Yesterday I took a new 200 gr. Nosler Accubond from the new box to check the OAL to the lands. When it was removed from the chamber I noticed the bullet looked different and discovered that the poly tip had broken off. I am thankful that this happened at home and not on a hunt.
Is this a common problem with the Accubonds or just a freak occurence ? Kind of makes me want load the Partition Spitzer to avoid this happening again. Has anybody had this experience ?
Thanks,
Jim

Jim....I had the same thing happen to me loading up 50 rounds for a buddy going on a hunt. My bullets were sitting on a shelf for at least 2 years. They were also nosler 200 accubonds. At first I thought maybe my seating plug was pushing on the tip but I took it apart and it was pushing on the jacket.
I got ahold of noslers 800 number and called in cause I remember a few posts years ago. I got their service line and talked to a nice honest guy there who said they had a problem years ago with a new employee that wasn't installing the tips correctly. He confirmed mine were the right "vintage" via the lot number on the bottom of the box. I asked him what about the 50 I've got loaded. He said tap them on the bench while holding the tip sideways. If they break replace them and if they don't they should be good. Out of 50 I had about 7 bad ones which I had enough bullets to replace. He is sending me 2 boxes to replace my 2 boxes. Not what you want to have happen but great that they got my confidence back. Give Nosler a call....I be they will get your confidence back too!

Thank you very much ! I have emailed the as to the problem, but will call them next week. I really appreciate your post.
Jim

The very big reason I don't consider the AB the best invention since sliced bread....

Tony I can't speak to all of them, because I have only had this happen with the AB's;and only once....but that "once" was enough for me...... came from the second round down in the magazine.Recoil had jarred it loose I guess. The jagged edge of the open cavity hung up at the juncture of the mag box and feed ramp and would not feed up.

I found the tip had migrated backward into the mag box...it could just as easily have gone forward into the lug recess....who knows? We all know what that could do to the rifle function.

I would have dismissed this as a "one time" occurence, but have opened more than one box of factory stuff loaded with AB's, to find 2-3 tips missing;and the same happened to a friend.So, even though I have hunted with AB's without incident,and admire their great accuracy and ballistics(I do have a lot of them here),I won't use them anymore to hunt with.

If Nosler is having a production issue, I don't want to be the test case.I have other bonded bullets...The advantages are not worth it IMHO.

BobinNH, I have heard of this happening and have personally seen it as well, but I have been assured by the Nosler customer service people that it was an early production issue that has been solved. I guess my question is was your experience recent and with newer bullets? I should point out that I really don't have any skin in the game, just an interest, because I'm a sold out Partition fan.

superT it was within the last year.

I purchsed a sleeve of 225 grain .338 caliber Accubonds within the last year or so. Approximately 5/50 were missing the tip, which had detached and were lying in the box.

I simply loaded them up to use as practice rounds for field conditions, standing offhand at 100 yds or less.

I have seen several of the Accubond tips straight from a new box that were off. And this wasn't with .338 bullets.

I firmly believe it is far more common than the Nosler technician told you.

I have been shooting the 150 grainers out of my 308 for the past 3 years or so. Probably 5 or 6 boxes (all different lots) with no issues with the tips so far

I have been shooting the 165 gr. in my .30-06 and .308 Win for the last 3-4 years now too and have never experienced this problem. Interesting.

Nosler told me it was a very old lot of bullets. The person inserting the tips was having problems. Anyway, Nosler was aware of the problem, was very nice and understanding. They will replace the lot of bullets that I had the " problem " of broken tips.

I have been through about 20 boxes of Accubonds over the last couple of years in various calibers (including 2nds in the platic bags) and have never seen a tip missing.

try shooting a 5 shot group with tips than pull out the tips on on anouther 5 and shot a group.bet you won't see much diff under 500yards or so

Ok, ancillary question: given that some of you have noted issues with the tips on Accu-bonds, have any similar issues been observed with Ballistic Tips, or is this phenomenon limited to Accu-bonds??

It's a phenomenon related to a bad lot of bullets because an employee didn't do his job properly. It can and could happen to any manufacturer. If you have questions or worries call them with your lot number and I'm sure they will tell you if you are at risk.
I use tons of plastic tipped bullets from nosler, hornady, and barnes. I have complete confidence in most all the products I use daily.....but eventually everyone has a manufacturing "oops".

I bought 500 200ab .308 on 2003. All same lot. I shot 200 of them with no problems back in 2003 2004. I went to load some this year and noticed tips had fallen off in the box. Probably about 7 of them. I called nosler and he said they had some that had bad glue. He let me send them all back and is replacing them with new ones. I am glad they are taking care of me and hope they are good now.

Dman.....curious...was the entire tip laying in the box or was it broke off pretty flush with the jacket??

I've been using 180 and 200 gr 30 cal and 160 .284 for several years now and haven't seen this yet thankfully. However, I have had this issue with the 162 HOR AMAX.

kraky111. Pretty much the entire tip was out. Some had a little white color down in the hole. It almost looked like the glue dissolved some of it. I am not sure what a new tip outside the bullet looks like. You can pm message me with your email and I can send you a picture of one I saved. I pushed on some at the 45 degrees angle and the snapped out leaving a little white plastic below. I pushed real hard on quite a few and they were fine. So I am not sure. My 55 grain nosler BT have not had any problems and I have shoot lots of them.

The ones that came apart on me were broken anywhere from flush with the jacket to deeper like yours. The reason I thought my seating die was pushing on the plastic tips was they looked a little crooked like something had really pushed down on them. Not sure how they seat these suckers. Thinking someone wasn't doing the proper install...however it's done.
Anyhow all the problems seem to be with bullets from years gone by and I would think they are very aware at nosler not to have a repeat. I have no qualms about using more of their stuff. I still have some older 180 ab's on hand....will test them with the tap method....if I get a few that break I'll be on the phone. I'm lucky I have a collet bullet puller...it seems to pull the bulllets without affecting neck tension so a swap is easy for me.