I'll be hunting interior grizzly in BC this spring, and I'm thinking of using Nosler Accubond bullets.....180 gr. in my 30-06. Do the Accubonds hold together well enough for this purpose?

Phil

Definitely wouldn't be my first choice. Accubonds are pretty frangible for a bonded bullet and tend to really come apart with high velocity impacts. As shots at grizz are typically fairly close I'd look at something built to retain weight. TSX or GMX would be my first choice.

Sheep knows what he's about, so not trying to refute his advice, but I have different experience on the Accubond.

Guided member Dogleg this September and he used a 180gr Accubond from his .300 Ultra on his grizzly hunt. Worked like a hot damn, his bear fell head to paws at the shot, shot was short so near full velocity impact.

I would caution not to select too stout of a bullet for grizzly bears, no matter how large, they just aren't thick skinned creatures. An Accubond isn't what I would have chosen either but now recognize it is more than up to the task. Tests have shown it to hold together surprisingly well too. I just read an amateur test of a bunch of different .375 bullets including the Accubond and it equaled the Partition's performance.

In summary, I would have absolutely no problem with a client choosing Accubonds, in my opinion a quicker expanding bullet is a good thing on bears.

Dogleg with his Accubond bear on his back, North Coast BC.

I could be mistaken but I do believe once you hit .338 with Accubonds they utilize stouter jackets. That may explain the .375 testing. Impact velocity may have also played a role. I've tipped over a ton of critters with Accubonds and for a medium-long range application they do work awesome but I am always surprised by how much weight they shed....at least in medium calibres. Absolutely they will do the job on a grizz and with a pure soft-tissue hit the fragmenting offers up some advantages but with a high-velocity hit on bone I'm not sure I'd be as trusting.

I think sheep is right about stouter jackets on the ABs once you get to .338...I know they really beef up the NBT jackets at that level. If you have any reservations about the ABs..another option I have found to be stellar is Swift A-Frames.

Just a thought.....

Worked for me.



Grizz

they reinforce even the green ballistic tip starting in cal .30.

so you are good to go.

Thanks for all the input. I'm inclined to go with the Accubonds if they shoot well in my rifle. I think the double lung shot is more reliable than "break the bone" shoulder shots. When you let the air out...it's a dead bear. I'll take a box of Partitions along just in case.

Phil

quote:

Originally posted by PhilR:
Thanks for all the input. I'm inclined to go with the Accubonds if they shoot well in my rifle. I think the double lung shot is more reliable than "break the bone" shoulder shots. When you let the air out...it's a dead bear. I'll take a box of Partitions along just in case.

Phil

No question the Accubond will do the job, especially with a soft tissue hit. My comment wasn't that it wouldn't work, just that there are better options IMHO.....just in case you are forced to break bone. Things rarely go as planned with grizz but it's nice when they do. Having a box of Partitions along just in case won't help too much as if just in case happens you'll already be locked and loaded. I'm a fan of starting with the just in case bullet! Look forward to seeing pictures of your bear!

From a .30-06 the 180gr Accubond definitely isn't at its max, it should work very well, as mentioned I watched its effects on grizzly from a .300 Ultra and even at that speed, did great.

Take heart / lung for your bear, avoid shooting them too high and far back. Good vitals diagram in the following link.

http://www.adfg.alaska.gov/ind...fm?adfg=hunting.shot

The 200 gr. Accubond will work real well on Grizzley or Brownbear in that it works well on Moose, elk, and Eland in Africa based on my hunters reports and its apparantly become very popular bullet for the big stuff..I have only seen it used on elk myself, but both in 180 and 200 grs..Just passing it on for what its worth.

That said, Im a devout fan of the 200 gr. Nosler partition in the 300 mags, 338, and even in the 30-06. Its proved itself for me many times over on all manor of big game. So I am of the opine if it ain't broke, don't try to fix it.

Either way I'm sure that both would work just fine in 200 grs and probably in 180s..

