Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Nosler Accubond plastic tip - Useful or a Gimmick?

I shot a six point whitetail this year that scrambled maybe 10 yards after the shot. In the shoulder with a BT in 25 caliber. A few days later, while grinding burger, a little blue something caught my eye in a chunk of front shoulder. It was the tip of the bullet, which looked very much like the day it was put into the bullet. I had intended to save it to post a photo, but meat tables being what they are I either knocked it on the floor or will end up eating the thing. I thought it interesting though.

Holy Chhiitt! Nice man...... wow

They may resist heat better, but they are at least as prone to deformation as the regular ones. I forgot to put a foam plug in my inertia puller before banging a few eld-xs apart, and they got pretty futzed up. They seem brittle to me.

Well that is ok. Anything is going to be altered or deformed if subjected to force. If their tips fly true, maintain their BC and break off upon impact, that is optimal in my book.

Gimmick or not, I know it kills schit. That's all I use, 150s in my 308 and 110s in my 257Roberts.

I'm old, the only thing that enhances accuracy with my rifles......is when my 16 year old grandson shoots them.

Had a few with tips that broke off after being loaded, a long time ago. Yes, POI does change with -vs- without the tip. However, have only had that issue with the one lot. Have not noticed an issue in recent years...

It is okay, just something to be aware of if one's ammo gets banged around by recoil. Since I'm not shooting at the ranges where the heat resistance makes a difference, that "benefit" is of no value.

Neither factory ammo, nor my handloads with 103gr 6mms were impressive on paper, but that's a small sample. Might do better with H4350, but I'm gonna try 115gr Bergers first, then maybe the Accubonds and E-Tips I already have.

Never had one break off that I can recall, but a friend shooting a .300WSM and Early Barnes TTSX had a couple break off in his rifle. Jammed it up pretty good until we got them out. I suspect operator error was a big part of the problem - he broke the tip off one against the top of the mag well, trying to close the bolt over a cartridge that had started to feed but hadn't popped free of the mag.

The lot that I had, had one or two broke off in the box prior to loading. I broke a couple more off in the loading press and/or in the rifle magazine. Those are the two that I tried just for chits and giggles. Just the one box, so, not a big enough deal to worry about.

All the plastic tip does is allow good bullet expansion and, at the same time, a good ballistic coefficient.

Back in the late 70s/early 80s I used to shoot lots of ground squirrels with the 30-06 using 165 gr Nosler solid base, Speer 165 gr boat tail, and the Sierra 165 gr spitzer boat tail.

It was pretty common to take a couple shots, top off the mag, take a couple shots and top off the mag. Often the bottom round might have gone through ten or more recoil cycles. And the sleek lead tip would be a flattened mess back against the jacket, no matter the brand of bullet in the mag well.

I thought the Nosler ballistic tip was God sent. Yes the polymer tip might get smashed up just a bit under repeated recoil, but nothing like the lead tips. And if the tip was deformed slightly to the side, I just pared it off with a sharp pocket knife.

And yes, the bullet was heavily advertised at that time for that very feature.

Simik at result from carrying the same 4 rounds around, in pockets and loading/unloading
them numerous times over a hunting season. The tips get beat to crap.


Like many thing, knowing it really doesn't matter, doesn't matter.
We take pride in our creations, and want them to be "right".

I shoot a lot of Nosler products, I get good results in 223, 243, 6,8, 270 Win, 308, and 30-06, the AB shoot very well, especially in my Ruger 6.8 mini, my fav carry rifle. I found good buys on factory 2nds and over runs from this site and shoot a bunch of 223 bt.

http://www.shootersproshop.com/loading-reloading-bullets.html