I'm interested in hearing about your experiences with the Nosler AccuBond in medium calibers against larger game: elk, moose, bear, wild boar and like.
Does the bullet penetrate well, and does it hold its weight well?
How about meat destruction?
What options would you consider as good alternatives for the AB?

Medium I think is defined fairly well on the forum, let's call it 6,5x55 Swede at the lower end, and 9,3x62 at the upper. We can forget about the high-velocity magnums, as there is none in my arsenal, nor is there likely to be.

- Lars/Finland

A friend of mine got full penetration on two broadside shots on a bull elk with a 180 grs AB out of a .300 Win Mag. Bullet worked fine, although exit wounds were kind of small (not much blood).

Alternative: Barnes (T)TSX - plus any number of other bullets.

- mike

- mike

I'm loading the NAB for myself and 3 others. We have taken mulies, whitetails, elk, and boar with them with outstanding results. Many will disagree with me, but they've been performing like the Partition for us.

The largest was a large bodied 6x6 bull shot 3 times with the 160 NAB from a 7rm. The first blew through his lungs with a half dollar size exit, the second dropped him with a shoulder impact and was in a text book mushroom in the off side shoulder, and the 3rd was for good measure as he was still moving. Only found the second bullet, it looked great to me, but I lost it in the snow.

On the other critters it's blown right through.

I shot two large bodied bucks quartering to(crop land whitetail and CO mulie) with the 160s in a 7rm and was pretty satisfied with the results. Both hit the base of the neck, crushed the spine and left nickle size exits in the off side shoulder.

I talked to another hunter that was pushing the 160s in a 7RUM, he had killed some bull elk and bull moose with them and said they gave him exits on most shots. He was quite impressed at how well they held up at the speed he was pushing them.

They are my bullet of choice when the game calls for a premium.

I'm sure the Barnes fans will chime in on how terrible they perform

Have a Good One,

Reloader

Reloader
That's good to know as they make my 7mm and 375 shoot like target rifles. I want to stay within the Nosler line due to product loyalty developed over 30 years of success with Partitions and Ballistic tips.

My wife uses 140accubonds in her 7x57. She has at least two elk, oryx, springbok, whitetail and hog. Todate they have all been one shot kills. Out to 275 yds. On the oryx at 250yds it broke shoulder the heart and exited. I use the 160 with my 280pdk at 7mag+ velocity. I recovered one in an elk, a kudu broke the shoulder on the near side and was under the skin on the offside. Red Hartebeast at 375yds quartering away rib, heart lung far shoulder and under the skin.

I used to use the part. I now use nothing but Accubond in 7mm, 338, 375.

At least in the heavier bullets that I cut apart the skin seemed thicker than a BT.

I've shot partitions in 22, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 30 and 33 cals for years at deer, hogs, nilgai and elk and have recovered bullets from each. Being a Nosler fan, I bought some 160 ABs for my 7 x 57 "rattling rifle". I tested them in wet phone books and they looked like the ones in the ads. Shot a WT doe facing me.Got a/b 22-24 inches of penetration and another ad bullet. Last year shot a hog facing me at 70yds right b/w the eyes. COMPLETE penetration thru the skull/spine and a/b 18 in penetration. Another ad bullet. My experience is that they penetrate like a partition but are not as destructive as the PAR b/c the lead is bonded and therefore does not create as much tissue damage. They group well too!

Schauckis ----- I have a good hunting buddy who has been many miles with me hunting Deer and Elk (yearly since 1992). We have taken many Bull Elk and Mule Deer Bucks over the years, leaving Sunday for this years hunt in Colorado. We have shot Nosler Partitions for years with .300 Win mags, without complaints, along with several other hunters in our group. We have debated the Accubonds the last two years, having bought several from Nosler that were cosmetic blems. He just this year took a Moose in Alaska with the 180 grain Accubond that performed well. He recovered two bullets on the off side hide that were perfectly mushroomed. He was pleased and I was impressed, except I would have like an exit hole and more bleeding. As it was trailing was not necessary because his Bull went on a few steps before going down for good. I think the Partitions are tougher and will penetrate more, he likes the plastic tip of the Accubonds instead of the exposed lead of the Partitions that can become missfigured with daily use before being shot. Personally I use North Forks now for all my larger than Deer hunting. We have debated this for some years now and I must say I was impressed with the Accubonds performance on the Moose, you can draw you own conclusions from our debate and the evidence presented. Good shooting.

