Nosler accubond

[WildRose]

What about the Nosler E Tips?Anybody shoot them.The little I've heard about them they seem to work well,just don't hear much from them.I have a box of the 30 cal 180gr.They grouped really well out of my 300 Win Mag.That bullet is long,same as a 200gr Accubond if I remember right,if not really close.

Tried them once, I was unimpressed, just didn't fly right and I waste probably a pound of different poweders, primers etc trying to get them to shoot for me.

I've had some really good luck with the LRX from Barnes in .375 Ruger, 7STW, 6.5LRM, and .260 Rem for a total of six different rifles.

 

[Tlr155]

My butcher used to put all of the recovered bullets in a pan on the counter. The Barnes bullets all looked just like the advertisements. I never even saw one with the petals broken off, although I have heard that it can happen. I've never had a Barnes fail to penetrate. All that srapnel ruins a lot of meat, and I've heard that eating lead isn't good for us. Just in this thread, I've heard of a bunch of failures from the AB. Guess I won't be trying those.

And everyone of the animals that the bullet supposedly failed on were recovered therefore
The bullet did its job, don't blame a bullet for bad shot placement

 

[piute]

I have been following this post since started because I was interested in trying the Accubonds.
I don't believe there would be any consistency on bullet performance judging on animals hit at these close 9, 40, 50 or so yards. My 2cnt's!

Nosler Partitions have always performed good for me on animals at all ranges, just haven't used them at over 500 yards.

 

[nmbarta]

If I had to bet I'd bet that bullet struck something before hitting the deer.

There wasn't anything for it to hit,
That was my first thought, but he was standing in the middle of an alfalfa feild
I have no idea what could have caused this to happen.
Maybe a little bird flew by at just the wrong time!

 

[WildRose]

There wasn't anything for it to hit,
That was my first thought, but he was standing in the middle of an alfalfa feild
I have no idea what could have caused this to happen.
Maybe a little bird flew by at just the wrong time!

For that to have happened something had to cause the bullet to expand and begin to either tumble or breakup before it even made contact with the animal.

I tried a "Texas Heart Shot" on a very large warthog a few years ago. The Shot seemed to be right on but the animal ran off a few hundred yards and we had to put it down with another shot.

On examination it looked like someone had knifed the hog in both hams indicating the bullet completely blew up before making impact.

I was aboslutely convinced I had a clear shot which was confirmed by the Outfitter and PH that were with me.

We set back up exactly where we were when the shot was taken, we knew exactly where the hog was standing as well and walked the full track of the bullet.

Sure enough we found a single stalk maybe the size of a pencil lead that had been a fledgling acacia tree about 40 yards from where the hog had been standing directly in the path of the bullet. It was cut off like someone had snipped it with pruning shears.

That had to be the cause of the bullet failure, there was simply nothing else that could explain it.

 

[nmbarta]

I agree that something out of the ordinary happened, we've harvested dozens of critters with accubonds and have never had an issue, they are still one of my favorite bullets, it seems like even if there was something in the path that it would have still made it to the vitals of a whitetail. Even if the bullet was fully expanded on impact, you'd think it would still make it through a whitetail rib.

 

[nmbarta]

Entrance wound

 

[WildRose]

Entrance wound View attachment 159648

Seems something caused that bullet to come apart completely five to ten yards before hitting the deer based on that. What a mess!

 

[baldhunter]

Even if the bullet failed somehow to get properly bonded,I'd have a hard time believing the Accubond would explode on impact like that.They are designed to shed some weight,but they do have a heavy jacket design and they shouldn't give you that kind of entrance wound.The Ballistic Tips basically have the same jacket,just not bonded.I have used both in my 7mag and the Accubond in the 7STW.I get a tad wider wound channel with a 150gr NBT than I do with the 160gr AB and I'm running them between 3100-3200fps and I have yet to recover one,even then I haven't had what I'd considered excessive damage with either bullet.These pictures are from a deer I shot with a 150gr NBT.The ones I've shot with the 160gr AB tend to look about the same.

 

[Riflehunter1776]

My kid made a phenomenal shot, but the accubond bullet performance was less than could be desired. 270/130gr at 3075fps. 400 yards on a broadside running 150lb whitetail buck. Entry wound, broken ribs, shredded lung, fragments deflected back into guts, no exit wound nor bruise on far side. Deer ran over 200 yards.

Previously this season, we clipped a small branch with a 150 ballistic tip/300 Win mag. the bullet exploded and didnt touch the deer at only 200 yards.

