There was a period maybe a year after AccuBonds were first produced when some faulty bullets went out. Demand was very high, and the problem was traced to one person on the assembly line who tried to speed up the process, resulting in unbonded bullets. Nosler recalled as many as they could, but some still got out there, and may even turn up now and then. Much of the �AccuBomb� reputation occurred because of those bullets, because of course the people who used them complained a lot.
My experience with AB�s is probably more extensive than JG�s, and runs from 140 .270�s at 3200+ fps to 260-grain .375�s at 2800. Some of it occurred in 2007 when I went on a big cull hunt in South Africa where over 180 animals were taken by several American hunters. At the time both AB�s and Barnes TSX�s were the hot new bullets, and probably 90% of the hunters used one or the other, and many used both. There was only one �failure� among the AccuBond�s, when a 180-grain from a .300 Winchester Magnum hit a huge eland right in the shoulder joint and didn�t penetrate much beyond the near lung, but the bull was hurt enough to not go far, and a second bullet in the same area soon brought it down. Among others, I saw a big blue wildebeest bull, considered perhaps the toughest of African animals, drop within 75 yards after taking a 140 7mm from a 7-08 behind the shoulder.
The least percentage of retained weight I�ve seen was a 140 .270 that went into a bull caribou�s spine lengthwise, after a frontal shot, and was recovered at the rear of the ribs, weighing 75 grains. The caribou, of course, dropped right there.
AccuBonds are not TSX�s, or E-Tips or any other monolithic bullet, and to expect them to perform like one is unrealistic. But if you pick the right one for the job, which in my experience would be a little heavier than a TSX of the same caliber, especially in faster cartridges, then they�ll perform very well. One of the more successful trophy elk hunters in this part of Montana uses a .300 Rum with 200-grain AccuBonds, because they penetrate great, and drift in the wind less than lighter bullets with less-sleek profiles. He hardly recovers any, and then only on severely angling shots. But if you want to run lighter bullets at higher speed, then no doubt a monolithic is the way to go.
