Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles Bonded Bullet Experience

I was wondering what peoples' experience has been with bonded bullets, most notibly the plastic tip variety, ie: Hornady Interbond, Swift Scirrocco, and Nosler Accubond. Also interested in experience with Woodleigh Weld-Core. Interested in terminal performance not as much on accuracy. Thanks.

Killed a couple of critters with Scirocco's, 7mm 150's and 224 75's. Nothing bigger than 225 pounds or so, have yet to recover one. The 75 out of a 223AI was very impressive on a 180-200 pound deer this year.

Killed one deer with a 196gr Norma Oryx, don't have that bullet either.

I've dropped a few GA and PA whitetails - all with a 7mm/139gr Interbond from my 7mm-08 (2820fps MV).

On simple broadside shots - bullet goes all the way through. Exit hole about the size of a dime. Deer go less than 50yds with a good bloodtrail.

I've only had one shot that was a double shoulder shot - a little high. Again, bullet went all the way through with a nickel sized exit hole - DRT. A better "test" of the bullet and it passed.

RH

Retreived one of 4 140gr. AB's from four deer. Terminal performance was.....well....terminal.

The Woodleighs usually drop most game on the spot. The fly in the ointment, is that some game animals characteristically run after the shot, so it does not really matter what you shoot them with, a small death run will ensue.

I have used .284, .308, .338, .375, .416 and .458 caliber Woodleigh's with complete success. I like a medium/light bullet weight and a heavyweight for each caliber. The heavy is used for scrub hunting.

They all hit hard and have notable impact compared to regular cup and core bullets. Weight retention is very high and mushrooming wide for each caliber, which can lesten penetration compared to homogenous bullets but increase impact energy as observed in the field.

AGW

I have shot whitetail, elk and moose with 160gr AB from my 7mm rem mag. All but the moose were behind the shoulder shots and pass thru's. On the bull moose it was a 1/4 toward, approx 100 yards, lungs were soup, bull actually ran at the impact but crashed 30-40 yards later. Found the bullet on the opposite side, weight retention was shade under 60%.

My partner used the 154gr IB last year in his 280 rem for 4 deer and 1 raghorn bull elk. 3 of the 4 deer were behind the shoulder and neat pass thrus. The other was a high double shoulder shot on a buck that also passed through for DRT effect. The elk was 1/4 away(maybe 50 yards) he hit him high bullet penetrated just shy of the hide and weight retention was 75 - 80%.

i have said this before, but i have used accubonds on 3 coues deer, 1 coyote, 1 mountaion lion. all have been DRT. all(accept the coyote which hit bone at 80 yards) have been .277 in, and about dime-quarter out. the coyote opend up to about lime size. lion was shot at 20 feet with a 270. 2 coues at 150 and 280 yards with a 270 wsm and the last cues at 175 with a 7RUM. great bullets.

For me the jury is still out on bonded bullets.

I swage my own .35 calibre bullets. I've been loading the bonded variety in my .358 Win. and my Whelen for moose, and using non-bonded ones in the .358 for deer. My bullet has an expanding type tip of my own design that's intended to provide initial expansion for shocking power and then a slower rate of expansion for penetration.

In recent years I haven't shot any moose, but on deer, I usually got bang/flop performance, one travelled less than 50 yds - dead on its feet (it was a chased deer). All bullets exited the deer. This year I didn't have time to put together deer bullets, so I deer hunted with some bonded bullets.

The only deer I shot was a fairly large doe (144 lbs dressed), and on paper the shot looked perfect. The bullet entered the chest, passed through the heart and exited with a hole about 1/2 inch in diameter. This deer showed no signs of being hit, and travelled close to 100 yds before dying. Not near as clean and quick as I'm used to.

Maybe I can shoot a moose this year and see how they work on something tougher.

I've killed deer, elk, and black bear with the 200gr. accubond out of a 300 RUM. The closest was a black bear at about ten yards and the farthest was a deer at 900 yards, never recoverd a bullet.

Jamie

Our only experiencs has been with Trophy Bonded Bear Claws 200 gr. out of 300 Win Mags Factory fodder. So far 6 Bulls never took a step. No bullets recovered. Longest shot maybe 175 yards.
Nuff proof for me. This year going for Muzzle loader kill in second season. Hows that for sport? Stupid maybe. W'ell see.

