200 NAB. Opinions and B.C. verification?

[entoptics]

I'd abandoned the 200 Nosler Accubond with my previous barrel (stock savage 300WM LRH). Didn't shoot good enough, and they're damned expensive.

Tried some in my Shilen re-barrel recently, and the stupid thing loves them. With almost no "tweaking", I'm getting 0.7-0.9 MOA at magazine length. Gotta buy a couple more boxes of them, but if it holds up, will likely become my go to hunting bullet, as the only thing that shoots that good/better is a 208 ELDM, at well over mag length. 1 in the chamber, 1 in top of the mag isn't ideal for hunting.

Anyway, in my experiments, I'm concluding that the advertised B.C. is inflated a bit. Using LabRadar logs, I'm VERY consistently getting about 0.565 (±0.005) G1 B.C.s, which is quite a bit shy of the 0.588 advertised. Haven't tried distance/drop verification yet, but preliminary results indicate a little more drop than 0.588 should have.

Has anyone else verified this?

Second question, what's the skinny on the big NAB's terminal performance? I know the folks around here love VLD flavored things, but surely someone has flattened a few critters with the NAB and can speak to it's performance in "less than ideal" impacts. I'm not worried about distance, as I'll likely never attempt a shot past ~700 yds, and the NAB has plenty of B.C. (even if it's inflated) to get ~2000 fps/ftlbs at that range.

 

[mountainman56]

I use the NAB almost exclusively in my hunting rifles as well as others I help load for. As you have I've also thought their advertised BC may be slightly high but I have not done any distance/drop verification either at this point.

The consistent terminal performance we're getting coupled with impressive accuracy is what keeps us coming back. The 200 grain version in two different 300 Win mags has hunted in 3 different countries in the last 5 years and taken a grand slam in Spanish Ibex (4 with 4 shots), a Marco polo sheep at 670 yards (the only bullet recovered but Jeff lost it on the trip home) as well as an Ibex and a Afghan Urial in Azerbaijan, and a Tur in Tajikistan. There has been a couple 2nd insurance shots fired but most were dead on the spot including the Tur which are notoriously hard to kill.

They have also been used on numerous deer and feral hogs with the same consistent results. Complete pass through with very little blood shot meat and dead in their tracks is the norm. It is the first bullet I try when working up a load in hunting rifles and I have even loaded it in my long range rifles but they are not heavy enough or have sufficient BC to hold up with some of the better offerings, although do very nicely out to 750 yards. I load it in two 6.5's, three 30's and three 7's

I also used to like the Hornady Interbonds but they only go to 180 grains in 30 caliber and are so consistently unavailable that I have given up on them completely.

Just my 2 cents, your mileage may vary.

 

[jlreff]

Haven't tried them but shot nosler parttion and ballistic tips for a while, but swtiched to barnes after too many faliures. ive never looked back. too many people woory about bc and pay little attention to bullet preformance. i'd take a look at the barnes 200gr lrx it has a smillar bc.

 

[257Tony]

Tag this guy @mtnmuley, pretty sure he's fired a few of those....

 

[Raudy707]

You need to go to the Shooter Pro Shop website and keep an eye out for over-runs or blemished bullets. You will find Accubonds on sale at some point for half the otc price. I've amassed quite a collection of Nosler bullets over the years for a fraction of the price. I also have flattened probably 100 animals over the last 25 years with Accubonds and feel they are the best bullet from 0 to 600 yards I have ever used. I've had SST's, ballistic tips and bergers blow up and splash on bones, failing to penetrate in to vitals. I've had Berger, Barnes, Partition's and ELD-m's pencil through at low velocity. ELD-m will even change direction severely on impact under 1900 fps. Sierra's and Speer's and ELD-x's be too soft at high velocity and close range if they encounter large bones on bull elk. I've used nearly every bullet by every manufacturer and I always end up going back to the Accubond. Past 700 yards there are better bullets and more accurate bullets, but those don't always work out from 0-200 yards. I'm from California so I have to use copper lead free bullets and have been experimenting with them for the past 3 years. They work. I'm really happy with the performance out of my 270 WSM with the 140 grain tsx. But after about 500 yards not much expansion takes place and the wound channel can be small. So choose a lighter bullet and speed them up they say. But then you lose BC and SD. There is no perfect bullet for every occasion so a guy has to make sacrifices somewhere. But if I were to make a list of the best overall bullet, the Nosler Accubond would be top 3 everytime. You should do very well with the 200 grain Accubond! Enjoy them and good luck!

