Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting Accubond - never again

300 WSM, 180 gr Accubond

I tried these things for the 1st time last year. I shot a medium sized mulie from 300 yds. He was quartering away and he dropped like a rock. The near side was a mass of blood shot tissue, much of it inedible. I thought that it was maybe just this particular hit that caused so much damage until...........

Yesterday I shot a medium sized bull from about 250 yds. He was quartering toward me. I hit him in the shoulder, clipping but not breaking the bone. I found the bullet under the hide about 2/3 of the way back in the rib cage. It was mushroomed beautifully, a classic mushroom. It killed him alright, no question about that. But guys, I work way too hard for my elk to have to leave half a shoulder lying on a hillside. It was blown to pieces. The bloodshot area was massive, going back about halfway down the ribcage on the NEAR side.

There are too many quality bullets on the market to have to use Accubonds. My 2 partners just looked at the meat and "highy recommended" that I switch brands. I fully concur. They're killers, to be sure, but I don't need just a killer, I need one that will leave me a little edible meat, too.

If a game warden saw what these bullets do, he'd probably ticket me for wanton waste of game meat.

Hmmm......Where possibly could this thread go?

I'd think that most other cup/core bullets would have caused similar damage, especially at those ranges.

I am sticking with the Partition(or TSX)-no Accubonds for me.

TSX did great for me little meat damage... The E-Tip should be good bullet to......

Don't take this the wrong way. I know that is a very popular cartridge, and I don't know how it's external ballistics compare with others, but maybe it's just too fast? From what I understand, speed has a lot to do with meat damage. Just my 2 cents. Please take no offense.

The 300 WSM is about 200 fps faster than a 30-06 and just slightly under that of a 300 WM. It can be closely compared to the WM. I shot both of these animals between 250 and 300 yds. By that time, the bullet would have slowed considerably. I can see speed being a factor at 100 yds, but not out there.

According to Speer's ballistic tables, comparing a mv of 3000 for the WSM to 2800 for a 30-06, at any distance, the WMS bullet will be traveling roughly 100 fps faster than the 30-06. So, at 300 yds, the WSM will be traveling at the same velocity as the 30-06 at 200 yds. If speed is the factor, then this bullet is also worthless for the 30-06 and the .308 Win. If it's too fast for those mainstays of American hunting, then what in the world is it good for?

I haven't actually tried the Accubond on game-none of my rifles(about 6?) that I tried the AB in shoot 'em all that well.

However, I know too many local guys that have had similar results to yours, Rock Chuck.

I for one don't want to mess with the AB on game, especially elk.

Thats why lots of people call them Accubomb.......

No doubt, Randy!

No wonder why the bullet engineers go crazy. Damn...dead elk...dead right there...

last year 300 wm 180 grain partition, I did not hit exactly where I wanted you can see in the picture the blood spot on the front leg, same spot on both sides straight through, No problems with the meat just a baseball sized hole I had to trim up to get all the jelled and bruised meat.

I had several bad experiences with Accubombs several years ago, as did my friend Allen Day. I used up the rest of my supply at the range and switched to other bullets for hunting. I just returned from a CO elk hunt where my son and I took two nice bull elk with our 300mags loaded with Barnes 168gr TTSX bullets. After using them on mule deer last year and now these elk, I won't bother looking any further for a bullet to hunt with.

That's not what I want to hear, my 300 H&H loves the 200 gr AB. I'll give them a shot this year and see what happens.

Last year I shot a cow bison with 250gr 9.3mm Accubond at 2400fps(chrony). Shot was at 75 yds.

Worked just fine. No explosion, ruined meat, etc. She didn't drop at the shot(lungs) so I hit her again(same place) and down she went.

If I'd hit a shoulder maybe things would have been different.

I hae noted this before but will again: AccuBonds, like Nosler Partitions, are built according to the game that's expected to be shot with them. The lighter models are designed to lose more weight on expansion, which tends to kills deer-sized game quicker. As the bullets get bigger, they are designed to lose less weight, since they will probably be used on bigger game.

This is one reason the 250 9.3mm chews up less meat than, say, the 180 .30. The other reason of course is impact velocity.

One of the basic principles of "killing power" is how much tissue the bullet chews up. This is why AccuBonds kill so quickly (and the same applies to Ballistic Tips, as well as some other bullets). If you don't want meat shot up, switch to a bullet that makes a smaller hole, like a TSX or E-Tip. But don't expect animals to drop quite as quickly on average.

These ar all basic rules of physics and animal anatomy, nothing magic. But still it kind of surprises me when somebody puts a quick-killing bullet in an animal's shoulder and then complains about meat loss.

Good points, Mule Deer-

There's always the option of waiting for a broadside shot, and shooting 'em behind the shoulder....

Can't win. Usually we gripe about bullets fragmenting, or not expanding. I have had good results with Interlocks, so guess I will stay with them.

Main reason I like Partitions, you get the best of both worlds.

Great! now I'm scared...I had planned on using 225 grain Accubombs in my .358 WSSM.