Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters AccuBonds vs. A-Frames in Africa............

Accubonds that I have used successfully are the 25 cal 110 gr, 7mm 160 gr, 308 180, 358 200 gr and the 358 225 gr. No complaints and the ones I’ve recovered look like those in an ad.

Many years ago I bought some seconds from SPS and there were 3 or 4 that were missing their tips. When I fired them they were right in the group with those that had their tips. That’s the only time I’ve seen anything like missing tips.

Didn’t some a-hole take a 7mm Rem Mag loaded with 160 gr AccuBonds to Africa a few years ago?





P

I did read it, sir, but admittedly the date of the post escaped me until after I posted.
Being a recent 9.3 convert, I switched from shooting behind the shoulder to in-line with the leg and this made a tremendous difference in the results. This and your great Accubond loading recipe.

Thank you for the history in what happened with Nosler’s falling tips. I still have a box of them in 30cal 165gr. (Got them in 2007)

Good to hear the 9.3x62 AccuBond load worked for you! Have heard from quite a few people that it does...which is one reason my latest book is about handloads that tend to work well in various rifles chambered for the same round.

Pro tip: Whatever "stick" uses of professes, do the exact opposite...

I'm an assswhole, and that would be me. 11 animals, these were the only one's "caught", intentionally shot through shoulders/heart shots. These were running almost 3100 at the muzzle, impacts from 90 to 150 yards.

JG,

Gee, those don't look like they exploded! Also have a couple that look like that, from a friend who was along on a month-long safari in 2007. He used his in a 7mm Dakota, among other things shooting a wildbeest through the shoulders.

Have never recovered one of the aforementioned 9.3mm 250-grain ABs from an African animal, and that includes my biggest kudu and a frontally-shot gemsbok. In fact, the only one that's stayed inside an animal was from a rear-angling shot on my only grizzly, a 7-1/2 foot boar taken in central Alaska. The bullet entered the middle of the right ribs and was found under the hide on the left side of the neck, retaining 81% of its weight. (Nosler designs the heavier, larger-caliber ABs to retain a higher percentage of their weight, like they started doing with the Partitions in the 1990s.)

I've observed that in the 9.3x62 the 250gr Accubond penetrates much better than the ttsx. The barnes seems to open too wide for great penetration.

Interesting!

Have never used the 250 9.3 TTSX, only the TSX--which often doesn't expand as much as the tipped version.

Dear sir, where would such book be available?
I tracked down your article in Handloader and bought it along with others ($5/year stack of magazines).

Here's the website where you can find the informative books written by Mule Deer (aka John Barsness): https://www.riflesandrecipes.com/
I recommend all of his books since IMO, they are excellent sources of high quality information.

I've used a lot of Accubonds, mostly in 6.5mm, 7mm, .308 and .338 and have always had good results from them on deer, bear, antelope, elk and pigs. But I've never used them in Africa as I used TSX/TTSX on those hunts. Still, I think Accubonds would do just fine in Africa based on what I've seen in North America.

My friend Bob--MT DD MAN--just posted the website where you can buy my books. (Thanks Bob!)

Will also mention the The Big Book of Gun Gack III contains an entire chapter on pre-testing hunting bullets.

Oh, and the prices on the website include media-mail shipping in the U.S.

John

(Correction: My memory was faulty. The first Big Book of Gun Gack has the chapter on pre-testing hunting bullets. GGIII has a chapter on pre-testing hunting RIFLES. Sorry!)

Have never had a bad experience with Accubonds. Always get quick kills and the ones I've recovered have looked like perfect mushrooms. The retained weight has also been very consistent as a percentage of the original weight. Accuracy has usually been excellent as well.

Thanks! Ordered the GG IV.

I loaded some 200 ABs for a friend's 300 WM when he drew for an elk tag in New Mexico, but was having trouble finding ammo. He shot a bull quartering away a little over 300 yards, then on another hunt a nice whitetail buck head on. He recovered the elk bullet in the opposite shoulder and the buck bullet after it ran down the spine. He's sold on the ABs.

Thought some might like to see the 9.3 250-grain AccuBond recovered from my Alaskan grizzly, after it angled from the rear of the right ribs to under the hide on the left side of the neck. As I mentioned, this is the only 250 9.3 AB I've recovered, and have used it not just in North Ameria but quite a bit in Africa.

In Africa I used it in my CZ 550 9.3x62, but on the grizzly was using my custom 9.3 Barsness-Sisk that Charlie built, if I recall correctly in 2004. The 9.3 B-S wildcat, as many call it, is the .350 Remington Magnum necked up, and gets the same velocities as the 9.3x62 loaded to .30-06 pressures--around 2650 fps. As noted in one of my earlier posts on this thread, it retained 81% of its weight.

I've taken two bull moose with the 250gr Accubond from a 338RUM. The first bull was taken at 315yds and was hit twice broadside in the lungs. Both bullets passed through and the bull dropped in about 40yds. The second bull walked out of the timber at 54yds looking for the origin of my cow call. I hit him directly on the shoulder and watched him flip over backwards like he stepped on a land mine. The bull never even twitched after he hit the ground. The bullet passed through both shoulders and was caught under the skin on the far side. The Accubond was fully expanded and weighed 140gr after passing through a considerable amount of bone.

I've shot a load of whitetails with the 160gr (7mm) Accubond from a 7WSM. Results were always as expected.

Interesting read: hopefully we can all glean something from this thread.

I too am surprised at the OP's experience with Accubonds. I have a buddy that has literally killed a semi load of elk, deer and various other critters with accubonds and has never had a bad experience? He was a died in the wool partition guy but has switched to accubonds because they are very accurate and always worked?