 

[jlreff]

disagree with you on accubonds or nosler bullets in genneral. ran a shop for years and shot most bullets on the market, that's how i came to shoot barnes bullets. if you would like a bullet suggestion, try the 129lrx in your 270wsm. higher bc then the 140tsx and you can drive it faster. also try ramshot hunter for powder, gives me the highest possible velocites in the 270wsm.

 

[Raudy707]

disagree with you on accubonds or nosler bullets in genneral. ran a shop for years and shot most bullets on the market, that's how i came to shoot barnes bullets. if you would like a bullet suggestion, try the 129lrx in your 270wsm. higher bc then the 140tsx and you can drive it faster. also try ramshot hunter for powder, gives me the highest possible velocites in the 270wsm.

I have 250 to 300 129 lrx and the discontinued 130 mrx as well. I'll give them a try. I tried some double based powders in the past and still have some Ramshot Magnum on hand but with my hunting conditions varying so much from 0 degrees to 110 degrees F I was worried about the temperature sensitivity. I'm having really good luck with Reloder 23 and H1000 and Retumbo out of my 270 WSM.

 

[jlreff]

rl 23 is too temp sensitive. thats why i got away from reloader powder. your conditions can't vary anymore then mine in southern arizona. i've tested the ramshot powders for temp stability, as well as barnes, and possibly the military. check barnes web site for the results.i run magnum a lot and the only powder better was h1000 by 6fps. that's going from 32-100. 7 fps for h1000 and 13fps for magnum. i believe the military is now running tax for that reason.

 

[Raudy707]

rl 23 is too temp sensitive. thats why i got away from reloader powder. your conditions can't vary anymore then mine in southern arizona. i've tested the ramshot powders for temp stability, as well as barnes, and possibly the military. check barnes web site for the results.i run magnum a lot and the only powder better was h1000 by 6fps. that's going from 32-100. 7 fps for h1000 and 13fps for magnum. i believe the military is now running tax for that reason.

RL 22 is very temp sensitive but RL 23 is the new powder very insensitive to temp and is totally different animal.

 

[jlreff]

Disagree. I've tried it along with testing it. Plus a ball powder meters so much nicer through a powder measure

 

[elkaholic]

Disagree. I've tried it along with testing it. Plus a ball powder meters so much nicer through a powder measure

Hmm, interesting! What was your variation with RL23?

 

[mtmuley]

Don't worry. After 14 years or so using that bullet in a RUM, I can assure you they kill well. mtmuley

 

[bigngreen]

The 200 Accubond runs a .524 G1 BC, I'm not a big Accubond guy, like them slightly better than a Barnes but I've just had to dispatch to many elk shot in the shoulder and not had them penetrate, had two guys with a LOT of elk with RUM's blowing them up, don't know if it was a bad lot or not but they switch to another bullet and it was life altering according to them.
Last elk I shot was with a 140 Accubond in my 270 WSM starting at 3350 fps, shot a cow at 250 behind the shoulder but high, second round in the mag was a 140 Berger and it dropped her actually damaging the lungs, the Accubond hit blood shot her from the pelvis all the way into her neck, biggest mess I've ever seen, that was the end of them for me since I hunt for meat!

 

[Raudy707]

Hmm, interesting! What was your variation with RL23?

Rl 23 is awesome powder. From 0 to 100 degrees I have found about 10 fps variation. Burn rate is right around H4831 but velocity is like Rl 22. Tough to beat in my 270 WSM and 280 AI.