Bullet fail...Accubond CT

[adam32]

Adam.....I went back and read some more of the earlier posts. I make bullets and do a lot of testing so can tell you with assurance that the more velocity you have, the less penetration! This is of course if you are talking about expanding bullets. Even at 300+ yards, you are still around 2900 fps if the mv is 3300' and it doesn't surprise me that much that the bullet may not exit. The 30 yard shot is not at all surprising! A 140 grain bullet traveling at even 500 fps would VERY easily penetrate a milk jug full of water and would likely split the jug as well. This is why the ONLY thing that makes any sense to me is that the bullet was nearly spent when it hit the jug......Rich

Rich, thanks for the replies. I didn't think you were trying to belittle me, I'm at a loss for what happened and am welcoming all scenarios.

The hole wasn't jagged at all, that's whats confusing me.

It looks like there might be a break in weather tomorrow so hopefully we can get out and replicate the shot again on camera...

 

[elkaholic]

Rich, thanks for the replies. I didn't think you were trying to belittle me, I'm at a loss for what happened and am welcoming all scenarios.

The hole wasn't jagged at all, that's whats confusing me.

It looks like there might be a break in weather tomorrow so hopefully we can get out and replicate the shot again on camera...

I'll be very interested in seeing that........thanks/Rich

 

[beretzs]

Looks about right to me, I've shot a bunch of those into just about everything including a bunch of elk, deer and antelope with a starting velocity of 3340fps and have never recovered on unless I shoot them into water or dry paper bundles.

Same here, I used that same exact load as the OP to take this bull. Shot into both shoulders, recovered on the hide...

 

[Cold Trigger Finger]

The round hole could be explained by the bullet entering the jug backwards. If there is a long enough base shank on the bullet. It is very common for bullets to turn over and continue penetrating backwards. As I remember from the pic it did not have a long shank left on it tho. Was the rifle sighted in with that ammo? Or with ammo that was of a known or spec velocity. ??

 

[adam32]

The round hole could be explained by the bullet entering the jug backwards. If there is a long enough base shank on the bullet. It is very common for bullets to turn over and continue penetrating backwards. As I remember from the pic it did not have a long shank left on it tho. Was the rifle sighted in with that ammo? Or with ammo that was of a known or spec velocity. ??

We shot again tonight, he had 3 left in his mag from that box. Of course we forgot the chrony, but I'm almost positive that they were NOT shooting at max velocity. He has a Leupold VX-2 with the the crosshair then two dots under it (not sure what reticle that is) and he had the hold the bottom dot! I checked it and it was nearly 20" holdover! That's waaaay too much for a .270 WSM sighted in at 200!

The first shot was low and by the third shot he was on and using the bottom dot on the scope. Switched ammo to the different lot number box, and using the same POA he was a foot plus high. Got dialed in and of course blew the jug up like its suppose to.

I believe he has 2 more from that first box, if he finds them then we will chrony those.

It also makes sense if they weren't quite full power because he's always had trouble with his gun (Benelli R1) ejecting them...

 

[Pdvdh]

Does this not tend to confirm the earlier bullets skipped into the gallon jug after expanding in the dirt? The rifle zero was too low for the bullets to have impacted the jug on a direct path through the air?

 

[elkaholic]

We shot again tonight, he had 3 left in his mag from that box. Of course we forgot the chrony, but I'm almost positive that they were NOT shooting at max velocity. He has a Leupold VX-2 with the the crosshair then two dots under it (not sure what reticle that is) and he had the hold the bottom dot! I checked it and it was nearly 20" holdover! That's waaaay too much for a .270 WSM sighted in at 200!

The first shot was low and by the third shot he was on and using the bottom dot on the scope. Switched ammo to the different lot number box, and using the same POA he was a foot plus high. Got dialed in and of course blew the jug up like its suppose to.

I believe he has 2 more from that first box, if he finds them then we will chrony those.

It also makes sense if they weren't quite full power because he's always had trouble with his gun (Benelli R1) ejecting them...

