I have found the meat damage about like Partitions of the same diameter and velocity. Have used, and been standing next to other hunters who used, various AccuBonds from 6.5mm up to .375, and in general they have performed exactly how Nosler designed them to work from the beginning: retaining about as much weight as Partitions of the same caliber/weight. In general, this means around 60-70% in calibers from .30 down, and 80%+ in larger, heavier bullets.
That said, there is apparently still some residual tribal memory of a FEW AccuBonds that weren't properly bonded. This happened a couple years after they were introduced, when they'd become so popular one of the Nosler workers decided to "help" by speeding up his particular job. This results in soft, unbonded bullets that came apart very easily. Since they frequently test bullets for both accuracy and expansion, this was discovered quickly, but some bullets had been shipped. They recalled as many as possible, but some did end up being used on game.
There weren't all that many, and in fact I've been using AccuBonds since they were introduced (in fact, probably a little earlier) and never encountered any of those. But like other bullets that didn't work exactly as intended, some hunters tend to remember the failures more--especially if they happened to them. Which is understandable.
Since have shot a pile of big game with AB's since 2003, about the time they were introduced, including North American and Africa animals from 100 to 750 pounds. The vast majority have exited, but have recovered a few. The retained weight varied from about 60-80%. They do expand a little wider than Partitions, as do most bonded bullets, but haven't seen a vast difference in penetration depth. The last one I recovered was a 150 from a .308, which went into the left shoulder of a whitetail doe at about 75 yards, as she stood facing me almost directly. It did do some meat damage to the shoulder, but have seen plenty of bullets (including several monolithics) damage considerable meat when they hit a shoulder. Found it under the hide of the right ham.
