Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting Accubond Long Range on Elk??

Is the Accubond Long Range too soft for tough shots on elk? I've been told that for elk, you need to treat them the same as Bergers and restrict your shots to close-to-broadside lung shots.

What about regular Accubonds and the Swift Sirocco? I was thinking of using one or the other of them on my hunt to WY in Sept 2016 in an area where the shots can be long. Rifles will be either a 7mm Rem Mag or .300 Win Mag. Was leaning towards 175 gr in 7mm and 190 or 200 gr in .300. Guide has told me he likes his hunters to use heavier bullets for the caliber.

Hell, I may just stick to Barnes TTSX. Have had good luck with those on everything from speed goats and on up.

Took my last 5 bulls with 180 grain NABs out of 300 WBY at 3,180 fps from 50 to 300 yards. All have performed great. On the most recent bull, hit him quartering away at 200/220 yards. The bullet went in behind the front shoulder, blew up the lungs, then buried between the offside shoulder and the edge of the hide. Retained weight was approximately 45%. He ran about 40-50 yards. The regular NABs have my approval.

Shot one very nice 6x6 bull with a 200 grain AB in my 300 Ultra. 167 yards broadside. Bang flop. Bullet went through one shoulder blade and lodged underneath the hide on the far side. Classic mushroom weighed 105 grains. No complaints.

I shot a very big bodied elk several years ago at 146 yards using a 200-grain AB from a .300 WSM. Muzzle velocity was a little below 3,000 fps. The bullet entered between the near shoulder blade and the neck and exited just behind the very last rib on the off side, traversing about five feet of elk. Bull went about 50-60 yards before collapsing.

Shot one a two years later with the same bullet from a .300 Win Mag. Muzzle velocity was a bit less (2,882 fps) and the bull was pretty much at a 90-degree angle to me, a little over 110 yards away. Bullet hit a rib just behind the shoulder going in and shattered another one going out. Elk dropped in his tracks.

Stepson shot a mule deer buck with the same rifle and load week before last. Deer was at about 65 yards and running. It swapped ends when hit and somersaulted backwards a couple of times. Bullet hit a rib going in and took out two more on the offside, taking a gob of lung tissue about the size of a softball with it. There was some bloodshot meat lost on the offside shoulder. I don't recommend it with the .300 mags on deer, but it did the job.

The Swift and regular AB are proven performers on elk shoulders and LRABs are storried to be quit soft because their intended purpose is LR. Your plan to stick with Barnes is a good one as well.

Good luck

Read my post in the LR forum. Just killed three elk with the AB LR and the performance was less than stellar.

LC

Take a look at the 175 LRX, too.

Regular Accubonds are great elk bullets

Thanks guys!! Y'all confirmed what I'd heard.

I've had what, to me, was surprising experience with several deer I've killed with the 200gr AB out of my .338 RCM at 2850 fps. I have yet to have an exit wound on any mature buck (240 to 330 lbs), but all my shots have been quartering or through the shoulders. And all but one have run at least 50-60 yds. I've had exit wounds and some bang/flops with does, even a couple that were just over 200 pounds. Same experience with the 200gr SST's from Hornady.

The old 210 NPT just blows right through, giving a nice big, juicy exit wound, which usually isn't needed because the deer bang/flops or falls within 20 yds or less. Same thing with the old Hornady 200gr flat base IL and the Speer 200gr HotCor, all at 2850fps out of my .338 RCM. I've gotten in a LOT more shooting than normal the last three years with this rifle because of culling requested by the Department of Conservation due to CWD in the area.

I know I was originally asking about the ABLR's out of 7mm and 300 mags, but my experience with the regular 338, 200gr AB's on big northern Missouri whitetails has me wondering about their performance on elk too.

Thanks again!

Will be flinging 168 NBT's at elk (hopefully) on a late AZ elk hunt. .308 Win at 2,725. Couldn't find the AB version when I needed them. Will report back if sucessful.

Skeezix,

I have been following the whole ABLR deal closely, and used some (not many) as well. What I’ve generally noticed is the people who’re unhappy with ABLR performance on game haven’t used them at long range. Instead they use them as an all-around bullet, often from higher velocity cartridges, like they’d use the standard AccuBond and Partition, and bitch when the ABLR’s don’t hold up as well at ranges under 400 yards.