Adam.....when you chrony those last two, now that you know the trajectory, see if you can hit the jug with at least one.....thanks/Rich

 

[bigngreen]

We shot again tonight, he had 3 left in his mag from that box. Of course we forgot the chrony, but I'm almost positive that they were NOT shooting at max velocity. He has a Leupold VX-2 with the the crosshair then two dots under it (not sure what reticle that is) and he had the hold the bottom dot! I checked it and it was nearly 20" holdover! That's waaaay too much for a .270 WSM sighted in at 200!

The first shot was low and by the third shot he was on and using the bottom dot on the scope. Switched ammo to the different lot number box, and using the same POA he was a foot plus high. Got dialed in and of course blew the jug up like its suppose to.

I believe he has 2 more from that first box, if he finds them then we will chrony those.

It also makes sense if they weren't quite full power because he's always had trouble with his gun (Benelli R1) ejecting them...

Did you shoot at 300 yards again, if so it would suggest a MV of 1800fps ish with an impact of 1460fps having to use a 20" hold over at 300 yards. That would be a problem with ammo not bullet! I'd find another factory ammo with an accubomb in it!!

 

[adam32]

Did you shoot at 300 yards again, if so it would suggest a MV of 1800fps ish with an impact of 1460fps having to use a 20" hold over at 300 yards. That would be a problem with ammo not bullet! I'd find another factory ammo with an accubomb in it!!

Yup at 300.

I agree it must be an ammo problem.

He had another box (same stuff, different lot #) and when he switched to it with the same holdover he shot way high! That's when it hit me and I looked thru the scope and looked at the dot he was using and how high it was! Next shot with new point of aim blew the jug to pieces, I then shot one at 200 with the new ammo and blew it to pieces also.

He found two more rounds, one has a broken tip from when it jammed in the gun. I'm going to pull the bullet and measure the powder and compare to the new box. Then reseat the bullet and shoot those last two thru the chrony.

 

[Cold Trigger Finger]

I thot it had to start with a velocity problem. Thanks for reporting back.

 

[Pdvdh]

In order to gain a clearer understanding of this incident, it's critical to understand that an Accubond bullet striking the milk jugs at 1500 feet per second will penetrate more 1-gallon jugs of water than an expanding Accubond bullet striking them at 2900 feet per second.

The speed that the original two bullets were launched out the muzzle bears no reflection on the quality of these two Accubond bullets. The pictures of the two expanded bullets looked picture perfect. Especially so considering that they roto-rootered through several feet of turf prior to bouncing up to, and into, the jug. This incident was a fluke. Couldn't repeat those two consecutive results again if you fired another 500 rounds down range.

There's no way to know which of the first two bullets entered the milk jug, given the description of those first two shots, since the milk jug wasn't observed to have moved with either shot. Both bullets ripped through the turf, in spite of the fact that flying mud was only observed with the second bullet.

The only remaining point of curiosity is the MV of the factory ammo.

 

[elkaholic]

In order to gain a clearer understanding of this incident, it's critical to understand that an Accubond bullet striking the milk jugs at 1500 feet per second will penetrate more 1-gallon jugs of water than an expanding Accubond bullet striking them at 2900 feet per second.

The speed that the original two bullets were launched out the muzzle bears no reflection on the quality of these two Accubond bullets. The pictures of the two expanded bullets looked picture perfect. Especially so considering that they roto-rootered through several feet of turf prior to bouncing up to, and into, the jug. This incident was a fluke. Couldn't repeat those two consecutive results again if you fired another 500 rounds down range.

There's no way to know which of the first two bullets entered the milk jug, given the description of those first two shots, since the milk jug wasn't observed to have moved with either shot. Both bullets ripped through the turf, in spite of the fact that flying mud was only observed with the second bullet.

The only remaining point of curiosity is the MV of the factory ammo.

100% amen!

 

[Cornfield Flats]

Phorwath's last response is spot on.

 

[adam32]

It does make sense that it could've bounced, except that the entry hole was a perfect hole. It should've been oblonged a lot from the mushrooming bullet...

And I know they didn't go thru several feet of dirt because it was softer ground with grass and would've left a "trail" like the other shots from other rifles did.

I don't know for sure what happened, but after seeing that plus the performance on the deer, there's no way that ammo will be coming on the elk hunt.