JB, do I get a free issue for giving you such a good setup? :-)
I've only used an Accubond on one head of game, a big-bodied blacktail buck at about 80 yards with a 30-06 and 180-grainer. It worked absolutely perfectly; bullet performance could not possibly have been better. Broke the onside shoulder bone, exited the far flank after about 2 feet of penetration, didn't trash the onside shoulder meat, and the buck fell where he stood.
I know a blacktail deer shot with what amounts to an elk load is not a true test of a bullet. On the other hand, this ain't Africa! Jeepers creepers peoples! I feel kind of like Brad has mentioned feeling when people start talking like the existance of something like the 300 RUM has turned the 30-06 into a popgun, good only for coyotes all of a sudden. In the same way, as good or not good as the TSX might be, it's not like every other premium bullet is suddenly inadequate. I mean there are people out there thinking that they NEED that TSX for those 150-lb deer... that's silly.
THAT said, I'll use whatever is best. Hunts are expensive, bullets are cheap. I think I'll stick with the 225-gn Accubond as my elk load from my .338 WM, because I've put in a lot of work with it in the last year and have my drops etc all figured out and verified ad nauseum, but maybe next off-season I'll buy some TSX's and see if they shoot for me. If the TSX will shoot as well as the AB in my rifles, it'll get a chance in the field. The dang regular X bullets have only cost me a couple hundred dollars and a bunch of exasperation in the past, when I have failed to find loads that shot... but I hear the TSX is better in that regard.
The one that intrigues me the most is the 8mm 180-gn TSX. How do you all think it would compare in penetration and killin' power to a 200-gn Partition, all else equal, from a .325 WSM? Hmm.... I think I'll flesh that question out some and ask it as a new thread.
-jeff
Last edited by Jeff_Olsen; 07/16/07.