ramrod340...I am curious, do you know the velocity on the loads that your wife is running in her 7x57? Thinking about maybe loading some AB's for my wife's 7x57. She has been using 139gr SSTs, 140gr BT's and 140gr Partitons...with pretty good success, but sometimes change is good.

Z

Last uear I shot two hogs with them in my 7x57.They didn't know what hit them,One wiggled for a minute.They are loaded up for this year also.Can't say about elk or other game but the hogs weighed about 375lbs.Good Luck

My wife used them this year in her 8x57 to take a bush hog, impala and gemsbok. Recovered bullets from the hog and gemsbok looked like a magazine ad mushroom. Bullet from the impala may still be going for all we know.

quote:

ramrod340...I am curious, do you know the velocity on the loads that your wife is running in her 7x57?

I load her rifle to 2750 with RL-15. It is a 22" MKX barrel.

Have used nosler PT for years. When the AB first came out I bought some and tested them in water. I was impressed with their performance so tried them hunting in the 300 wea, 300 RUM and 338 WIN. My hunting buddies are using them now. We have shot carbou, moose, grizzly, brown and black bear with them over the last serveral years. Mostly in the 300's. Performance on game has been outstanding. I have never had one stay in a caribou, normally exit grizzly and black bears and if bone is hit on broadside shots we normally find them under the off hide on moose.
For example one grizzly was hit quartering away at about 25 yards. The bullet entered behind the shoulder and exited its mouth taking teath on the way out.
Another example 300 rum, 200 AB caribou quartering to me at 419 lazered yard. The AB entered the right shoulder and exited the left ham. DRT.
If I want more penatration I'll use the Etip from now on. I tested them in water. This year I used the 180 Etip at 3370 FPS. Penetrates better, doesn't foul as much as the pure copper bullets do, better balistic coefficient than most and furthermore it doesn't tend to shed it's petals at high speed. This year we tried them on moose. On broadside shots they tend to exit. We did manage to recover three on chest and quartering shots. All three weighted 178.2 to 178.5 grains out of 180.

Ramrod..thanks for the info. My wifes loads are running at 2735..so that ought to work fine.

I did mean to mention before that I have used 130gr. Accubonds in my 6.5x55 on deer and antelope with good results, also shot a red stag using my 338-06AI with a 180gr accubond at about 250yds...he was dead right there and we didnt recover the bullet.

Z

I am one of the few that were not bowled over by the performance of the Accubond.
On 2 Bull Elk they worked but (dead elk)I expected an exit wound like I get with Sierra's.
I shoot a 30/06 and 180 grain bullets right at 2800 fps. The first Accubond fired at 180 yards thru broadside elk didn't penetrate completely and weighed 114 grains upon recovery. The other was fired into a fleeing elk catching him between the lat two ribs and was recovered in the base of the neck, didn't bother weighing it as it was merely copper and no lead.
Once again the elk died but I was expecting better performance.
I'm sure they'll work fine for you as they have for most people but I'm not using them any longer for elk.

Last fall, I shot a dall sheep and a mountain caribou with a 270WSM and 130 ABs. The sheep was at about 170 yards and drt on a shoulder shot that was a pass through. The caribou was a lazered 305 yards and ran 20 yards after the top of the heart shot,
That bullet was under the far side under the hide. It was a perfect mushroom. I should but have not weighed it.

