Nosler Accubond Long Range problem

[Fiftydriver]

Well fellas, back on the LRAB topic.

Went to a funeral today. It was a good on for a couple of reasons. First, it wasn't mine. Second, it was a very sweet lady who live a very productive 94 years.

Came home, changed duds and went to shootin'.

Having tinkeritus I moved the Base to Ogive distance, base to the Sinclair nut 27 cal hole minus the width of the nut out to touching the rifling. 3.173" in this case.

Strung a 3 shot group @ 300 open about 8" w/zero horizontal dispersion. When that happens it's me not paying attention to shooting position. Which is usually pushing too hard against the butt.

Went up a half grain of 7828ssc to 84.5 gr. Paid more attention to shooting position.

Group shrunk in half from the previous group. Load was too hot. A little more extraction resistance I like in a hunting rifle.

Seeing as how yesterdays shooting shooting revealed a node around 3500 FPS w/84 gr sec and a length of 3.153'' base to ogive. That portion of the ladder looked quite promising.

So why didn't I just start there? Duh. . .Tinkeritus!

So seating same as yesterday, 0.017" off rifling, same powder charge as yesterday, but prone off of solid bipod and DIY rear mono-pod gizmo I sent another group at the 300 yd target.

Group was exactly 1 MOA low and 0.291 MOA in size. That's better ho my previous best.

As I think about achieving an accurate load, zeroed @ 300 yards with 18 shots is pretty sweet. Plus most of the shots, 12 from yesterday, didn't contribute to load work except for the serendipity benefit of the latter ladder showing something.

I immediately contacted the IF Sportsmans and had Scott put their next to last box, didn't want to keep someone else from trying them, on the reserve shelf.

The 7/8" 300 yard group may be unique but if shoots 2X that I'm good with that.

Next week comes the expansion test and drop chart to 1200 or maybe even a mile.

Thanks winmag for the opportunity to wring these thing out.

If they continue to perform as they have so far, there isn't another bullet, all things considered, will compete with it.

The 169.5 WC will shoot along with it accuracy wise and become noticeably flatter beyond 1300 yards. There are only about 300 of them in existence. And I have 'em.

Bergers can't compete with their lower bc.

I'll be giving these things a go in Winny with Ailliant 4000 which pushes the 140 VLD to 3300.

The LRAB are seated with 0.017" jump.

Knowing that you have a good amount of trigger time behind you, I have a hard time thinking that your the only reason for groups going from 8" to 7/8".......

I would like to see an average for 5 or even better 10 three shot groups fired at longer ranges to get a true idea of if there are any issues from bullet to bullet.

Looks like things are looking up but still not completely convinced that your larger groups were simply due to poor shooting position.

 

[elkaholic]

I put the 5 ABLR's through the expansion test today and I believe came up with some interesting results. I used a borrowed .270W with a 20" barrel, so high velocity was going to be a little difficult! I attached the Magneto speed to the barrel and went to work. My test media was primarily water (good for scuba diving elk) and some carpet and wet cardboard for backup. The first round clocked 2937'. Not bad for a 20" barrel. Primer was pretty flat The bullet penetrated 15" of H20 in a plastic 40 lb. vegetable oil jug and passed on into my box full of wet cardboard. Try as I might, I could not locate that bullet. Still a mystery! Since I only had 4 bullets left, I decided to go with the slower velocities since I knew Roy would have the Mach VI stuff covered anyway! I decided to fire the next round through a long container lined with a 30 gallon garbage bag full of H20. This was the round that clocked 2485' on the Mag Speed. The last two rounds were fired through a 20 gal. plastic barrel full of H20. Neither of those two rounds exited the container, but were found in the bottom. Below are pics of the 4 recovered bullets, penetration, and retained weight:

You can draw your own conclusions on the results, but here is the way I see it. If the accuracy tests hold up at long range (Roy), this looks like a very promising long range bullet! That kind of expansion at 1354' should prove very effective on long range game. The down side is, I think you will see a lot of entry wound damage even at 500 yards. The very thick heel on this bullet will no doubt drive on through, although it may weigh no more than 50 grains. I would stay away from a shoulder shot on elk at closer ranges. Based on the above pics, I feel that the bullet fired at 2937' and not recovered, very likely had the heel with a little lead attached and probably weighed around 50 grains. There were lots of small pieces of jacket and lead lying in the H20 container. These would no doubt raise a lot of havoc inside an animal........Rich

 

[bigngreen]

Wow, I know Winmag might like to see a little more weight but that's looking like a good bullet to me, it should have a little better BC than the 150 Berger since it's a little sleeker and may even open at a lower velocity. DANG, now I'll have to roll my WSM barrel back on and find some of these gun)

 

[winmag]

Wow that's great Rich!
Whenever I get some more, ill be sending you AND Rhian a few more haha!
YES, your right B&G Id like to see more wt retention, but it's a give & take in this game, & I gotta give a little if I wanna see that kind of expansion @ 1354. That's great!

 

[bigngreen]

Wow that's great Rich!
Whenever I get some more, ill be sending you AND Rhian a few more haha!
YES, your right B&G Id like to see more wt retention, but it's a give & take in this game, & I gotta give a little if I wanna see that kind of expansion @ 1354. That's great!