I've got a couple of boxes of Accubonds and in my -06 they are unusually accurate. It seems every year around here I take the tsx's hunting.

Shot my Alaskan grizzly last year using a .300 WSM with 180 grain Nosler Accubond. Knocked him off his feet and worked like a champ.

I have zero fact based evidence to back this up, but, I have heard that the Accubond is bonded near the back. Leaving the front part to act like the Partition, blowing apart causing destruction and the rear part to drive through.
Evidence, I've personally seen, in it's seen use has given it a truth.

only thing i've shot with a accubond was a aoudad at about 150 with a super 30 - blew a hole about the size of you fist on the way out. always used partitions on bears and they always did well

Well I have shot a bit of game with Accubonds in .25, .30 and .338. Have seen a lot more via clients I have guided.

In my mind they do perform a lot like the Partition as far as weight retention goes and they do stay in one piece. The difference I see is that they seem to have a bigger mushroom diameter, mushroom quickly on impact and ultimately do not penetrate quite as well as the Partition......... the rear half of which keeps on going after shedding the front core.

Having said that, I think Angus is right, the 180 grain Accubond in the 06 is not traveling at warp nine and impact will be much less violent than at Ultra Mag. velocities. Should be just fine for interior grizzly, many of which are shot at 100 to 200 yards on slides and logging blocks, but can be stalked to fairly close range at times when terrain and position permit.

The last moose I shot with a .30-06 was with a 165 grain Accubond, broadside at 240 yards. It was a complete pass through, nice exit hole, put the moose down just as fast as lots of bigger and faster offering that I have shot moose with.

Average interior BC grizzly will usually run 400 to 550 pounds. I wouldn't lose too much sleep over the choice. Put it where it counts and all will be fine.

Having said that, it isn't what I would personally select. You would see me with a .338 or a .375 and a TSX, A-frame or North Fork. I like to hit bone and flatten bears. Dead right there and no follow up into a patch of shin tangle or tag alders is my goal. Certainly not the only way........ just my preference.

I have not shot a grizz with them yet. I have shot a Dall's sheep,a mountain caribou, probably a half dozen deer and maybe 20-25 hogs of various sizes. They have performed well in all cases.

I am headed to Alaska in August for sheep, caribou and grizz. I am trying to make up my mind whether to use 180 or 200 grain in my 300 Win Mag.

Whoops. Left a big horn off the list.

I sure don't think you can go wrong with Swift A-Frames. You can be guaranteed they will hold together, but I do prefer them in calibers larger than .30. I have seen Nosler partitions come apart leaving just the base on grizzly in the brisket. (mind you it did the job with the remaining 50% base) The bullet performance of the Swifts is almost boring, but consistent.

I love the A Frames. Most of what I have shot is in the 416 caliber.

The A-frames are an excellent bullet. We really are very fortunate these days.......... there are so many really good bullets out there now. When you think about it, it wasn't all that long ago when the Nosler Partition was the 'radical new concept' on the market.

As Angus already reported, I used a .300 RUM with 180 Accubonds on a coastal grizzly hunt with him this fall. I pulled it out after I got tired of watching my .375 rust in the rain.
I wasn't over concerned about the bullet choice, as I'd already used that same combination on an Australian cull, and had picked up a couple asiatic water Buffalo and a real nice scrub bull on the side. I put it away on that hunt after a couple days because I got tired of burning myself, but by then I dispelled any doubts about whether it would bounce off a fish eating teddy bear. Slow it down to 30-06 speed and you've got nothing to worry about. Accubonds act like Partitions. Although my nature is to trust a mechanical lock over a chemical one, my experience is that both work just fine. I could have just as easily taken a-frames on the bear hunt but saw no particular advantage to doing so.

I shot one grizzly with a .338 and 225 gr TSXs, and watched another get shot a couple days before with the same zame thing. On the grand scheme of things that isn't a lot, but I never saw anything that impressed me. TSXs out of a 30-06 is something I do have a lot of experience with, and have no problem saying that not only do you not need them, you're better off without them.