I'm rapidly losing faith in nosler

 

[Raudy707]

My kid made a phenomenal shot, but the accubond bullet performance was less than could be desired. 270/130gr at 3075fps. 400 yards on a broadside running 150lb whitetail buck. Entry wound, broken ribs, shredded lung, fragments deflected back into guts, no exit wound nor bruise on far side. Deer ran over 200 yards.

Previously this season, we clipped a small branch with a 150 ballistic tip/300 Win mag. the bullet exploded and didnt touch the deer at only 200 yards.

I'm rapidly losing faith in nosler

So scenario number one, shooting at a running deer at 400 yards = dead deer and scenario number two, you expected the bullet to go through a branch and still have complete continuity?? Doesn't seem like Nosler is the the problem here. I shoot what is most accurate in my rifles, Nosler, Hornady, Barnes, Sierra and I can tell you none of these bullets are going to go through blades of grass much less a branch and reach it's target at 200 yards? If you hit a small branch a foot in front of the target it might hit it, albeit will probably be deformed but if you hit a branch or even grass just in front of your muzzle, you got no chance in hell of getting consistent hits on a target 200 yards away.

 

[Riflehunter1776]

So scenario number one, shooting at a running deer at 400 yards = dead deer and scenario number two, you expected the bullet to go through a branch and still have complete continuity?? Doesn't seem like Nosler is the the problem here. I shoot what is most accurate in my rifles, Nosler, Hornady, Barnes, Sierra and I can tell you none of these bullets are going to go through blades of grass much less a branch and reach it's target at 200 yards? If you hit a small branch a foot in front of the target it might hit it, albeit will probably be deformed but if you hit a branch or even grass just in front of your muzzle, you got no chance in hell of getting consistent hits on a target 200 yards away.

If someone hunts in the thick woods of the east coast, they can expect lots of brush, and have to choose shots very carefully but will almost never have a shot where a deer is 100% in the clear. If you do not, then you have no idea what you are commenting on. So thanks for critiquing my post with a very know-it-all response which has no bearing on what I said.
For any normal people out there who want to discuss rather than just slam other posters in order to try to make themselves look smart, Nosler Ballistic Tips are especially notorious. They have a long history of being extremely frangible. You will find hundreds of threads across the internet to this effect. This is why I switched almost completely to the accubonds, which shoot very well. But for a nearly perfect shot, The performance of the accubond was not that great.

 

[Raudy707]

If someone hunts in the thick woods of the east coast, they can expect lots of brush, and have to choose shots very carefully but will almost never have a shot where a deer is 100% in the clear. If you do not, then you have no idea what you are commenting on. So thanks for critiquing my post with a very know-it-all response which has no bearing on what I said.
For any normal people out there who want to discuss rather than just slam other posters in order to try to make themselves look smart, Nosler Ballistic Tips are especially notorious. They have a long history of being extremely frangible. You will find hundreds of threads across the internet to this effect. This is why I switched almost completely to the accubonds, which shoot very well. But for a nearly perfect shot, The performance of the accubond was not that great.

I wasn't slamming you at all. Don't be so sensitive. I hunt brush every season. We have buck brush here and actually hunt with little terriers to push deer and do drives to get our deer out of the brush. But I would never blame a bullet for missing deer because I shot a branch. I'm not putting you down, stuff happens I get it. It's hard hitting those bucks bouncing around the thick stuff and your son made a heck of shot hitting that whitetail at 400 yards on the run. Congratulations. I've probably killed 60 to 80 deer with an Accubond bullet. 99% have been perfect results. Try em a little longer and see if you still have bad results. I think you will find them to be a pretty solid performer over time. Sorry if I came off like a richard. Happy hunting!

 

[WildRose]

My kid made a phenomenal shot, but the accubond bullet performance was less than could be desired. 270/130gr at 3075fps. 400 yards on a broadside running 150lb whitetail buck. Entry wound, broken ribs, shredded lung, fragments deflected back into guts, no exit wound nor bruise on far side. Deer ran over 200 yards.

Previously this season, we clipped a small branch with a 150 ballistic tip/300 Win mag. the bullet exploded and didnt touch the deer at only 200 yards.

I'm rapidly losing faith in nosler

You got exactly the performance to be expected with the NBT. By design they are pretty well flying bombs that have extreme expansion in the first 2" of penetration basically shelling out.

I'd prefer to see a bullet track and exit cleanly but in the case of the accubond striking ribs at an angle with a crossing shot a deflection is to be expected.

Ran 200yds? I've seen bucks run that far or farther with a golf ball sized hole through the heart and a shredded lung.

Unless you interrupt the CNS with a brain or spine shot animals rarely drop dead in their tracks.

The first response to major trauma is a massive dump of adrenaline, testosterone, and other hormones that do amazing things.