Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters New Nosler Accubonds

Are the newer Nosler Accubonds, mainly 6.5mm 130 grain and 7mm 140 grain, constructed differently than they used to be? I tried them both in 6.5mm and 7mm when they first came out but I haven't in a while. The first 6.5mm 130 grain bullets I tried would make a very small entrance hole and a very small exit hole with no blood trail. The 7mm 140 grain bullets would be very explosive on entrance but a small hole on exit.

Lucas, for shorter range, the 129g Hornady Sp in 6.5 and the 7mm 154g sp will not let you down, both act like partitions. For longer range, the 129 Nosler long range accubond has done very well for us, and the 175g Long range accubonds in 280,AI, and 7RM. The 129's have done so well on white tails and hogs I have not played with the 142's yet.

7mm, 175g LRAB is a home run for deer in terms of accuracy and penetration.

I have tried the 129 grain 6.5mm and the 139 grain 7mm Hornady bullets and have not found an accurate load with either in several rifles. I got tired of wasting powder with them. What's your secret?

I use the 140 Accubonds in 7 mags, they hammer deer and pigs, but I shoulder shoot mine. I hunt close to the fence line. If they hop the fence, they are gone.

That has not been my experience with the 6.5 130gr AB's excellent on game performance on hogs and whitetails

I've used them since they first became available and have had nothing but excellent terminal performance. While differences in ogive can be noted from lot to lot, I have not noticed anything different in terms of changes with terminal performance between the early releases and the bullets from current production runs. . Here's a 6.5mm 130 grain AB taken from a quartering shot on a large hog. This pretty much typifies the bullet's performance -- at least in my usage. I've used the 130 grain 6.5 AB on everything from vermin and varmints to coyotes, bobcats and quite a few hogs.

I've also used the 7mm 140s and the 125 and 150 grain offerings in .30 caliber, all with similar results.



7mm 140s:




.30 cal 125 taken from a large hog




A hard quartering presentation on another boar produced this .30 cal/150 AB recovery...






Since someone mentioned the 129 grain Longe Range AB, here is one recovered with an impact of app. 2300 fps. Designed to expand to much lower velocities, it obviously sheds more of its weight and length than the conventional Accubonds given similar speeds and medium.

What speed were you running those 6.5mm 130 accubonds at Bobby?

2491 to 2810 fps MV....and most of my shots are in the 175-250 yard range. One of the longer shots that I currently recall was 310 yards on a 225 pound hog. MV was 2630 fps. Impact was tight behind the shoulder with the exit on the same place on the opposite side. The lungs were heavily damaged, and the exit was about the size of a nickel. The hogs only made 30 yards after the shot.

the 120gr 6.5 Ballistic tip is also a very good bullet.

This 2018 buck was hit with a 140 gr Accubond at close range. I can't find the wound.

In 2013 I shot a buck with 140 gr Ballistic Tip, at 475 yards. It made a big hole in his chest.



That is what I hunted with in 2019. I made (4) bang flop kills.

That is strange. I have found the Hornady flat base Interlock to be an accurate bullet in a range of different calibre/weights and rifles. I seat them 30 thou off the lands to start and have never bothered to adjust seating depth further as groups are an inch or less (3 shots). I can honestly say that the Hornady Interlock has shot as well as Sierras despite Sierra generally being recognised as the 'accuracy' bullet.

100gn - .250 Savage, .257 Roberts, .25-06
129gn - 6.5x55, 6.5 Creedmoor
139gn - 7x57, .280
150gn - .308
165gn - .30-06

I have used the 7mm 140gn Accubond in my .280 with good results on pigs and a chital stag with good results. Nosler have made changes to their Ballistic Tips over the years so it would be reasonable to expect they have tweaked the Accubonds as well since their introduction. Despite your earlier experiences I don't think you would be disappointed with the current bullets, based on my experience. I have some 6.5mm 130gn Accubonds but have not loaded them yet.