Bonded vs Non Bonded - Accubond vs Berger or SST or Ballistic Tip

[LVJ76]

On soft skin animals I prefer Fusion. My first experience was factory loaded ammo in my 300 WSM..as a result of leaving my reloaded ammo 220 miles from my hunt! I was very impressed with its performance on two northern large body white tails. One through the shoulder, crushed bones and left an impressive exit hole. The second was a heart/lung shot. Both organs emulsified and a good exit. Very pleases to see we can now purchase box bullets. For larger game I have stayed with partitions Or trophy bonded. You just never know if your best shot opportunity is less than ideal.

I've read lots of good things on the Fusion ammo, that many rifles love it. Thanks.

 

[sierracharlie338]

I've read lots of good things on the Fusion ammo, that many rifles love it. Thanks.

Had real good luck with the fusion stuff as well. It performs very well on game.

 

[Hard rock]

I have the right twist. It's 9.25" and tried the 140gr Absolutes and the 131gr Hunters. Like I said got 1 MOA groups but could not do better. Next barrel will try them again.

Thanks
[/QUOTe My experience is they like velocity loading 2 6.5 prc one 7.5 twist and 8 twist 3250 and 3300 plus on hammer hunters I'm trying the absolutes next hope to gain another 2 to 3 hundred fps

 

[30dirty]

Bonded pernitrates And KILL'Z

 

[huntDad66]

Not happy with the s#!t from stem to stern after my wife shot her first deer with a 270 win using Berger 140 grain bullets. Definitely can taste the tainted meat from the bullet fragmenting inside at 108 yards without an off side exit wound.

 

[LVJ76]

Not happy with the s#!t from stem to stern after my wife shot her first deer with a 270 win using Berger 140 grain bullets. Definitely can taste the tainted meat from the bullet fragmenting inside at 108 yards without an off side exit wound.

Curious, did the bullet hit the shoulder on the way in?

 

[jpickar]

This past deer season I took a coues with a 168gr Berger with my 7mm Rem Mag, my first kill with a Berger and total destruction of vitals, dead on the spot.

I've taken several deer with the 139gr SST with my 7mm-08 with the same results, quick kill with vitals turned to smush. Some deer with 120gr Ballistic Tips and also the same results.

Now, my buddy took a coues with a 270 WSM and a 140gr Accubond, result was a slower death, bullet went through one rib and both lungs and rested under the skin the on the opposite side. The damage to the lungs was not as severe, a decent hole through them but still complete.

Last week I took a javelina with a 140gr Accubond with my 7mm-08, now usually I take these down with head and neck shots to preserve the little meat they have. In this case his head was behind some prickly pear cacti so lung shot it was, and to the ground he fell. About 15 minutes later as I approached him he pops up about 15 yards in front of me takes a few steps then slowly lays down and expires. Lungs were complete with a nice hole on them but still pretty complete. Now I have taken a couple of these desert pigs with lung shots in the past with SST and BT's and there were no lungs left.

I know bonded bulllets. Are designed to hold together, punch through bone and leave and exit wound, but I don't see them providing a fast kill. The deer I have killed with soft bullets I have pretty much always gotten exit holes and a quick kill.

Now on an elk I get it, its a tougher animal, but I would still want a fast kill, especially on this animal, and I dont see a bonded bullet doing this if they all (Accubond, Interbond, etc) behave the same.

Now I tried these Accubonds because I had some laying around and said why not, heard and read good things but now I'm convinced they don't do what I want. Animals don't bleed out as fast.

Just wanted to share my experience with them.

Stay safe all and enjoy your weekend

Seems hard to believe an accubond wouldn't pass all the way through? Was it a long shot?

Either way great to have choices.

I love the 160gr accubond in my 280ai. I hunt country that is pretty thick. Most shots are around 60 to 80 yards and either quartering to or quartering away. I really like shooting shoulders to break them down, and I lose less meat with accubond as compared to core-lokts. Anyways love them on elk and moose. Probably over constructed for deer. Ive noticed slower kills too on deer

 

[LVJ76]

Seems hard to believe an accubond wouldn't pass all the way through? Was it a long shot?

Either way great to have choices.

I love the 160gr accubond in my 280ai. I hunt country that is pretty thick. Most shots are around 60 to 80 yards and either quartering to or quartering away. I really like shooting shoulders to break them down, and I lose less meat with accubond as compared to core-lokts. Anyways love them on elk and moose. Probably over constructed for deer. Ive noticed slower kills too on deer

Thanks Jpickar. The shot was under 70 yds with the 270 WSM, I too was surprised it did not exit the animal. We knew right away because when we approached the deer we could see a lump on the shoulder, touched it and you could feel the mushroomed bullet.

 

[MooseChaos]

I've shot 139 Hornady FBSP 7MM from a 7x57 @ 2700 & 120 6.5BT from 6.5x55 @ 2600, the results being instant death in both cases. 7mm was @ 100 yds, 6.5 @ 25 yds. Both were memorable because they dropped in their tracks literally - so dead they bounced when they fell.

 

[Hard rock]

I've shot 139 Hornady FBSP 7MM from a 7x57 @ 2700 & 120 6.5BT from 6.5x55 @ 2600, the results being instant death in both cases. 7mm was @ 100 yds, 6.5 @ 25 yds. Both were memorable because they dropped in their tracks literally - so dead they bounced when they fell.

This has been a really great discussion on different bullet contrution and how their terminal performance if you want to get even a better understanding of yor experiences with bullets look up Terminal Ballistics Research out of New Zealand they have done research on all of the bullets mentioned plus many

I've shot 139 Hornady FBSP 7MM from a 7x57 @ 2700 & 120 6.5BT from 6.5x55 @ 2600, the results being instant death in both cases. 7mm was @ 100 yds, 6.5 @ 25 yds. Both were memorable because they dropped in their tracks literally - so dead they bounced when they fell.

on how they perform on game distances vel etc and have performed autopsy's on thousands of animals

 

[Saskquatch6]

So are we saying - right bullet, right cartridge, right animal = right performance?

 

[Hard rock]

So are we saying - right bullet, right cartridge, right animal = right performance?

Sounds wright to me good analogy

 

[perkinswp]

Sounds wright to me good analogy

Have shot elk whitetail muley's and antelope with Berger 210and215 and never had any problem almost all dead right there acubond at long range tends to separate from the jacket extruding a piece of lead about the size of a pencil lead or a little larger about an inch long had to shoot them again not with the Berger

 

[LRNut]

My 2 cents worth, I've seen several hundred critters ranging from Javilina to moose shot with about 75% of the commonly available bullets, and they all kill, but I've also seen different results from critter to critter useing the exact same bullet. From what I have seen through personal experiences is the bonded and premium bullets will give you very predictable results, meaning if the bullet doesn't pass through I pretty much know what it's going to look like when I dig it out.

All that being said back when I was guiding bear hunters I saw bears shot with almost every premium bullet know to man, and with every thing from the 300 magnums to 416's. The effect was noticible even on big grizzlies when hit 180 or 200 grain Swift A-Frame out of the 30 caliber magnums leaving the muzzle at 2800-3000 fps was noticeable. The only bears I ever saw just drop dead in their tracks were hit with that combination.

I shot a brown bear with a .338 Swift 250 grain; I told my guide to follow up right after my shot. The bear dropped at my shot; guide put one in him and I followed up. He never did move. I have also killed 9 Cape buff with a 400 grain Swift .416; love that bullet. Never had a "failure."