Anyone have experience with the Nosler Accubond bullets? I shot a nice 7 point buck at 311 yards last year with my 300 Rem Mag 150 grain. I hit the buck center of the shoulder and about 6 to 8 inches down it punched a nice hole through the deer exiting the opposite side. I had about a 2.5 inch hole exiting the shoulder. The buck jumped straight up about 4 feet ran about 20 yards and died. The bullet gives decent accuracy but I have been thinking about trying some Barns triple shock with the plastic tip in the same 150 grain weight.

What luck have you had?

i have used some 140 grs.in my 7x57 and to date shot two hogs at about 125 yards,they both went no where DRT.also shot 2 coyotes 1 at 145 yards and the other about 280 yards. so far they worked better than the barnses triple shock,last year i shot 2 deer and 1 hog and they ran like they were afraid of the noise.looked for 2 hours and no sign of them,won't buy no more i am trying the accubond and nosler part.buy the way the old style barnes never failed my from 35 whelen to my 250 savage.

I shoot the 140gr out of my 280 Rem. I have shot five deer with them and all have been bang/flops. Closest shot was about 10 yards, longest about 160 yards. 3 out of 5 were pass thrus. Out of my factory Rem. 700 Mountain Rifle, they will keep within an inch at 100 yards which is good enough for me. I like them and will probably start shooting them out of my other deer rifles once I shoot up all the other ammo I have.

Here's another 7mm, 140 grain AB:


And the AB will even expand at lower remaining velocities and on smaller, "softer" creatures like the coyote yet maintain ample integrity for larger game such as hogs, black bear and elk.

Forgot to add: Barnes TSX and TTSX bullets in .30 caliber and above seem to expand better than their smaller-calibercounterparts and do so at lower remaining velocities.

Barnes attempted to address low-velocity impact problems with the TTSX, which features a larger, more cavernous hollow point and the tip to help drive the bullet open upon impact.

In the 7mm, 120 version, it has indeed been an improvement.

Plenty of experience with the AB. Simply a great bullet. More dependable all around IMO and IME. As Bobby Tomek said and shows-- (as always great pics Bobby, thanks to you)
the TSX is not always dependable in sub 30 calibers, and even 30 cal sometimes, I have proven to my satisfaction, that the cavity in the TSX in the 30 and smaller cals is often ocluded with copper, causing eratic performance. I actually like the barnes bullets a lot, they shoot very well for me, but I either drill out the tips, or shoot the TTSX, which school is still out for me on. Finally the TSX and it's bretheren take a lot of velocity to open up, so if lower speed rounds, or distance where velocities are dropping off might be your case consider that.

I have found none of these issues with the AccuBond, and with experience like you have, why in the world change!

Good shooting--Don

I posted pics early this week of the two accubond 140 grn fired from my .270 WSM the 140 grn bullets weighed 98 and 91 grns and where in the .430 to .440 dia range.

What I found right away was that unlike the balistic tip bullet fired above 3000 fps they didn't fragment.

I've taken many African and North American game animals with the 160 grain Accubond over the last two years. No failures what so ever. I buy Federal Premium over the counter. It is one of my favorite bullets.
LDK

Ya, GREAT bullet. Shoots like a target bullet and kills like a hunting bullet. 9 deer, 2 in one shot at a ranged 748 yards and one dead cow elk at 200 yards. All dead where they stood. Sorry, no bullet pictures.

I've had great success with factory loaded 140's out of my sako .270. Whitetails, mule deer and antelope at ranges from 30 to 228 yards.It's all I shoot out of that rifle.

I am shooting them in a .338 Lapua (225gr at 3050fps) and a .375 H&H (260gr at 2800fps)

They are extremely accurate (~.5 moa in the Lapua mag and ~1 moa in the H&H) but tend to expand violently.

I shot a bull elk at 50 yards with the H&H. First shot took lungs, diaphram, liver and speckeled the heart with tiny lead particles.
It jumped and ran so I put the next one in the shoulder at 30 yards.
The first shot was a pass through, the second was under the skin on the opposite side (after shattering the shoulder(s). It weighed 157 grains and was .7 in diameter.

The shocker to me was-
1) I didn't get a pass through on the second shot
2)The first shot's ENTRY hole was 2-3 inches or nearly double the exit hole. (Yes I know which side I shot

The .338s recovered from my dirt backstop (150 yards) usually weigh around 125 grains and measure .6-1 inch in diameter.
The .375s are around 165 grains and are .65-.85 in diameter-very similar to the one recovered from the elk.

I am satisfied with them but would be more impressed if they retained a bit more weight and the tips didn't flatten from recoil. (I typically use barnes/failsafe on big game)

Here's one I recovered from a South TX deer last year, a little over 100 yards on the point of the shoulder, 280 Ackley, 3000 muzzle vel, 140 grains.

I have killed 5 deer with AB's out of a 308win, 4 150's, 1-165...exits on all but I think the interbond is better if your gun shoots it

I've never recovered a Accubond or a Partition. They have all been pass thru's on all the deer, elk and one bull moose i've shot with them. So i don't know how well they expand or retain weight. But i sure know they drop stuff right where they stand. And they shoot very well!
The only other bullet i'll hunt with is a Northfork. I havn't killed anything with one yet but they sure do shoot good!!

http://www.gunsandhunting.com/bulletshootout.html

look at the interbond wound covity

I shot 165 gr. Accubonds in Africa from my 30-06. 10 1-shot kills, Zebra, Kudu, and Blue Wildebeast among them. Recovered bullets from the Zebra and a Gemsbuck, perfect mushrooms and 90% + weight retention. I used the same load on deer here at home, no problems. This year I loaded some 225 grain AB's in my 338 and used it for deer hunting. (Mostly as a test for an elk hunt next year.) They shoot well out of the 338 too.

