Please give your opinions on the various polymer-tipped bullets available at present, in particular a comparison between Hornady Interbond and Nolser Accubond. Assuming both are accurate, which has better terminal performance and how does it compare to the standard of, say, a Nosler Partition?
Intended for 270 Win to 338 Win in deer and elk-sized animals. [URL=www.graaffreinetsafaris.co.za]

I will add into this discussion the Swift Scirocco since I've killed quite a few game with it.

It appears that you are most interested in only the bonded polymer tipped bullets so I'll stick with that.

Accuracy for me in my rifles, and 2 of my bro.'s and 3 that belong to a couple of friends of mine:

Accubond is #1 OVERALL and Interbond is last in all cases. Don't know why. Scirocco in 300 RUM, 270, 7mag and 30.06 was equal to AB but took a little more work, but not much. Seating depth was the key.

On killing game, you would never be able to tell the difference in any of those 3, IMO.

AB was a breeze to find good loads. In many cases, it was just about as easy as picking up the nosler manual and duplicating their findings. (except for velocity).

My 7mag using 150 Scirocco and IMR4350 was in .3s for 3 bullets and .560 for 5 shots.

180 Scirocco in 30.06 over Re22 was .6s for 3 shots and .75 for 5 shots. And this combo has made several black bears have a real bad day.

180 Scirocco in 300 RUM and either Retumbo or Re25 was .5s for 3 and .6s for 5. 200 AB and Re25 is .3s to .5s

140AB in a 270 was .8 at 200 yards for 5. First combo I tried, so I was done...that's plenty good for what this rifle was to be used for.

The Interbond was just a different breed all together for me. Best 3 shot string was .8 and that took work. I gave up.

I think the AB is a great bullet. I also think the Scirocco is too. I'd use either, and not one over the other.

The Scirocco, though a little tougher to find that load, can be a real tack driver with shot after shot consistency, month after month, and it held it's zero to 300 yards quite nicely regardless of temp.

When shooting black bears, each and every 180 Scirocco from my 30.06 passed through each bear, even when I busted the onside shoulder. I killed two black bears in Alberta last spring with a 338 Win Mag and the factory 225 Accubond from Winchester and shot each bear twice, recovering some bullets. I found that odd considering bullet diameter and weight and caliber compared to the slower 180 Scirocco from my .06.

I've never had a problem getting a partition to group in most rifles except for one: that was a 180 Partition in a 300 Weatherby.

Finally, I would shoot a Scirocco at bone before I would the AB (because I've done both), and the Scirocco was tougher.

IMO the NAB gives a shooter the penetration of a Partition with the BC and Accuracy potential of a NBT. Sort of a "Best of both Worlds."

Can't comment on the IBs, I've heard too many negative reports in the accuracy depart to justify buying a box.

I personally feel NAB is on top of the heap as far as bonded poly tipped bullets are concerned.

Some argue that a NAB loses to much weight but, I believe if you are comparing them to a NPT the weight loss is close.

Good Luck

Reloader

I've used both the Sirocco and the Interbond. The Sirocco was in the 7mm STW. I practiced shooting long distance out to 600 yds prior to a pronghorn hunt and of course got a at about 80 yds at a large bodied buck. The 150gr Sirocco clocked right at 3300 fps. The bullet past right through breaking ribs on the off side. No expansion. The buck froze at the shot for about 5 seconds then dropped to a sitting position and fell over dead. Not even a kick. Pencil hole in, pencil hole out.

Two weeks ago I shot a boar that weighted around 250 lbs with a 165gr IB out of an 30-06. This load clocked at 2930 fps. It was a quartering shot that went through the grizel plate on one side, past through about 16" of pig and lodged in the off side shoulder just under the off side grizel plate. The bullet perform perfectly. It looks like an advertisment for Hornaday. The recovered weight is 144gr and measured nearly 7/8".

I'm not sure if these pictures will come out.

Double AA, I'm curious, what did the vitals look like with that scirocco hit?

We read all the time about pencil in and out, which is what I've found over the years for a ton of different bullets but it's what the stuff in between looks like that counts.

I've had Btips look like they pencil in and out, with exit holes no bigger than entrance holes many times, but there would be 2-4+ inch holes in the lungs.

With that Scirocco at that speed you mention I'll bet it acted a lot like some Btips I've encountered in the past, mushroomed so fast and peeled way back around the base.

Your experience is just another reason why I try to put the lead into the bone.

There wasn't any signs of expansion. The lungs had about a 3-4" bloodshot area around a hole of less than 1". I've just started using bonded bullets and don't have a lot of experience yet. I've had plenty of good results with Partitions and A Frames. The Sirocco had plenty of tissue to expand in, this was a thick buck. I can only assume the 150gr 7mm Sirocco has a thicker jacket than the 165gr 30 cal Interbond.

all of the mentioned bullets are roughly equivalent.

None of them are true DG bullets so I wouldn't get extremely worried about slight differences.

Strangely enough the truly excellent bullets don't sport plastic tips.....such as TBBC, Northfork and A-Frame.

I use the Nosler Accubond 260 Grain in my .375 H&H.
One shot kills:
2700 pound Bison
2 Elk
2 Red Stag
3 deer
16 Hogs

In my opinion: an excellent bullet.