Not that it wouldn't work there certainly are example apenty of many kills but it wouldn't be my first choice. Especially if there's a chance of close range high velocity impacts, then they are as bad as their predecessor, the ballistic tip, I'd use the good ole' time tested Nosler Partition or Barnes X- bullet, why go through all that you go through for a junk bullet impact in the end, I 'be seen 400-600 lb blackies that survive long enough to be a pain when hit with accubonds, I just wouldn't use em' .

quote:

Originally posted by Skyline:
The A-frames are an excellent bullet. We really are very fortunate these days.......... there are so many really good bullets out there now. When you think about it, it wasn't all that long ago when the Nosler Partition was the 'radical new concept' on the market.

A 300g A-Frame after hitting my bear at 13 yards (he was not broadside but at about 45 degrees) in the right shoulder, tore through the top of his heart and lungs ended up in the hide of his left rear thigh after penetrating the entire bear diagonally. Still weighed 299.5gs I'd go A-Frame. Recovered bullet below.



bear below

Wouldn't be my first choice. Doubt it would make top 5.

chuck375, Good pictures. I like your bear and bullet report. That A-Frame is greatly superior to any modern accubond for killing a tough animal.

Nosler Accubonds used to be rated/compared with the best bullets on the shelf. I don't know if they have changed the bullet or if the bullet bar has been raised. But something has changed. Accubonds now are over-rated.

I learn almost as much about human nature on AR as I do about hunting.

When ever the question of the killing efficiency of a average/mediocre bullet comes up, the debate becomes spirited, lenghtly and laced with subjectivity.

On the rare occasion when the question comes up about a top drawer bullet like NorthFork, Swift, Cutting Edge, etc. there seems to be little debate.

Brian

I shot some 165 AB's in a O6 in Africa. A couple impala and a bushbuck. It killed them all but most ran 25-50yds.
The Bushbuck was broad side in some brush about 75 yds away.
Probably a little over 100 lbs. The bullet did not pass through but was under the hide on the far side. It peeled back close to the boat tail.
I was surprised to say the least. Could have been that the bullet hit some brush prior to the animal and began expansion at that point.
Bottom line is that the Bushbuck was dead!

My Recent AB experience was just this year in Africa. My hunting partner was carrying the 30-06 with 180 grain Accubonds.

A good sized gemsbok was shot broadside at about 110 yards, just above the heart. Near perfect placement. The animal ran more than 350 yards.

In the second case, she shot a Zebra stallion - terrible shot placement. However, the bullet fractured and a piece of it did fatal damage. Still not a failure, and I'm glad the animal was recovered, but it left me thinking about the AB as a match for the 30-06

My own experience with AB's in the 6.5x55 has been stellar. One shot kills on a variety of animals and a spectacular downing of a red stag that was facing me.

In addition to killing a grizzly with a 180 grain Accubond out of a .300 RUM last September, I used them for part of an Australian cull in the same rifle and also shot a freakishly long horned scrub-bull and a 99 inch water buffalo the size of 4 grizzlies. The Asiatics make a cape buffalo look like something you'd take home and bottle-feed, but I digress. I got tired of burning myself on the cull, so parked the RUM for a 30-06.

Somewhere in there I quit worrying about the Accu-bonds shattering on the hair or bouncing off.

quote:

Originally posted by Dogleg:
In addition to killing a grizzly with a 180 grain Accubond out of a .300 RUM last September, I used them for part of an Australian cull in the same rifle and also shot a freakishly long horned scrub-bull and a 99 inch water buffalo the size of 4 grizzlies. The Asiatics make a cape buffalo look like something you'd take home and bottle-feed, but I digress. I got tired of burning myself on the cull, so parked the RUM for a 30-06.

Somewhere in there I quit worrying about the Accu-bonds shattering on the hair or bouncing off.

Dogleg, you lucky bastard......... good to hear about all the great hunting you have had recently.