I use them in my 7mm RM. They work great. I have killed many deer, an elk and coyote. All have been one shot kills, most were bang flops.

Accuracy in my Abolt is wonderful.

Shot 4 whitetail does, 3 antelope and a goat this year with 130 gr. 270 Accubonds, did recover one which weighed in at 87 gr.(Penitration was nearly full length on the animal, a whitetail doe.) All the deer except the frontal shot where the bullet was recovered ran 25 to 75 yds despite large exit wounds. The goat was DRT but slid 250yds down the mountain... Two of the antelope were DRT and the other ran nearly 250 yds and died.

Note that I also whacked 2 whitetails with my 7.62x39 using 123gr Horns.(MV 2450fps) They were broad side at about 150 yds and both passed through leasving impressive exit holes. One was DRT the other ran 50yds+. Frankly you could not tell the difference between it and the 270 based on exit wounds or internal damage.

I took two mule deer while out elk hunting with my 9.3x62 using 286gr NP's. The buck was DRT total pass through 3 finger wide exit hole. The doe, one of the biggest I've ever seen, ran 100yds in spite of an exit hole big enough to allow lung tissue to blow out of the wound freely. Internal damage was not nearly as spectacular as with the 270 or even 7.62x39. I think that has to do with the 9.3 bullet just starting to open up while it was just exiting the deer!

Elk season has been extended 3 weeks, yippie! Maybe I'll fill my tags!

quote:

Originally posted by P. Jilek:
I shot 165 gr. Accubonds in Africa from my 30-06. 10 1-shot kills, Zebra, Kudu, and Blue Wildebeast among them. Recovered bullets from the Zebra and a Gemsbuck, perfect mushrooms and 90% + weight retention. I used the same load on deer here at home, no problems. This year I loaded some 225 grain AB's in my 338 and used it for deer hunting. (Mostly as a test for an elk hunt next year.) They shoot well out of the 338 too.

I love the bullet but have never had 90% + retention of the ones I have dug out.

The best has been 70% and the second was 65% 140 grn before 98 and 91 after.

It is a lot tougher than the Nosler balistic tip.

Its one of the best leadcore bullets so far. A good balance between expansion and penetration in my opinion. For me its either these or TSX.

These two are out of moose, one 225 gn 35 Whelen (right) and a 260 gn 375 H&H.

I recovered two from a New Mexico cow elk this year - both under the far side skin. I have heard about this but never seen it before. 7mm Rem mag 160 gr Federal factory load, 120 yards. One weighed 112 grs, the other 113 (say 70%).

Once I start, I try to keep firing as long as the game is up and in sight. The elk travelled about 20 yards from first to second shot - by the time I had a third round in the chamber the elk was down. Both shots just behind the shoulder.

By way of comparison I used 180 gr Barnes TSX (.30-06, again Federal Factory load) on a Newfoundland bull moose this year - three shots. One through shoulder as he quartered towards me, 2nd too far back, third behind shoulder. Range 60-100 yards, total distance travelled maybe 50 yards. Did not recovery any of the bullets.

In both cases I believe the first shot was all that was necessary, it just took the moose longer to figure it out. I was very pleased with bullet performance in both cases.

I wanted to try something different this year for mulies and cow elk in my .338 Lapua. I have used 250 PTs with success on elk, 210 TSXs on mulies and a cow elk. The Nos PTs shot okay, but the noses deformed under recoil. The 210 TSXs shot great, but I thought they were a little "hard" for the mulies on the menu.

I wanted to try the tipped Accubond to see if I could help the feeding issue and have a "better" mulie bullet. I looked for the 225gr Accubonds but they were a no show, so I tried the 200gr Accubond in my Lapua. These shot very well and the tipped design let me feed from the mag on my 2nd and 3rd shot at the range.

On my first day of hunting the elk were a no show but I got on a decent 3x3 meat buck. I messed up my shot, and instead of a heart/lung shot I put it right through bucks shoulders. DRT of course but I thought of lost meat. When skinning I really couldn't believe the lack of bloodshot meat. My buds deers shot with their 7mm PTs fared worse.

A small sample to be sure, but the Accubond holds promise for me. Next year I'm going for a buck and bull tag, and will try out the 225 Accubonds.

I hunted Thanksgiving weekend, and although I didn't get my cow (I messed up a stalk for sure and was busted by the cows at 100 feet but that is another story) I got up a bedded very nice 6X6 bull elk and a monster 8X?? that was truely special. Good stuff.

John

I just started using them about 3 years back and so far have taken two nice mulies, a bull elk, and a heavy 240lb whitetail with them. In that limited amount they have done outstanding for me with similar performance of a NPT.

I custom load for several guys that use them and they have probably taken 15 deer(whitetails and mulie), a pile of pork, and several varmints. Every report I've gotten has been great. I did help track a buck one of the guys shot with a 150 NAB I loaded for his 300WM. The impact was only about 60 yards and there was no blood. We found the buck about 75 yards from the impact and there was only blood about 10 yards from where he lay with a lung shot. The exit was only about nickle sized, but the internals were worked over well.

The animals I've taken with them including the elk were all DRTs.

Pretty good bullets, I like the accuracy and intend to use them quite a bit more. I hunting right now with the 140s in a 7RM on top of 69grns of H4831 lit by 215s in R+P brass. They shoot sub MOA in that set-up and hopefully I'll get another on game report with them this weekend if a volunteer shows

Have a good one,

Reloader