Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting Accubonds and elk in New Mexico.

I recovered the two 140gr. Accubonds used in my 84L .270Win. earlier this week on my annual elk hunt. They were both under the hide on the opposite side. The cow was 100 yards when first shot broadside. She turned the other direction and I shot her again broadside. No immediate sign of a hit but soon she got wobbly legs and fell, sliding about 600 yards down the hill. Finally one slid in the right direction!



A full freezer for another year.

Congratulations on some nice eats.
Looks like you and your 270 did a good job bagging your elk.

Excellent bullet performance. Congrats on your success.


P

Good data points. I just acquired a 270 for just such a task. I bought 150 Partitions to try but have been looking at the 140 AB. Thanks for posting.

Shot a nice 6x6 in New Mexico with a 200 grain AB in my 300 RUM. My shot was at 167 yards broadside resulting in the same Ol boring performance I get from Noslers. Recovered bullet on the offside shoulder, under the hide. 105.5 grains.

Congrats on your kill.....lot of fantastic meat there! Great performance by the bullets as well.

I am a little surprised neither exited.

I'm not.... really Nevertheless looks like the bullet did fine!

Sounds like a typical 270 elk kill to me.

Bigwhoop nice cow. Congrats

But, but you shot an elk with a 270? 😉
Congratulations! Late season cow hunt? Whereabouts?

Me neither......looks about perfect to me.

I have found about the same percentage of retained weight using ABs in .257, .270, .308, .338, .366 and .375 caliber cartridges on a variety of deer and elk and several species of African plains game. Overall, I have recovered just about half of them. The rest have exited. No failures, although several elk have stood around long enough to take a second shot. I admit to still shooting Partitions in two rifles that shoot them more accurately than anything else I have tried.

Very nice, congrats!

My only rifle elk kills with 30-06 and NP did not exit either but rested on the hide.

What was your load and gun

Some additional close-ups with the macro lens and fill flash.

Kimber Montana 84L, 140g. Accubond, 58gr. H4831SC, Fed 210, OAL 3.320" @ 2885fps.

How do you beat that? Looks like text book performance. Thanks for sharing it.

Congrat's Joe!

Personally, I've seen elk hold more Accubonds than Partitions, likely because they open up to a slightly bigger diameter. Either way, I don't see any real need for an exit hole and your AB's performance is great IMO.

I'm planning on trying 130,140,150 Partitions and 140 NAB's in my 270 MT... whichever shoots the best will get used.

Congrats!

Congrats. Know what you mean going down hill in the right direction.

Thanks for the post BW, looks like the accubond worked as planned, enjoy the great eats!

Brad, on our trip this fall, my friend who'd never even taken a deer before, took a grand 6x6 bull with his 270 at just over 200 yds. It was a perfectly placed broadside shot with a Premuim Fed 150-grain Nosler Partition. We shot over the summer familiarizing him with his rifle (Tikka) and load. It chrono's at about 2800+ fps from the 22" tube.

Tucked right behind the on-side shoulder, the NP was picture-perfect having lost its "nose" enroute to its resting place, as is usual, just under the off-side hide. The bull took a very short twenty step or so trip before quitting.

I don't think you will be hindered by any of those choices though I might lean toward the heavier weights myself.

I've yet to have one slide in the right direction. 😛 😊

I use 160 gr Accubond handloads in my 7mm Mag. Great accuracy and great performance on game. What more can you ask of a bullet?

George, your friends 270/150 Partition experience sounds about right. I will say, my friend Dober says he has seen more 270/150 Partitions sail through elk than most any other bullet.

I'm a heavy bullet man at heart and have only taken two elk with the 270. One a heavy, mature 10.5 year old 6pt with the 150 Partition. In that case, I shot the bull as it was feeding, head down, facing me at 40 yards (I'd crept up to him and he was unaware I was there). One shot into the spine that traveled down through his vitals and was lost somewhere in the paunch.

The other, a fairly heavy, older cow with the 150 Ballistic Tip. Like Joe, I shot her broadside at 130 yards. Bullet punched the ribs/lungs and exited the offside. She tumbled down the hill, right to the road. I was able to back the truck in and slide her whole into the truck bed!

The bull was another story...

Congrats on some fine shooting and GREAT eating!

I put two of those 140 gr AB's into a good-sized bull from around 250 yds earlier this fall and was hoping to recover one. They both exited so my streak of never catching an Accubond is still intact. Mine were delivered by a 270 WSM.

I have recovered a number of Accubonds from elk.. All were dime size expansion.. Usually just under the hide on the off side..
Have them around here some where.. A couple were not recovered, I am not sure if they were passed through or lost in processing..
I am planning on using them on a late cow hunt this mth..

I'd say you shot her in just the right place!

I appreciate the AccuBond info --- Great job by the way.

I'm in the process of working up a 7MM-08 load for 140s for Elk this year. Hoping for 2800 fps with a Compact Ruger American.

Can't find AccuBonds (140 gr .284) anywhere. Midway won't even backorder.

Enjoyed your bullet pixs!

As time and weather permit, I will be conducting accuracy tests between the 140 Acc, 140 NP and the 150 NP's. As bullet performance is probably equal, I will see if there is any difference in accuracy. That too may be pretty even, but we'll see and report back.

BW,

That's the same load I use in my M70 FWT, it's my mule deer load. The only load thats more accurate in my rifle is the 130 Sierra Game King. I wouldn't have any trouble going after elk with the Accubond.

Always good to get an elk!!

John(dog)

Very good.... good eats, good hunt, good bullets.

In my 280, I shot 160 gr partitions a LONG time. found very few even in elk. Found one partition from the 280 in a deer and one elk after 25+ years of hunting and shooting elk and deer. Both from almost full frontal hit and both found back again the pelvic bone.

Tried some 160gr. Accubonds and started to find bullets all the time in elk and deer. Wider mushroom on bullets, more energy put into game.... without break-up. I like it

Got brave this fall and tried the 150 gr Btip from the 280 on elk, acted just like an accubond, but the jacket and core were found separated but laying together.... After plowing from the last rib up 'going away shot' to break opposite side shoulder and stop again the hide. Bullet failure, not in my book

Took my largest bull with my 270 WSM and 140ABs. The killing Bullet crushed both front leg bones and was in the hide on the far side. I used to be pretty down on the 140 ABs as I'd used to think I should've gotten an exit.

Fast forward a couple elk later and some different cartridges and I've seen 300 magnums and 180 PTs caught on the hide with smaller Bulls.

I'd be just fine with tackling any elk with the 140 AB from a plain old 270 Win or WSM. Pretty great combo now that I look back at it.

Very cool recoveries... Sounds like they did the deed very well and I can't see any badness from either of those two.

Just read through this post and I am pleased. Just found a good load for my 338 winnie with 225 Accubonds, sounds like they should work just fine for elk and deer.

I've recovered quite a few ab's, but I look forward to finding the bullets I shoot critters with. Part of being a reloader or hunter or nimrod etc. I've only recovered 1 x bullet in all my years. It was a 180 whitey shot thru the shoulders. I think the weight loss from the rut left a lot of lose skin so it was very pliable.

When I shot a lot of Sierra I found them pretty often. They usually have a huge frontal diameter and often slip the core. They were alway in dead animals but I wish they stayed together better. I kinda got away from them and shoot mostly Hornady then Noslers as a close second.