Roland

recovered weight 226 Grains

I shoot swift scirricos out of my .338 lapua the 210 grain ones they work verry well i have had a broplem with accubonds comeing apart on anmials weighing over 200 lbs but the scirricos seam to mushroom and have a high weight retention like a regular style bullet i shoot 115 grain nosler bts out of my 25-06 and they work well but i stay to deer size game and varmints. on a lighter note i bought a box of leverlution bullets for a 45-70 and pulled the bullets and reloaded them in my .460wby with 130 grains of varget they exploaded on impact but that is what i wanted.

I have only limited experience with these bullets. I bought a box of Hornady factory ammo 7mm Rem Mag with the 154 grain Interbonds. Looked more like a pattern than anything. About 4" groups. The gun wasn't very accurate but would shoot 160 NPs into 1.5" groups. I have heard the accuracy on the Hornadys are poor, and this certainly squares with that.

Regards,

LWD

So far I have taken two axis and two whitetails with the 140gr. Accubonds in my 7mm mag at 3225fps.I have been quite impressed with the way they shoot(group looked like a key slot)and their performance on the deer was awesome.All bullets expanded quickly on entry,left devistating wound channels of 2-3 inches average in dia.,held to gather very well with bone contact and all exited with 1" dia. holes which showed the bullet mushroomed quickly,but the core did not separate from the jacket.Looks like Nosler developed a bullet that lives up to the claims of"Shoots like a Ballistic Tip and penetrates like a Partition".

I took a nice Bull elk last fall with 160 Accubonds and a 7 RM vel about 3000 fps. I hit him at 155 yds broad side through the lungs twice. The reaction was he turned and looked at me. The third went into the heart nicking the near side front leg bone on entry. He took one step and dropped. None of the bullets were recovered. This is my only experience with them.I shot a whitetail buck a couple of years ago with 139 Interbonds and they blew up on the shoulder bone Vel 3300 distance 30-50 yds. I don't hunt with Interbonds anymore.

quote:

Originally posted by Baldhunter:
So far I have taken two axis and two whitetails with the 140gr. Accubonds in my 7mm mag at 3225fps.I have been quite impressed with the way they shoot(group looked like a key slot)and their performance on the deer was awesome.All bullets expanded quickly on entry,left devistating wound channels of 2-3 inches average in dia.,held to gather very well with bone contact and all exited with 1" dia. holes which showed the bullet mushroomed quickly,but the core did not separate from the jacket.Looks like Nosler developed a bullet that lives up to the claims of"Shoots like a Ballistic Tip and penetrates like a Partition".

The performance on the Bison and other animals where the same as you described, only difference at a lower speed 260 grain bullet – 2700 fps great results.

Roland

quote:

I use the Nosler Accubond 260 Grain in my .375 H&H.
One shot kills:
2700 pound Bison
2 Elk
2 Red Stag
3 deer
16 Hogs

Roland,
Was that 2- 700 pound bisons? If someone told you that a bison went 2700 pounds, I would suggest that they were pissing on your leg and telling you it was raining. A bison bull would have to spend many years standing in a feed lot to reach that weight. But from your photo it is truly a nice one that you can be justifiably proud of. And the 260 Abond certainly did a number on it.

Ab is a gem to load IME as well. It has worked to harvest whitetail, mule deer, elk and moose in a variety of cartridges (mainly 7mm rem mag and 300 wm/wsm). Have recovered a few ab from moose or elk all were NP fashion, 60% retention on the opposite hide.

I had moderate success last year with 154 IB in a 280 rem its accuracy was certainly not stellar but would hold sub MOA and all that my partner required. It claimed a raghorn bull elk and 4 deer performance was fine, no bullets recovered though.

I have had trouble finding loads for IB and Scirroco I's (heavy fouling with Scirroco I's resulted as well). I have not tried the IInd version Scirroco and probably never will with how well the AB has perfromed in the bonded polymer tip class.

quote:

Originally posted by Stonecreek:

quote:

I use the Nosler Accubond 260 Grain in my .375 H&H.
One shot kills:
2700 pound Bison
2 Elk
2 Red Stag
3 deer
16 Hogs

Roland,
Was that 2- 700 pound bisons? If someone told you that a bison went 2700 pounds, I would suggest that they were pissing on your leg and telling you it was raining. A bison bull would have to spend many years standing in a feed lot to reach that weight. But from your photo it is truly a nice one that you can be justifiably proud of. And the 260 Abond certainly did a number on it.

Stonecreek,

Sorry a typo, a little over 2200 pound and the carcass was 1370 Pounds; I was present on the scale. Very big bull.
Not trying to hijack this tread, just clarifying.



Roland

Thanks for all the opinions and it seems as if there is consensus about the Accubond being superior.
In South Africa we place a big emphasis on retained weight and penetration and I was concerned that it would not be adequate, especially when I have to shoot an animal bigger than I would normally be comfortable doing with a particular cartridge. This happens with guiding and cannot always be planned.
www.graaffreinetsafaris.co.za

I have shot and hunted with both ab and scirrocos. I had great accuracy with both. But switch to using the ab reason being the ab would exit at close shots when the scirrocos wouldn't. 5 deer 2 bear all animals droped on impact at ranges of 10 yards to 400 yards All bullets were 180gr at 3250fps
out of 300rum.

Here's an interesting article,enjoy. http://www.gunsandhunting.com/bulletshootout.html

Good article Baldhunter. Of course it's in a lab and not actual field conditions where a bullet must penatrate through hide, bone and actual tissue not gelatin.

I've never been able to get accuracy from the Barns bullets in the past, so when the Triple Shocks came out I didn't bother to try them. After reading this article and what some others have said I think I'll give them a chance.