Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Nosler Accubonds vs Partitions

Title says it all. Anyone have any super strong opinions on either? Ive had bad experiences with ballistic/polymer tipped rounds in the past so Im leaning toward partitions.

I know the BC is higher in the accubonds. It also seems like accubonds are a bit more readily available.

For reference these will be used in a 338RUM for hunting medium/large game, whitetail and moose, most likely under 400 yards. Im looking at either 225 or 250gr and plan to have muzzle velocity north of 3000fps.

Thanks!

I like both Partitions and the Accubonds but I’ll opt for the Accubonds everyday of the week if I can over a similar Partition. They expand wider, penetrate nearly as far, I don’t have banged up tips from magazines and I gain a touch of BC.

Both have done real well for me and my group but I’ll take Accubonds if I have a choice myself.

Big fan of accubonds. Partitions haven’t shown me much.

What were you expecting? Accuracy, penetration, dead animals, or something else? Where have they failed? The Partition seems pretty fail safe at reasonable ranges.

I"ve probably killed/culled over 150 big game animals with accubonds and partitions. I haven't noticed a nickle's worth of difference in killing prowess between them. They have worked very reliably for me.

Really we have an embarrassment of riches when it comes to today’s bullets. They do about everything except pack out the meat. The bigger issue seems to be laying hands on them. Even that seems to be improving.

Neither. Interlocks. Had to say it.
If I had to choose. Accubond.

Partitions for me, but I'm old.

What ever shoots more accurately. At 400 yrds you aren’t gaining anything concerning BC

Accubonds IME have been very Partition like. Wound channels, weight retention, entrance and exit hole. But there is not a bullet on the market day in and day out as reliable as a Nosler Partition. Greatest hunting bullet ever produced.

I shoot them both, but if I could have only one bullet to hunt with it would be a partition.

Warm or cold weather?
Love accubonds and they are the most accurate bullet in my favorite 270wsm rifle, but in below zero degrees temps I’ve had the plastic tips of the accubonds all snap off the rounds in the magazine with the recoil of a shot. Since my personal experience I’ve witnessed it happen twice to other people. Accubonds without tips do not hit the same poi as those with tips I’ve tested it.
Still use them but not up north.
I don’t have a 338RUM but I hunt a lot with a 340 Weatherby and 250gr partitions a little south of 3000fps. Was about perfect for elk and big black bears. Probably a bit more than was needed for the Alaskan sitka deer I took with it but it dropped them where they stood same for two big bodied Alberta mule deer. Never hunted moose with it but I shot a half dozen different big African antelope, cape eland are probably a little bigger than a moose, with it and they all but one were shoulder shot and dropped accordingly. Only have had to shoot two animals, a blue wildebeest and an elk, more than once with it and they were both were first shots through the high rear lungs bullet didn’t touch ribs or shoulders. Second shot ended it thought, hit shoulders on wildebeest and neck/shoulder on the elk. That combo has worked well enough and I didn’t need to try anything different in that rifle until California forced lead free bullets on us.

My personal experience is with Partitions and Hornady Interlocks except for my .375 where I use Accubonds/Interlocks (due to the Partitions abyssmal BC). I started using Partitions in the late 70's so I have used them enough to be confident in them.

However, two of my hunting buddies use Accubonds and have for over ten years. They work well for them.

It"s already been said, I have killed slightly less than a 100 deer and elk with the PT, but now I use the AB for a little better BC, and the results seem the same.

I had the tips break off on a batch of .35 Whelen ammo a few years ago. It was cold for the midsouth, maybe around 0*F, but nothing like you may get up north. It was frustrating. It didn't cost me any game, but something so expensive should be more resilient. I recovered a few of the tips and they were really chalky and had changed from a bright white to a gray. I had 8 rounds on the stock pack, and a magazine full. Probably happened to half of the rounds over a week of hunting.

I’ve used both, primarily for whitetail, and haven’t had any complaints. In general, the Accubonds tend to group a bit better but not enough to matter for hunting. I’d say that the OP, should use whichever he’s most comfortable with as the animals are unlikely to care.

Amen brother, which is why every bullet manufacturer since 1965 was playing catch up, trying to invent bullets that mimic the partition's performance on game. Most of them haven't figured it out yet.

I’ve used both and in a .308 or 7mm on deer, the Accubond deer left bigger easier to follow blood trails. No small thing at last light in dense brush country.

You mean like Barnes?

Laughing!

I have shot a lot of different critters with NPT. I have a collection of recovered bullets suggesting they do not leave the scene nearly as reliably for me as others claim.

I'll always be the guy in the background saying shoot an interlock. Lost count of the animals I've killed with that bullet. 6mm through 30 cal. That bullet flat ass eats.