Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Accubond vs ballistic tip

I like the ballistic tips for the puny deer we have down here.

Whatever SPS had on sale….

I've used both in other calibers and don't notice any difference in performance on deer sized game. If I was going to use one on say elk or moose evben bear I'd lean more towards the AB.
I wish I could find some 6MM accubonds.

I've seen animals up to 800+ pounds taken with AccuBonds, and the only SLIGHT difference I've seen between them and similar Partitions on the same weight-class of big game is more AccuBonds tend to be caught underneath the skin on the far side. This is probably because ABs tend to have a wider "mushroom," like most bonded bullets--but they killed just as well.

This isn't surprising, since Nosler designed ABs to retain about the same amount of weight as Partitions of the same diameter and weight.

yep. In most everything I load for. The ballistic tip hunting bullets work very well in standard velocity cartridges. 243, 260, 7-08, 270, 30-06.

The only place where I was worried enough to seek out the AB was 130 gr bullets in the 264 Win Mag at 3300 fps MV. I found the 120 ballistic tips a bit frangible at 3400 fps. I usually used the 120s at around 3000 fps, where they shot exactly the same as my 140 gr loads and were very lethal on feral dogs or coyotes.

That said, I have never placed one of the 130 AB into meat.

Anyone use the 7mm 150gr BT out of the 7 Rem Mag?

Only in my 7x64. It's a quite hard bullet at 2800+ fps. I haven't kept one in a pig or deer yet.

They shoot good in my 7mm RM 700KS mountain rifle.

My AB deer ran after the shot. My BT deer haven’t from a .308 and 7mm-08. I’m getting too old to play hide and seek in failing light, so I shoot 140 BT’s from my 7mm-08 at my white tails. No idea how 90’s would work from a .243. Just a local observation that lots of the one that got away stories I have heard involved a .243.

The 150 7mm BT is one of the "heavy jacket" models....

Dober has used the 150 NBT in his 7mm Mashburn quite a bit on a variety of game including elk with excellent results. I've used it exactly once on a heavy, old bull elk at 40 yards with a 7-08 lol. It gave impressive results.

Alrighty - humor me here-

Where were you putting the Accubonds & BT's? Running gear? Boiler?

Seems I've read of some of your struggles with the TSX too.

I mentioned earlier about how Nosler tested both Ballistic Tips and AccuBonds in media, and if there wasn't any difference in penetration they didn't make the AccuBond version.

But later on there was at least one exception to that. While the 150 7mm Ballistic Tip penetrated as well as the bonded version, so many hunters "requested" they make a a 150 7mm Accubond, Nosler did. (It's one of those old business axioms: The customer's always right....)

Lets face it, deer run sometimes, even calm ones that get the bejabbers blown out of them with a perfect shot. Just one of those things….

Only thing that’s almost certain is that they never run towards the truck.

Pappy – you are correct on all fronts.

Just trying to understand if all things are actually equal in comparison(s).

Ain't that the truth!

.243's/95gr BT's suck.........unless you're a 9 yr old kid who knows where to place the bullet.......

Absolute stud of a mulie!!! I tip my hat to the 9 yr old!!!

That bullet works well in my 7X57AI

The 150 BT is my go to for the 7mm Mag. Have been using the 160 Accubond recently just because I bought some from SPS and wanted to try them. Once they are gone it will be back to the 150 BT. Too many deer and hogs have died from them to tell me anything bad about them.

GreggH