Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles 125 gr. NAB .30 cal at 3,200 fps

My Ruger 77 Mk II '06 really likes the 125 NAB over 59 gr. BG.

It runs nearly 3,200 fps.

My question, how expansive/destructive is the 125 NAB at that speed on WT's and such?

DF

I am pretty curious to hear results on this also. Mine likes the 125 NBT. I worked it up at 3065 as a low recoil round for deer/antelope for a recoil sensitive kid. He ended up liking one of my .25-06s better so never shot them at game. Still have a bunch loaded.

My daughter has probably killed 20 animals from fox, coyote,, pronghorn, whitetail, and mule deer in the last seven years with the 125 NBT in her .308 and .300 Savage. I haven't shot any game with them, but from what I've seen my daughter do they flat out hammer things dead. I know they'll exit through both shoulders on whitetails, but if you make a bad shot it's like any other.

The NBT does quite a bit of damage and will exit both shoulders on a OK whitetails. Keep it in the boiler room and it doesn't produce much bloodshot meat, but makes jelly of organs. As the range gets longer it's still highly effective, but the damage lessens even through the shoulders. The 125 NBT is a pretty tough little bullet, even leaving the muzzle at nearly 3100 fps from my daughter's rifles.

Thanks.

I've killed WT's with the 130 Hornady out of an '06. I got good exits and lots of damage, but not explosive.

People talk about the "Accubomb", so thought I'd ask.

DF

well a 130 grain 270 can get up to the mid 3100s and have been used to kill deer for a very long time. Fired form 26 inch barrels it breaks 3200 at times (I have done it myself, but they run at about 3130 most times for best accuracy)

I would expect the same results with the 30-06 with a 125 grain and if the bullet holds together I am sure it will be a good killer.

I gave up (mostly) on 130s for killing deer with my 270s because the blood-shot areas were very large if the kills were under 200 yards. I prefer 150s and 160s now-days, but I own three 270s and one of them shoots super well with 130s and only so-so with 150s, so I still use 130s in it, but mostly for open country shooting.

I expect you'll see the same ballistic results with the 125 grain 30-06 as we've seen for years with the 130 grain 270s

I have some 125 gr, Ralph Council hand made bench rest bullets. I’m gonna try some to see how they shoot. Ralph says they do good on WT’s His other bullets are super accurate, no doubt these will be, too.

This is the second ‘06 I have that likes lighter buckets. The other is an HVA project gun. Because it’s so light I started with lighter buckets because of recoil. It did so well with Ralph’s 125’s and Horn 130’s, I stopped there. A 130 Horn at 3,100 or so will blow thru a WT, good internal damage, good exit and blood flow. And mostly DRT kills. Never got around to trying Ralph’s bullet on game. May need to do that.

This Ruger 77 MkII is ok with a large variety of bullets up to the 200 NPT over H-4831. Mostly 1 1/2” or so. Near 1” with Scenar 155’s over BG. But the 125 NAB was MOA pretty consistently, occasionally sub MOA. That seems unusual from what I’ve read.

DF

30-06 with 125 nbt , 58 gr Varget3275 FPS
Deadly on Whitetail and hogs. Nothing to dislike

How expansive, destructive?

And you mention NBT, not NAB.

DF

I have no problem with them blowing up or excessive damage. My experience mirrors taylorce1. 3275 with 24” barrel. They kill chit right quick. What’s not to like. MAGA

I started loading the 130 Hornady and 125 BT for my son with a reduced load. Both were accurate from his FN .30'06 and both gave good performance on deer and hogs he shot. I had enough of them that I decided to try them in my M77 MkII .308. They also grouped well in that rifle, though the BT had a definite edge in consistency. I tried both in a Vanguard .30'06 and found sub-MOA loads for each near the top of the book range. My son got older and bigger and I left the reduced load in the book and worked up a load that averages north of 3100 for his 22" barreled rifle. The load in my Vanguard exceeds 3200, 24" barrel. No trouble on game with grenade behavior. Our nearest shot has been around 45 yards, longest just over 200.

When SPS had 125 AB seconds, I bought a bunch. The POI is so similar to the BT that they are interchangeable in all three rifles. Performance on game was similar, too. If you're happy with the 130 Hornady, you'll be pleased with the 125 AB. I'm happy to use them in lieu of a 150 in all three aforementioned rifles for deer and hogs.

I shot 2 deer last season with the 125 gr NAB running a little better than 3200 fps using 55.5 grs of Varget out my Kimber 30-06. Both DRT with a high shoulder pass through, something I don’t often get with the 125 NBT on a high shoulder shot. For whitetail, are they better? I’ll have to say no because I’ve never had a NBT not work, but on the two I shot with the NAB, the NAB was less destructive.

Good info.

Thanks.

DF

I've had good results with 59 gr. Big Game with the 130's and 125's. I see you using Varget. That's a Nosler accuracy load, but not THE accuracy load according to their published data. Their data shows RL-15, 52 gr. at 3,130 fps as the best one. Seems all those should be pretty accurate, I'd think it would be hard to mess up among those three choices.

DF

My kids have killed antelope to elk with them with Varget. Impressive kills, speed does thrill and very accurate.

Thanks for that info.

I think I'll load 125 NAB's with all three of loads, as I have those powders.

I have been using Fed 215 primers with BG. May use them in all three loads to minimize variables. Don't think mag is needed with RL-15 or Varget, although it's recommended with Ramshot powder. And, my supply of 215's is greater than my stash of std. LR primers. I bought the last thousand Cabelas had last year. They had completely wrapped that box with much shipping tape, I guess to keep perps from stealing a hundred or two out of the big box.

DF

I loaded them for a friends 30-06, primarily for coyotes. He lived in Yakima, Wa then and even used them on their Blacktail deer. I used a Nosler book Max load of IMR 4831, had to be at least 3100fps. I have some I am going to try in my 300WM for coyotes.

The velocities y’all speak of mirror DogZapper’s load in his 280 AI with 120’s. And, that load has taken countless Coyote’s. Don’t see why the 125 in the 308/30’06 would be any different. Hammer ‘em!

120 NBT in the 7-08 is very effective on WT’s and hogs. I use BG there, too.

Pharmseller got me onto that combo and he’s right, it works.

DF

[quote=Jim_Knight] I loaded them for a friends 30-06,
Oops, I loaded the Ballistic Tip, this was in '89. I see nothing but good can come from using an Accubond of the same weight, especially at 3200! Have a ball Pard!!

I’ve only shot one buck with the 125 A/bond with an MV of 3150 fps. It was a 180 pounder at 125 yards. The bullet went through the meat of both shoulders a little below the scapula and hit ribs in and out. I found it under the hide on the far side. He was able to lunge forward about five yards.

That was out of a 24” barrel Mod 700 with 55.0 grs of IMR 4166, Nosler brass, CCI 200.

I also have another load with the 125 A/bond for another 30/06,Mod 700 carbine with a 20” barrel that uses 52 grs of H 4895, Win LR primers, in Remington cases and it gets about 3025 fps out of that barrel. I haven’t shot anything with that load yet but I imagine it would perform pretty much the same.