I think I've only killed a couple animals with bonded bullets. Two brownies - not large- one with 300 Swifts AF (and four other bullets), one with a single NorthFork - BF, and a moose I dispatched with a 180 PP Woodleigh. That bullet shattered the scapula but retained about 80% of its weight and plowed through to the far side.

Shot lots of game from elk and brown bear on down with Bitterroot Bonded Cores, the granddad of bonded bullets, in calibers from 270 to 375;mostly bang/flops. Weight retention has been 95% plus regardless of hitting bone at high vel, etc.Sole exception was a 130 270 into a whitetail buck, which hit a branch on the way and struck sideways; that one retained about 80%.Only used one AB on a large Alberta mule deer;140-7mm started at 3200+;point of shoulder to offside ribs at about 180 yards; retained weight was about 60%.

We've used 140 gr Accubonds for the last two deer seasons here in Mid-MO out of 7-08 and 7wsm. 4 shots, 4 dead deer. 3 DRT, 1 went about 40 feet. 1 bullet was recovered - it entered above the front left shoulder, and was recovered beind the last rib on the right side. Traveled through about 30" of 8 point buck, perfect mushroom, weighed 98 grains for 70% weight retention. Accubonds are also the most accurate bullet either of my guns shoot.

Bludog: They are very accurate bullets, too.

We've used 140 gr Accubonds for the last two deer seasons here in Mid-MO out of 7-08 and 7wsm. 4 shots, 4 dead deer. 3 DRT, 1 went about 40 feet. 1 bullet was recovered - it entered above the front left shoulder, and was recovered beind the last rib on the right side. Traveled through about 30" of 8 point buck, perfect mushroom, weighed 98 grains for 70% weight retention. Accubonds are also the most accurate bullet either of my guns shoot.

Pretty much sums up my experience with Accubonds.

i've had good success with Swift A-frames and the OLD bear claws. You really can't get the old ones anymore and the new ones perform poorly compared to the old. the new ones are no longer pure copper, instead using guilding metal and the failure rate has gone way up. Accuracy is also poor compared to the old. The accubond and interbond appear to overexpand or break up and I've only used them for practice.

i have never had a problem with a accubond exploding.
Experiences to take note of: 100lb mtn. lion at 25 FEET. 270 win. Federal Premium loaded with 140 Accubonds. MV at 2950-3000. bullet took out the spine and right shoulder... exit was size of a dime.... DRT

110 lb Coues buck... 7RUM 140 Accubond MV of 3400+. shot was at 20 yards. took out spine, shoulder, lungs. exit was size of a quarter.

if a accubond wont explode at that distance at those speeds than i think anything less than an elk shoulder at close distance is good to go.

I have got some very consistant groups (3/8 inch aprox.)with the norma oryx bullets 180gr in 30 06 and 156gr in 6.5x55 the other brands have shot very well also but the oryx seem to have a slight edge in accuracy.

Two mule deer with the Scirocco, 150 gr out of a 7mag, excellent penetration, one blacktail with the 140 gr Accubond, complete passthru. My limited experience with the bonded bullets tell me it is at least an excellent deer bullet.

One thing that nobody has even mentioned here is that "bonded" means only one thing, that the lead in any bullet sticks to the jacket. Since jacket design, lead hardness, etc., can make enormous differences in bullet performance, bonding is actually a very small part of the entire picture. Hence asking about "bonded bullet" performance is kind of like asking about the performance of four wheel drive. This can include anything from compact station wagons to 1-ton pickups.

Some bonded bullets are designed to open widely and even lose some weight (and all will lose some weight, since even harder lead alloys tend to fragment). The will typically kill quicker than bonded bullets designed to open less widely and retain more weight--but the latter will penetrate deeper.

In some bonded bullets the bonding really makes no difference. I doubt that the tiny bit of lead core in the front end of some solid-shank bullets such as the North Fork or Trophy Bonded really needs to stick to the jacket. Performance would be essentially the same even if it wasn't. But such is the magic of the word "bonded" today that they have to be bonded for marketing purposes.

John Barsness