Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles 7mm Nosler 160 accubond....is it tough.?

Loaded this at 3030 speed for a buddies single shot 708. He reported a blow up on Entry with a rib bone on a deer on a close up shot. I wonder if he hit a twig on the way or something. I tried to gather internet stories and find some that seemed to make it sound a little fragile and some that seemed to make it sound tough....what's your experience?

This a real post,or are you just jerking people off?

First off 3030 fps from a 7/08 with a 160 AB is a pipe dream. Second....I think your buddy is FOS.

Accubonds work well at 3500-3600 from my experience.


Hot 7-08

Maybe 3030 speed means speed achieved by a typical 30-30 Win. load.

If that's true, English would be helpful.....cant be expected to interpret around here to get things straight. Leaving out the dash is not helpful. Besides what is "3030 speed"? 2200-2300 fps? 1900 fps? Who can tell?

Why not simply state "I loaded the 160 AB in the 7/08 to 2200 fps...."

Geezus.

If that is what it meant, then his friend is even more FOS.

Simmer down Bob. You sound like I used to when I graded freshman algebra papers.

What are the twists, any chance that it was so slow it tumbled?

kraky,

Your buddy's story reminds me of a conversation I had with a guy from Pennsylvania many years ago. He told me the .308 Winchester was a POS deer cartridge, because he'd shot two bucks, each in the heart, with a .308 and never found either deer.

Yep... started at 2330 FPS. This was a finishing shot on a wounded deer tracked for 2 hours. Sorry I tortured you guys with my description but I figured the first thing out of the box would be why you starting em so slow. I have to load this gun very mild or the case will come back at ignition and push on the frame and the gun does terrible vertical stringing. It's very accurate all the way to 200 yards so I don't think there's any tumbling going on. I know it's an example of one but I was told there was a 2 inch entry wound and no exit. I liked the idea of the accubond because of the High bc I figured it would actually be pretty good out to 300 yards. Now I am thinking any Hornady interlock would be a better choice.
Just curious what users or people with first-hand knowledge of this bullet are seeing. Many years ago I loaded the 160 ab for another buddy at 2750 mv and he reported a monstrous wound channel on the one deer that he shot... didn't really care for the bullet...so those are my 2 reports.

I'd load a softer bullet for that velocity, a Speer boat tail for example.

In the spirit of attempting to answer the original question...."are the 7mm 160 accubond's tough", they definitely are IMO. I've shot over 30 head of African plains game with them started 3050' at the muzzle with impacts out to 150 yards or so. Intentionally shot through shoulders in game up through zebra and blue wildebeest. Great bullet IMO.

I haven't a clue why your buddy wants a high BC bullet started out at 2300' though. The 140 AB/7-08 load is a fantastic combo at 2800'.

Hmmm...great info...has me wondering if possibly there are early and later (improved) versions of the bullet. The high bc was my idea hoping to keep the marginal start speed higher down range.
Again...this is a single shot break open rifle that needs to operate at 3030 pressure/speed to Be accurate.

tell him to use a partition

kraky,

There is one other, very remote possibility. At one point a year or so after the AccuBonds were introduced and immediately became VERY popular, one of the Nosler emloyees decided to speed up his place on the assembly line, to "help" fill the large number of orders. But that resulted in soft and unbonded bullets. Nosler, like all bullet companies, is constantly monitoring production, so the mistake was quickly caught and corrected. But some did make it out the door, and a few even made it into the hands of shooters. They often came apart as soon as they hit game. One of the symptoms of those bullets was some of the tips fell out, often several in a box. But that was around 10 years ago, and I haven't heard of any showing up for a long while.

Thanks to all.... I've never been a fan of plastic tip bullets Whenever there is a chance for twigs or even grass between a shooter and an animal..... and that is so typical of our Wisconsin deer hunting.... not sure what the culprit is here but I think I'm going to start doing some testing with 139 interlocks and some 154 Hornady round nose I still have a in a stash.....

You must have seen my post...

https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbth...My_Daughter_the_Deer_Slayer#Post11623830

Now that's what I'm looking for...lol.
Great Post!
Here's a pic of our single shot fun gun...20" barrel...cost $275 brand new and our 160 load would put ten shots into a folded dollar bill at 200 yards but I think it's time to move back to lead tip bullets. This little bugger is like carrying a BB gun around.

My wife got her moose using 150gr ballistic tip no recovered bullet..

http://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/topics/11616013

I killed a 200 pound whitetail buck this year with a 180 AccuBond from a 300WSM at 40 Yards. Bullet hit the shoulder blew a section of three ribs away left a hole in the ribcage I could put most of a fist through and didn't exit.These were the bullets SPS had on sale earlier this year with the orange tips. Deer ran about 30 yards and died.While I was surprised it didn't exit it sure didn't fail IMO I dont remember what the velocity of the load was off hand but it is a max charge of IMR4831.

kraky,

I have seen "twigs and grass" deflect a number of soft-point bullets. Have also seen it happen to plastic-tips, but don't think there's any pattern there except for hitting stuff.