurately as the NBT in my rigs, but fairly close.

The 160 NAB in the 7rm is a perfect combination for any animal the 7rm is suitable for IMO.

I push the 160s to 3080 over a healthy dose of R22 for sub moa accuracy and stellar on game performance. The 140NABs pushed to 3200 are no slouch for medium game.

Good Luck

Reloader

My 270 WSM does not care. Either will shoot under 1" groups. The accuracy difference maybe because NPT are flat base and NAB is boat tail.

If you look at cut-away pictures on Nosler's website, BT's and Accubonds look alike. Supposedly they use a bonding process on Accubonds to prevent jacket-core seperation. Having used Accubonds and Partitions on deer and hogs, I can't tell a difference. In meeting more resistance [elk, moose, etc] the beefier base of the Partition might mean more penetration.

My son has killed a pile of venison with 140 gr Accubonds out of his 270 and without any unnecessary meat damage. I killed a couple of hogs with some 180 gr Accubonds out of my 308 last year, and they were DRT. I did find quite a bit of damage on the hogs.

Accubond accuracy in both the 270 and 308 have been excellent. My son's custom shop Encore 270 is a "one hole gun" at 100 yards, and my Blaser 308 will group under an inch consistently (but it has done that with Corelokt bullets too).

Daniel77, read my reply to "Nosler AB on bigger game" in the medium bore rifles forum.

for deer try to go to the Nosler pro shop and buy some of those solid base seconds. Of course I see no reason to drive them at 4000FPS for a 20 yard animal but that is just me. If I were to be shooting at 3000FPS I would "bite the bullet" and use Barnes TSX solid copper rounds. Then I would also probably own a 7-08 over a 7 mm Rem magnum but that is just me.

Load your gun light, use less powder, shoot cup and core bullets, and have longer case life and longer barrel life.

Don't know what WEIGHT bullet you're driving in your big 7 but often the culprit in meat damage is a light for calibre bullet driven at warp speed.
Buy you a sack of 160gr Nosler Partitions and work up a load that is giving you somewhere around 2900-3000fps and use it on everything.
You'll be glad you did.

quote:

Originally posted by stillbeeman:
Don't know what WEIGHT bullet you're driving in your big 7 but often the culprit in meat damage is a light for calibre bullet driven at warp speed.
Buy you a sack of 160gr Nosler Partitions and work up a load that is giving you somewhere around 2900-3000fps and use it on everything. You'll be glad you did.

Exactly right.

I do own a 7mm08. I love the caliber, but haven't gotten that rifle to shoot as accurately as I'd like.
My load for the 7mm mag is 59.5 grs of 4350 with 150 BTs. This is a fairly light load and is fairly accurate. For some reason, all of the deer that I've shot with it, except 1 head and 1 neck shot, have run. This is not an issue with shot placement. They've not run far, and I'm not worried about losing one, but they don't seem to drop, like I'm accustomed to. Also, if I hit more than ribs, the meat damage is extreme. The BT's have all exited for me, but do damage a LOT of meat. The first deer I shot with it was through both shoulders. Both shoulders were ruined.

I am planning on this being a "for everything" loading.

Thanks for the replies.

Very small sample from last year:
I shot two elk with 150gr. Partitions recovered and weighed three slugs, all approx. 95gr. distances were 100 to 150yds.
I also recovered a 130gr Accubond from a whitetail, lengthwise shot at about 225yds. weight about 95gr. This is the only Accubond I've recovered out of several animals shot, all deer or antelope no elk. I've used 150gr. Partitions several times on elk and generally will exit on broadside shots but these three all hit opposite side shoulders on the way out and stopped under the hide.
I might make an assumption that Partitions will loose 1/3 of their weight, Accubonds 1/4? Both work extremely well so I guess its whatever the rifle likes.