Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game 140 Accubonds at warp speed

I developed a good deer load for my 7 WSM using 140 Accubonds over H 4831 for right at 3200 ft/sec. It shot well and based on my limited past history with the Accubond, I had high expectations..........

I took the rifle to PA last week for the deer opener. I decided to shoot a few does about mid-week to test the Accubond. Doe #1 was about 125 yards, standing quartering to me. I held on the shoulder and she went down, ran 20 yards and cashed in. It turns out she was quartering to me more than I figred and I hit her on the point of the shoulder. The damage was tremendous. The entry was 3" in diameter and her leg was literally held by 2 strips of hide. Near shoulder was destroyed and I noticed no exit. Upon skinning there was no exit or evidence of bullet penetration into the far ribcage. Thought it a fluke.

Doe #2 was a large mature doe I shot at 60 yards standing dead broadside. Bullet entered high on the shoulder. She dropped at the shot. I found no exit on her either but the entry was "normal". I skinned her later and found no exit but evidence that the bullet entered the far shoulder but did not break anything. The bullet apparently was lost during gutting. Internal damage was immense with 3-4" of spine mashed.

I didn't take pictures of either deer but wished I had. I'm thinking the Accubond isn't a high speed bullet but does work well at velocities less than 3000 - based on my observations with 30 cal 180 Accubonds.

Anyone else have any expereinces with the 7mm 140 Accubond?

As another anecdotal story, I loaded some 150 gr Sierras for my 280 Rem over a moderate dose of H4831. My buddy shot another doe last week with that combo at 50 yards. He tucked it into the pocket behind the shoulder. The deer ran 30 yards and died. No bullet exit but alot of internal damage. I'm guessing the bullet was traveling ~ 2850. I've shot deer with that combo before and it usally exits - especially dead broadside with no shoulders involved.

Cant speak about the 7mm 140 accu-bond, but I can for the 160 accu-bond in 7mm.

I tried them for the first time this year and killed a number of animals with them, including 4 elk.

The one I worried the most about was my Wyoming bull that I shot at 25 yards. MV on my 160 accu-bond load is 2970...I suspect my bullet hit that bull at 2900+ fps.

Shot him through the back of the on side shoulder blade and exited just behind the shoulder, bull just slumped over and died.

On side:



Exit:



Close up of exit:



All the antelope I shot with them the bullets exited with about a quarter sized exit.

Recovered one from a mule deer on a hard quartering toward shot.

Cow elk at 211 yards, exit side:



Shot a 6 point bull in Arizona Nov. 25th at 620 yards...recovered 3 bullets from it, all on the off-side expanded perfectly.



From left...first two expanded bullets I recovered from my AZ bull...620 yards, 3rd expanded bullet is from a mule deer at 120 yards.

Tried them from one extreme to the other this year, I'm pretty darned impressed with them so far.

bwinters,

The bullet did exactly what I would have expected it to do at that m/v. If you want less goo, go mono with the 7wsm. I've used the 140 Nosler BT at 3300 from the 7wsm. I know what carnage looks like.

I don't think a 7WSM is enough rifle for those PA monster deer myself.

I have also had good luck with the 180 grain accubond at 3347 fps from my 300 ultra. The bullet always exited deer and antelope.

This year I used 130 grain accubond from a 270 win at 2979 fps. I shot a little muledeer buck at 161 yards quartering away and the bullet did not exit.

I also shot a nice whitetail buck at 88 yards in the shoulder. The bullet did not exit and appeared to have just barley made to the far side of the ribs. I had to shoot the deer a second time when I got to him. This bullet did not exit either.

I was not real impressed with the 130 grain accubond this year.

Dink

My experience with Accubonds is the closer you are the less likely you are to get an exit, found quite a few on close shot animals, but the ones that are shot at a distance usually exit.

I shot an antelope with my 7mm WSM with the 140gr Accubond at about 100 yards. Bullet probably impacted at close to 3100fps.

The animal was facing me and the bullet hit in front of the shoulder. The bullet never even bruised the diaphragm.

It was definitely DRT.