I started using the 200 grain 8mm ABs last year, shot a big New Mexico elk last October , went on to Kansas to harvest two deer in Dec. then this last June to SA and shot 12 head of various plains game then went to Canada this Sept. and filled two Caribou tags.
Only recovered two bullets, one from under the skin on a Eland and one out of a Black Wildebeest. The bullets weighed 150 and 151 grains respectively.
.325WSM starting out at around 2850 fps, very accurate load,If I do my part they will group under 1" at 200 yards.
Just drops the hammer on anything Wildebeest size on down, larger animals have all went down within 120 yards. Zebra and Gemsbok, Hartebeest dropped dead in their tracks.
Next week maybe a cow elk in Colorado!
Retired my 7x64, the .325 is my go to gun now.

I killed a huge cow elk last winter through the chest behind the shoulders. Plumb through. 140 grn .270 WSM

I just switched from 150 grain Ballistic Tips to Accubonds in my -06 last week. I plan on testing them in wet and dry phone books this week and my wife will be using it on deer in a couple weeks.

I'll try to post up the results soon.

Thank you, fellows!
I'm quite overwhelmed by the amount of responses. Just the info I was looking for.
You sure seem to be happy with the ABs - good, I'll give them a try. Just as soon as I'll be able to work through my 300-odd Sako Hammerhead loads...

- Lars

Let me play the devil's advocate...

First, while I love the AB and shoot the .277 140 gr. out of a regular WCF, I have had two whitetail bucks that it did not pass through.

The one was a quartering away shot at 100 yards, average or even smaller buck. Bullet destroyed heart and broke off shoulder, ending up under skin. Great picture-perfect bullet with advertised weight retention. This deer was drt.

2nd instance was about 240 yards on a mid to large buck, broadside. I caught him a little low and far back, chopping up the back of the lungs and liver. Did not observe an exit wound, which I found unusual. Also, I did not find the bullet. At the shot I lost sight of the animal and did not observe its reaction. Somehow it got into a little swale and was out of sight, so I do not know how long it took to die.

I waited about 1/2 hour before getting off the stand, and then walked right to where I thought the buck might be. I found it laying down, feet undneath its chin, as a dog lies down when waiting to spring up. Animal was stone dead when I found it.

Lastly, I did have this bullet/load exit on a very large buck that was quartering away at only 70 yards. Bullet passed through his on-side shoulder and exited the base of the neck. I thought that was very good penetration. Deer was drt.

Why I got an exit on a large animal at close range, but did not on smaller ones at longer ranges is a mystery to me.

Muzzle velocity for these instances was about 3050 fps.

friar

Thanks, Friar - but I'm not sure if you really played Devil's Advocate at all. In my view you actually described excellent bullet performance. True, there was no passing-through of the bullet and if that's the requirement then the performance was not perfect. However, the bullet did its job killing quickly and mushrooming nicely, no? So good job by the bullet as I see it.

- Lars

I use only Accubonds or TSX for moose. 35 Whelen with the 225 Accubonds that is.

To me Accubonds seem to penetrate a bit deeper and open a little less violent than for example Oryx or Fusion, they are very accurate and fly well.

If you dont like them its probably down to preference and not the bullets.

Our family has used Ballist Tips and Accubonds at 180 grains out of 300 Win mags successfully on elk at long distance.

I would say that the Accubonds penetrate a tad more but both produce the same accuracy which is quite good.

I used 180grs Nosler Balistic Tip out of my .30-06 on medium sized boars and pigs up to 74kg with great success - of course this bullet damages meat, but it killed clean on the spot - and had exit wound even with the 74kg pig!

I will take it again

Of the Accubonds recovered from a 300WM (180's) and 270WSM (140's), bullets had good expansion and a retained weight between 67-85% - most were over 80%. Animals harvested were elk, moose, bears, whitetails, mulies - at various distances. Majority of kills were 1 shot - complete pass-thru penetration - double lungs.

Its the only bullet I reload with in my big game calibers and the bullet my hunting friends use if they shoot factory ammo.

For another chose of bullet- TTSX and Swift Scirocco's get my vote.

I'd stay away from the BST's -for big game - leave those bullets for coyotes/wolves IMO.