As for Accubonds. Well we have all seen bullets in the past that changed and not necessarily for the better. On the other hand others have had their structure improved.

All I can say is that I have had good performance on the Accubonds I have used or seen used so far, within the parameters that they were intended for. When I see a change I will quit using them.

On the other hand I have used and will continue to use many of the others mentioned on here when I deem it appropriate......... including Swift, North Fork, CEB, etc.

I've guided clients to somewhere around 80+ grizzly/brown bears and the only bullet I was disappointed with was a kor-lokt. Otherwise, grizzly are not thick skinned nor are they overal that huge. Anything you stick in a elk or moose will be just fine on a grizzly. I see a lot of folks really over thinking calipers and bullets, they all work. But you won't know if one would work bette than another until AFTER you've used it.
Simple principle, shoot the biggest you can and the best you can afford. Let the gun work....

I always respect the voice of experience. I've never used Accubonds but heard they were good bullets. I've been happy with Partitions and A-Frames (except A-Frames have the ballistic coefficient of a bard door lol).

Accubonds got a bit of a bad rap early on...folks referring to them as Accubombs, etc.

IMHO, the 180gr AB in a 30-06 will not have any issues with fragmentation or over expansion. It should be virtually perfect for g-bear.

I am a bigger fan of the TTSX or A-Frame for applications where you want a bullet to hold together and/or penetrate deeply, but I don't think you'd find any material difference between either of them and a 180gr AB out of a 30-06 in this example.

Rodell, just over the heart on a gemsbok means lungshot. A 350 yard run is really to be fully expected they are very tough creatures. The bullet choice likely wouldn't make much difference in a .30-06 on them with that placement. I've had wildebeest do the same run twice with a shot that missed the heart and caught lungs, with a .375 and .300. Gemsbok fortunately dropped where it stood for me.

On Grizzlies we're unlikely we'll get a better informed opinion than fortyonesix's. I'll see three die by the end of 2016 and all I tell clients is use your favourite rifle and the bullet it shoots best. The Internet and bullet / cartridge / firearm opinions can become a bit exasperating.

The grizzly I guided in May died to the much maligned DGX, and that too worked perfectly as this bone illustrates. Crumpled the bear, just likely Dogleg's Accubond from the .300 Ultra did on his. The Accubond will be just swell in your .30-06 for your grizzly hunt.

Here is a handful of triple shocks recovered from brown bears and Grizzlies.
The one that looks unmushroomed had a flattened tip due to the recoil in my ultra light 416 rem. but we pulled it from a dead 10'6" brown bear so I'm still gonna say it worked.

And the shoulder of a 9' squared coastal visited by the DGX, widely regarded as junk. Not saying I'm now a DGX fan, just that as fortyonesix puts it they all work.

Can't disagree that it worked, but that's the kind of thing that makes me hesitant about the TSX. I just wish the A-Frames had a solid base, and had the nose profile of a Partition. I don't shoot at much over 250 yards these days, getting close is more fun, so it really doesn't matter that much.

I'd much rather have a bullet that don't mushroom than one that blows up to quick.

Agree, but the A-Frame will mushroom and not blow up

A frames are a great bullet as well, put them thru enough bone and they do shed pieces though. But this is like saying a cuttie Orange is better tasting than a navel orange...both an orange, both have orange juice, both are food, just personal preference in little details.

Here's a near 8' Alaska peninsula black bear that took a 400gr a-frame at a foot and a half in the face. Exited the back of his head and re entered the top of his shoulder. Shattering the entire leg bone clear to his ankle. Needless to say...it worked. Lol

I don't profess to be any brown bear expert but am partial to the bullets that expand and hold together.

The one pictured below(assuming I did this correctly)is a 375-250 gr Bitterroot Bonded Core (predecessor of the Aframe,TBBC,and NF) fired from a 375 H&H. It was pulled from under the off side hide of a 9'+ BB after busting up a lot of shoulder bones on the way. Retained weight is app 249 gr .

Two others blew substantial holes through the bear on exit.