Accubond failures?

[duckinalaska]

POP,
No failures here, but I'm going to put them through some serious tests soon. I'll keep you posted.
Brandon

 

[ceg1963]

Hopefully,

I'll let you know by 22 SEP what a 338, 225 gr Accubond, at 3350 FPS will do for a big Moose & big Bear.

v/r

 

[Buffalobob]

What? Me Worry!

 

[dancoman]

Quote- They were never designed for 90+ % weight retention. I only know of a couple that claim that Swift sirrocco 2 and the barnes line.

d-a, the scirocco is only advertised as a 70-75% weight retention bullet.
DM

 

[älg]

I´ve had a 150 7 cal scirocco shed almost all its weight on a shot on a roedeer at 120 m......... Two others I recovered were around 70 %.I posted some pics before , dont know how to create a direct link though. Search "recovered sciroccos" if you want to see them.

 

[1doug]

thought the siccroco 2's were to be 90+ % plus the original scirrocos were 70-75%

d-a

 

[Fotis]

[ QUOTE ]
Hopefully,

I'll let you know by 22 SEP what a 338, 225 gr Accubond, at 3350 FPS will do for a big Moose & big Bear.

v/r

[/ QUOTE ]


Cool!

 

[Rymart]

Based on advice from an earlier post, I bought some .308 cal. 180 gr Nosler Accubonds to shoot out of my 308 Tikka M595 for a trophy deer hunt. The load was pushing the Accubonds at around 2600 feet per second.

Before Deer and Elk season here, we have antelope season, which is a great time for testing loads, bullets, and equipment. I had about 20 bullets loaded up. The wife and I (both with tags) headed out in the afternoon. For the sake of reporting on the bullets performance, I will keep the details to a minimum (for me), but may post a more detailed version on the hunting forum.

The first target, a coyote, was at 280 yards and stood around just long enough for me to get a shot off. Upon being hit it jumped up, did a flip, then ran 20 yards and expired. The exit hole was around 4-5 inches diameter.

Sorry, not much bullet damage detail on any of the images. The next target, a decent buck antelope, was at 304 yards broadside when my wife pulled the trigger. Other than hearing the bullet impact, there was not any indication that the buck was hit. It did not even flinch. It took off running at just under the speed of light, first straight away, then it turned perpendicular to us. At this point I could see blood on its chest. The wife let another shot go. Still no indication of a hit. After running another 150 yards it turned hard right and crashed into the other buck that was running with it, practically knocking it over. Then he went down.

Now for the damage assesment: The first shot went behind the shoulder about two ribs back from the shoulder, just above the white patch. A solid double lung shot. the bullet hit a rib on the way in and left about a one inch hole. On the exit there were three holes in a triangle pattern, about 2 1/2 to 3 inches apart. The second shot hit low on the rear leg. The entrance hole was about 2 inches in diameter and hollow. There was not an exit hole. The bone was not broken. There were not any significant bullet fragments recovered. It appeared that the bullet just disintigrated. Here is a picture of the shot to the leg:

A few more pictures of the wife's speed goat:

Note the 3x2 horns:

The question that I am left with is how are these bullets going to perform on a more heavily boned animal like an elk?

 

[kraky]

Fishry---any chance on the bullet hitting something on the way to the animal to get the tip opening up a bit? Also on the leg shot that just doesn't seem possible not to penetrate at that speed....even if the bullet were made of balsam wood. Is it possible the leg of the animal turned as the bullet impacted and there was a deflection of the bullet off the bone??
Re shooting small animals and getting big wound channels. I've seen this even with partitions and other tough bullets. My theory is the animal kind of caves in and tissues move with the bullet as it passes through causing alot of meat/tissue destruction. We shoot porcupines here in Wis during deer season and they sometimes look like they got hit with a semi truck. But I sure have to admit your experience would have me puzzled.

 

[300winnie]

Don't know for sure what happened, but I wouldn't be willing to bet that she hit it on the second shot. 304 yards at a running antelope is difficult at best, and no indication of a hit. If that wound is low on the lower leg it may be from some of the aftermath that created the three exit holes. When they are full out running those legs come an awful long ways forward.

I don't believe a 180 grain bullet could hit a leg directly without going through at that range, especially not encountering bone. If it didn't go through, it would certainly be inside, stuck to the opposite side.

Some more information about the three exit holes would also be helpful. What was the nature of those holes, both on the inside and outside of the rib cage? How many ribs were taken out on the offside? What did the area between the two sets of ribs look like? Were there any significant bullet fragments found in that area?

 

[sewwhat89]

They are the shining light in my .270. The 140 NAB is the ONLY bullet I have found that will shoot 1/2 way decent. I have shot a little over 100 of them through the rifle, and the bullets I have recovered are picture perfect. I would guess about 60% retention expanded to about 0.6". As my supply of Barnes bullets is dwindling, they are being replaced by NABs because I have not had any problems with accuracy or performance with them to date.

 

[Rymart]

Yes, I imagine its possible that the bullet could have hit something on the way to the animal. I hadn't considered that before. I mean it was running through sage brush and the shot was low. I know what you mean about it seeming impossible for the bullet not to have penetrated at that speed. I looked at the wound for some time trying to figure it out. The picture doesn't do it much justice (the flash on my digital camera is not working, so I have to hold the camera very still while I wait for the camera to gather enough light). The wound is a hollowed out hole. No broken or visibly damaged bone. No pieces of bullet. Just a bloody hole. It doesn't look like a glancing hit.

I know what you mean about the porcupines. I used to shoot them back in the day with ballistic tips out of a 7mm Mag. They would literally explode.

 

[Rymart]

For clarification, the antelope was broadside and stationary on the first shot. I saw blood on its chest before the second shot was fired. It seems to me that it would have had to have been hit in the leg on the second shot. The wound channel stopped right at the bone, but did not break it. I probed and cut around for the bullet, but did not find it. I may have to put this one in my terminal ballistics X-files. I do, however, have a few misgivings about putting one of these bullets directly into the shoulder of a bull elk. Should I be worried about this?

I still have a doe antelope tag left to fill so I may conduct some more 'in-field' terminal ballistics tests. I used a 175 gr SMK on my buck. More on that later...

As far as the other shot went, as I said the bullet hit a rib on impact and shattered it. It left about a one inch wound on the inside of the rib cage. One of the three exit holes was larger than the other two. It broke a rib on the way out. It was approximately 1/2 inch in diameter from the inside of the rib cage. The other two holes were slightly less than a 1/4 inch in diameter and passed between ribs. There was very little damage between the exit wounds (as viewed from the inside of the rib cage). No bullet fragments were recovered. The exit wounds from the outside looked like a typical bloody mess.

 

[kraky]

I'm kind of thinking the only plastic tipped bullets that should shot into elk shoulders would be the barnes mrx or the new bullet from winchester...both of which are designed for bone. Other than that you can't beat the North Fork Bonded, swift a frame, or trophy bonded.
Last fall I broke down a moose at 100 yds with a full speed NF bonded 165 grainer out of my 300 wby. We found the bullet buried in the off side shoulder bone. It weighed about 160 grains from the initial 165.....not bad.