Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Accubond performance question

I have a dilemma. I've sworn off ever using the accubond again but now I'm thinking I should re-consider. I've personally shot 2 mule deer does and a whitetail buck with my 300WSM and 180 NAB @ 2880 fps. I failed to recover all three even though they had to be hit through the chest broadside. All, less than 100 yards. The buck left a small blood trail for 20 yards or so then disappeared. The does left nothing, they all just disappeared. Anybody have this experience? I feel like the bullet isn't even opening up if it passes through the chest. Now i have a 6.5 creedmoor that I want a good accurate bullet for. It likes the 130 accubonds, but? Do I want to try hunting with that load? Can I expect anything different?

With the experience I have had with Accubonds, I would use them and look for a different reason than bullet performance for unsatisfactory results...

I will not use ABs for the opposite reason... I have never seen a pass-through, even with big ones...

I doubt any deer, up to moose, hit in the middle-chest area would long survive a 180 NAB...

I've killed near 100 big game animals with a .284/160AB combo, including near 40 in Africa. Results have been stellar when I've done my part.

I had two 140 7mm Accubonds fail to exit a mule deer last year. Broadside behind shoulder and neck. Neither exited.

Shots were 550 yards from a .280 Ackley...

I do have one success story with the accubond. I shot at a doe one evening a few years ago and she didn't react. Then the group of 10 or so does started to get nervous and move around some. I was like "huh", so I picked out another doe and shot...guess what I found on my way to retrieve the second doe? The first one!! They were both hit clean through the lungs. My buddy watched the whole thing and we both thought I missed the first time. Wasting your "A" tag on a doe sucks, let me tell ya! Again, this was right around 100 yards with the same rifle/load. Both bullets exited.

I've had one 140 gr fail to exit on a really large mule deer. I couldn't call it a failure because it started at 3200 fps,slammed into and shattered the on side knuckle joint and traveled to the last ribs on the opposite side....full expanded, weighed 59 gr.

Chest was destroyed. That's not a failure in my book.

I have seen the 130 6.5 used in a Creedmoor ( Watched everything from impact to deers reaction) and seen a big Kansas buck that was killed with one. I plan to load that bullet in my Creedmoor based on what I have seen.


140 AB previously mentioned, on the left:

I only use the AB in my 6.5 Swede at about 2800 fps on antelope. I have never got a pass thru, but with antelope, you usual don't have big problem finding them after they go down.

Might be the combination nd the 300WSM ,but I'd think that 180 AB would have stay together a bit better.

I have two daughters that killed moose with 7mm-08's and 140 grain Accubonds. One at 20 yards and the other at nearly 300. The close one went about 20 feet and the bullet passed thru. The far one went about 75 yards and the bullet was recovered from under the hide on the far side.
That said, we use Partitions for deer. Sometimes with Partitions there isn't much of an exit wound, the entire expanded portion can shed leaving only the rear, un-expanded portion to exit. However, I've never had one get very far after having been shot by one.

Wasn't there some problem with the early production Accubonds coming apart more so, than the newer ones.

I had some older Accubonds come apart in 2007 on antelope. Another lot worked just fine in 2009. They all died, so it really doesn't matter to me.

saddlesore,

The very earliest AccuBonds weren't the problem bullets. Instead the early ones became so popular, so quickly that after a year or so, one guy on the production line decided he could speed up the process at his station. This resulted in bullets that disintegrated soon after impact. The problem was quickly pinpointed and corrected.

As a more general comment, according to my hunting notes I've now seen 33 big game animals taken with AccuBonds, of eight North American species ranging from pronghorns to elk in size, and 10 African species from springbok (about like pronghorn) to eland. The cartridges included the .264 Winchester, .270 WSM, 7mm Dakota, .308 Winchester, .300 WSM, .300 Winchester Magnum, .338 Federal, .338 Winchester Magnum, 9.3x62, 9.3 B-S and .375 H&H.

In total nine bullets failed to exit:

140 .270 shot into a bull caribou frontally by a friend, found in the spine at the rear of the ribcage. Don't know weight retained.

160 7mm shot through the shoulders of a black wildebeest by a friend. Recovered under hide of far side retaining 65%.

160 7mm shot into chest of bull gemsbok by a friend. Recovered under hide on far side retaining 67%.

150 .30 shot frontally into the chest of a bull caribou by me. Penetrated into intestines and never found.

180 .30 shot into chest of bull eland broadside by a friend. Recovered under hide of far side. Don't know weight retained.

225 .338 shot quarter into blue wildebeest, through shoulder. Recovered under hide at rear of ribs on far side, retaining 77%.

250 9.3 shot frontally into bull gemsbok by me. Penetrated into intestines and never found.

250 9.3 shot into right rear of a grizzly's ribcage by me. Recovered under the skin of the neck on the opposite side, retaining 81%.

260 .375 shot broadside into zebra stallion. Recovered under hide on the outside of far shoulder, retaining 78%.

Thanks MD, my memory isn't the best. Only remembered a problem .I think I have the bad ones so to speak

160 AB, 7mm Rem Mag, 3030fps @ muzzle. Impacts from approximately 80-140 yds. All shot through front shoulder.

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The Creed and the 130 Accubond:


And if you're looking for something a wee more slippery at distance, give the 140 Accubonds a whirl - I'm betting they'll perk for you as well.

There isn't a bullet I'd rather use than the Accubond. (I shoot the 130's in my Creed as well)

^^^ Shot some deer with those 130 gr AB's in the Creedmoor's twin the 260 Rem and agree it is hard to beat. I would hunt moose with that combo as well and be happy.

Have used the Accubond on game in the 30-06 (180 gr), 35 Whelen (200 and 225 gr) and 375 Ruger (260 gr) as well and they are my favourite's especially in the Whelen.

I have used them on a grizzly and black bear myself (225's in a 338-06), the 140 gr on a scimitar oryx via 7x57 and my youngest son, age 14 at the time, 160's via 7x57 on the full range of African plains game and all was fine. That said, I have dumped them and will continue with the Barnes TSX. The TSX's shoot very well rather easily, generally first load put together and I am done, and they just work, at times in chitty situations that I have not offered the AB. So, for me, the TSX is what I have settled on.

IMHO the 140 Accubond and 270 Winchester(w/H4831SC) is tough to beat for a sub 500 yard deer hunting rifle.




HuntNref, where at in MT?

I could not agree more Sam.

In situations where meat is to be eaten I will almost never use anything but a monometal... the difference in wasted meat is large...

Any bullet will kill deer fine.