John,

I hear what you're saying, and agree with you 100%, but I can see the dilemma that good folks get into. You load and prepare for the longest range you can ethically shoot, and then the shooter elk pops up at 50 to 175 yds. So what are you going to do? Unload the ABLR's in your rifle and stuff in some NPT's? Or go with the NPT's loaded, in case a shorter range shot presents itself, and be prepared to unload and reload with the ABLR's for a longer shot (which USUALLY is much less hurried)?

This assumes that you've got a scope has really repeatable adjustments and you've got enough experience and practice with it to be able to make the necessary adjustments expediently in the field, OR you know exactly what the differences in POI are between the two ammo types and can adjust your hold accordingly.

OR you can be disciplined enough to pass on ALL shots less than say... 400 or 500 yds - whatever is appropriate for the ABLR.

That's too much banjo work for me and my decrepit ol' brain. I'll just stick with one ammo type in the field that I know is good from zero out to around 500 yds, and govern myself accordingly.

Thanks for your input John!

Tim

Well said.

John.

Yes I expected them to be somewhat a all around bullet...I even called Nosler and the assured me that the bullet was bonded and would hold together at close range. The best of both worlds!

Not bitching just my experience with them indicates they are VERY fragile.

Perhaps I should have let that big 6X6 get out to 700 yards or so before I opened on him

Not complaining, have 3 elk and a mule deer on the ground, but it wasn't pretty.

Lefty

Go with what you are comfortable with and shoots well in your rig. Like you I've had good results with the TTSX from speed goats on up and wouldn't hesitate to use them again.

Like you, I want one bullet that will work at any range I'm willing to shoot, meaning from arm's reach to 600 yards. I trust North Fork, TTSX, A-Frame, Grand Slam and AccuBond bullets to do just that.

There are flatter shooting bullets, to be sure, but what's the point if they don't reliably perform as desired?

Its too bad Nosler didn't keep their ABLR with the same bonded core properties as their standard Acc's. As others have already pointed out, who is going into the field with a bullet designed for over 400 yards and pass up game at less distance?
That makes no sense. The question is, how much of a long range benefit do the ABLR bullet really give? At what range does their high BC really become a game changer?
There are better options than falling into this dilemma.

Curious as to what about Accubond LONG RANGE, is so hard for some to understand?

No, 400 yards is not long range. For those that can't seem to grasp the concept.... I'll bet if you stick one in an elks ribs at 50 yards, it'll make it to the vitals..... No, it won't come out looking pretty, yes it will probably damage some meat... Who cares. If you are that worried about it, then you aren't shooting far enough to benefit from the ABLRs anyway.

Look at where your rifle/cartridge drops to 1,300 fps- that's where ABLRs are meant for. You can't make a bullet to work from 3,300 fps to nearly subsonic and expect it to look like a Barnes add (asif what a bullet looks like has anything to do with how it kills).

I've killed my last 2 moose with ABLR's - Last year at 454 yards with a 190 ABLR in a .300 Win mag - one shot kill. Recovered bullet under far hide, perfect mushroom. This year, 450 yards with 28 nosler and 175ABLR. One shot kill. 5 steps towards me and fell over. Didn't recover bullet.

Also shot my elk this year at 200 yards on the run - hit him in the spine right above the shoulder with a 175 ABLR out of the 28 nosler. I love them - they kill as good as regular accubonds and don't do excessive meat damage.

And I HATE Bergers on game. Nosler/Barnes fan all the way.

I don't know how much more you could want from a bullet. These are 2 200 grain Accubonds from an elk at 660 yards from a 300 WBY...





This is another 200 grain from an elk shot with a 300 Ultra mag at 200 yards. It appears to me that these bullets have worked consistantly at various velocities and yardages...

400 yards is well beyond where most game is taken, but I agree it is not “long range” for a bullet. Frankly, most any bullet should work at that range.

Where my bullets drop to 1300fps is on no concern to me as it is well beyond any range where I would take a shot at game. 600 yards is the limit of my normal practice and even at that range I don’t have problems hitting targets with standard (i.e. not “LR”) bullets, including those with relatively low B.C. values like A-Frame, Grand Slam and North Fork. Most people don’t practice that far out or even close to it. The thing I like about the afore mentioned bullets (and AccuBond, TTSX and others) is that they work very consistently at ranges from zero yards out to as far as I’m willing to take a shot.

Still, there is nothing wrong with wanting to use a bullet designed to shoot flatter. If I could get one that shoots flat as a laser and works as well at close range as it does way out there, I’d be happy to use it. The AccuBond LR, from what I can determine, isn’t that bullet.