Hey, the long range accubond may turn into the gateway bullet and make the transition to a more fragmenting kinda bullet smoother

It may be way cool in a 270-308 with it's lower launch velocity at normal ranges I may be stellar!!

 

[elkaholic]

I was pretty impressed! They expand as well as mine do, and as a matter of fact, are probably as explosive at close range. There is not another bullet out there that will expand at that velocity. I did the exact same test on the 215 hybrids last year and it took 2000' plus to expand them. You may want to load your std. AB's at ranges under 500 though......Rich

 

[barnesuser28]

I was pretty impressed! They expand as well as mine do, and as a matter of fact, are probably as explosive at close range. There is not another bullet out there that will expand at that velocity. I did the exact same test on the 215 hybrids last year and it took 2000' plus to expand them. You may want to load your std. AB's at ranges under 500 though......Rich

Speaking of explosiveness and the SXR's, i shot a 208 grain into two milk jugs filled with water today at 100 yards (2923 fps MV), the first jug flew 40 feet, the second went about 5'. It went through both jugs just fine and dug itself pretty deep into the wooden back stop (about 2" in). But, i am impressed with the results.

 

[elkaholic]

Speaking of explosiveness and the SXR's, i shot a 208 grain into two milk jugs filled with water today at 100 yards (2923 fps MV), the first jug flew 40 feet, the second went about 5'. It went through both jugs just fine and dug itself pretty deep into the wooden back stop (about 2" in). But, i am impressed with the results.

Don't be blowwin' up my Boolits

 

[Fiftydriver]

I was just on the cabelas web sight and checked to see if they had any ABLRs in stock. They had some of the 150 gr 7mm. More interesting were the 5 reviews posted on these bullets. One said with the 270 ABLR, fine accuracy in a 270 Win, +4" groups out of a 270 Wby......

Another guy says he had a 300 Win Mag that will print 3/8" groups with most bullets but these would do no better then 1.25".

One said cosmetic problems with tip alignment and wrinkles in ogive.

Last guy said they violently expanded with only 55 grains left at 100 yard impacts. Not a huge surprise.

There were 5 reviews, not a good one in the batch and most were VERY bad reviews. As much as we would like these bullets to shoot, ARE WE STARTING TO SEE A PATTERN HERE??? Its common to see some poor results here and there with a new bullet design but this seems pretty consistant and pretty widespread. Seems most that drive them over 3000 fps are seeing poor to terrible accuracy......

If this is the case, I suspect we will start to hear MANY MORE bad reports, especially in larger magnum chamberings. Hope the early patterns are wrong.

 

[barnesuser28]

Don't be blowwin' up my Boolits

I used the three with the worse tips for fouling, one of those was sacrificed for the test.

 

[royinidaho]

One said cosmetic problems with tip alignment and wrinkles in ogive.

Tomorrow after I pick up the next to last box of these in all of Idaho I'll be doing expansion tests.

Test bullets will leave the muzzle at a bit over 3500.

Media will be set at 200 yards with entrance holes marked in lieu of shooting more groups. (I'm getting finicky about barrel wear.

As far as the cosmetic problems noted above go, the tip is probably not half the size of the yellow and white ones. They are off center but just enough to notice a difference with my finger nail. Probably 0.001 at the most, but I haven't calibrated my finger nail lately.

Some bullets seem to have a slight line along the ogive axis. Will pay more attention to this as shooting continues.

I'm going full velocity to quite the murmuring by those worried about spin rpm.

It may take some time to haul the media container to the different distances. May have to harness a goat.

 

[elkaholic]

Tomorrow after I pick up the next to last box of these in all of Idaho I'll be doing expansion tests.

Test bullets will leave the muzzle at a bit over 3500.

Media will be set at 200 yards with entrance holes marked in lieu of shooting more groups. (I'm getting finicky about barrel wear.

As far as the cosmetic problems noted above go, the tip is probably not half the size of the yellow and white ones. They are off center but just enough to notice a difference with my finger nail. Probably 0.001 at the most, but I haven't calibrated my finger nail lately.

Some bullets seem to have a slight line along the ogive axis. Will pay more attention to this as shooting continues.

I'm going full velocity to quite the murmuring by those worried about spin rpm.

It may take some time to haul the media container to the different distances. May have to harness a goat.

Roy....I noticed the fold line on one of mine too. That usually doesn't amount to a big deal accuracy wise but probably causes a little. A lot of guys are rooting for you!! I predict your bullets will look sort of like pennies at that velocity!........Rich

 

[royinidaho]

Roy....I noticed the fold line on one of mine too. That usually doesn't amount to a big deal accuracy wise but probably causes a little.

I've noticed these fold lines on many quality bullets from several top of the line suppliers.

They seem to have little affect on either accuracy or terminal performance. My WCs show these folds on about every bullet and have passed all accuracy and terminal testing.

I'm looking forward to tomorrow's activities.

My fingers are crossed. I have two woof hunts coming up in the next several weeks.

 

[elkaholic]

I've noticed these fold lines on many quality bullets from several top of the line suppliers.

They seem to have little affect on either accuracy or terminal performance. My WCs show these folds on about every bullet and have passed all accuracy and terminal testing.

I'm looking forward to tomorrow's activities.

My fingers are crossed. I have two woof hunts coming up in the next several weeks.

That'd make'm WOOF at 3500'