Buzz - glad to see/hear about the 160's - happen to have several boxes on hand myself for the exact application. The velocity you run them at is what I expect from my WSM and RM. I found using 30 cal 180 Accubonds at the same speed produces identical results/carnage on elk at similar distances.

Likely load 160's in both the WSM and RM and call it good.

I hear you on carnage. I've shot lots of deery creatures with every common cup/core bullet from various high vel 7mm's and have seen ugliness at close range. I was hoping for a bit more from the Accubond because a 140 Partition at similar speeds punches through both sides and doesn't leave a big mess. Problem is my rifle shoots much better with Accubonds. Its 1.5 - 1.75 with 140 Partitions. Plus the 140 Accubond at 3200 is plain ole flat shooting.

As most know, I'm not a mono fan due to several bad experiences with TSX's in small calibers. My 7RM really perks with 120 TSX's. Likely try 120 TTSX's in addition to 160 Accubonds. I know if I slow Accubonds down a bit they'll work fine. Kind of defeats the purpose though........

It seems lighter Accubonds at warp speed don't exit even smaller animals. I guess the question is: do the heavier Accubonds penetrate better because of bullet construction or the fact that they are running a bit slower. I'd be inclined to think construction is the same but the critical speed is around 3000 ft/sec at the muzzle.

My kills with the 140 at warp speed were nothing short of spectacular. Even the one that ran a bit was leaving a blood trail 3 feet wide. You could still pick it up several hours latter in a light rain......

Anyone run 160's at warp speed? Results?

Slamming a deer in the shoulder with a fast AB at close range is going to make a mess, is this a revelation?

I like the 7mm 140 AB, accurate as heck out of my rig, and a good all around bullet IMO.

But it still doesn't beat the 150 BT out of my 7mm SAUM.. Now that is a killin' combo. Cheep, too!

My experience with AB's is that they're unreliable and waste too much meat. I've killed 1 elk and several deer with 180's in a 300 WSM. I hit the elk twice at about 300 yds, both times in the shoulder but without hitting any long bones. One of them blew up. I later found the core in the heart. Most of the shoulder was wasted. All 3 deer, all between 200 & 300 yds, have been blown apart.
I can kill game just as well with any number of better bullets and without the waste. Some guys think just killing an animal is the goal, but I disagree. Why kill it and have to leave it for the coyotes? Use a bullet what will kill cleanly without the massive waste.

AB's are supposed to behave like Partitions but I've found them to not penetrate as well due to them opening up wider. If you want penetration the Partition is still the way to go.

If Your rifle will shoot 'em, and I was gonna launch 'em at machV, I'd consider the 140/150 TTSX's, there best friend's with warp and mach

Gunner

I would have to agree on both assessments above pretty much. On the bullet below recovered from a bull elk, the weight retention wasn't all that good. It started out as a 180 gn but the retained wt is only 125 gn. However, it went as far as it needed to go I guess. It was a angled front on shot taken at about 240 yds. It broke up the shoulder and 3 ribs, then passed through to be recovered under the hide on the far side. The other 55 grains of shrapnel did some major internal damage.

Twelve African animals, an aoudad, a mulie buck and a good mountain goat had no complaints about being dead enufusing an Accubond. All were taken with a 180 gr. 30 cal. Accubond at 3000 FPS muzzle velocity. Not one had created extreme damage such as you have spoken. All were one shot kill. The mountain goat I missed twice before hitting the goat behind the shoulder and the exit was on the right shoulder. The goat had minimal pelt damage and will be a full mount. The Nosler Accubond, IMO, is a very accurate, well constructed projectile. MTG

You need to read Mule Deer's article on bonded bullets that just came out.ABs are not even close to partitions.

I'd agree with this statement. My AB experience is limited to just two bullets, used on deer and hogs, and I have mentioned the results several times on this forum. The 110gr .257 AB's at 3,100fps MV kept hanging up in broadside whitetails, which are not overly thick animals. The 130gr .264 AB's at 2,820fps MV penetrated nicely, even on hogs weighing 200lbs+. I feel like the performance of a typical AB bullet does depend heavily on the SD and impact velocity.

I know you do.

And, where might we find said article?