Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting Nosler ABLR for elk

Has anyone used the Nosler ABLR on elk? Specifically, the 30 cal. ones. Any other cal. would be welcome info too. How was penetration and accuracy?

I've worked a load up for 150's in a 7STW and they shoot 1/2"-3/4". Have not killed game with them.

I filled a cow elk in October with my 7mm RM with the 168 gr LRAB. Load was 73 gr H1000 @ 2870 fps.

Range was 120 yards, she was moving and the hit was behind the shoulder and about 4 to 6" under the backbone. I used the gutless method to break her down so didn't see exactly what bone was hit, but it could only have been a rib or two. The animal was not a big cow, maybe 1 1/2 years old. (great one for the freezer!)

Found the bullet under the skin on the far side, basically the rear half, and weighed 88.5 gr. for about 52.7% weight retention.

Animal was moving slightly uphill at the shot, went about 10 yards and fell back to close to the spot of impact.

Seems like a lot of bullet deformation for what it encountered, but the result was very good.

You can make up your own mind if it is acceptable bullet performance, just sharing this sample of one.

Accuracy is as good as any other load I've tried in my Bicentenial Ruger M77 that I bought in 1976, which is close to MOA.

I used the 175 ABLR from my Mashburn started at 3090. Ended up my buddy used my rifle for two elk, one at 605 and the other at 595. One was a cow where we recovered this bullet.









90.42 grains retained weight.



We also recovered the other bullet out of the spike bull, once he sends me the pictures of it, I will post them up as well, but it is very similar.

I took a 4x4 at 490 with the same bullet, didn't see an exit and being pitch black probably lost it while skinning and quartering.

I know you asked about 30 caliber bullets, but from what I have seen in water jugs, they end up about the same.

The bullet kinda made me wonder how it would work, but to be honest, I like it, up close or out far it sheds the front end pretty violent and the base goes as far as it can. I haven't had the great luck getting them all to shoot well, but this 175 shoots very well in my Mashburn.

Thanks guys. It seems to lose about as much front as a partition but with less penetration. Would that be fair to say?

I would say it loses more than a regular AB or Partition myself. But I haven't seen that as being a bad trait for hunting, at least up to the size of elk.

Thanks

I had a difficult time seeing the advantages over the AB, given that ranges at which game is taken can vary considerably.

The trouble is finding either one.

IIRC, a few years back there was some discussion about poor short-range performance with the LR version, which makes sense. As long as my load carried enough velocity for expansion to any range I expected to encounter, I’d stick with the standard version. I would definitely avoid the softer one if hunting in timber or other close quarters for fear it would fail on angling shots. That makes sense to me for deer as well. Soft bullets have blown up a lot of shoulder meat, even when the shoulder wasn’t hit.

Good copper bullets are looking better to me all the time.

What is the ring/groove below the shoulder?

I see that ring when I have cartridges in a 50 round, plastic ammo boxes and it comes from the partitions that separate the cartridges as they are jostled around during handling.

Bingo!


Nosler doesn't make a regular 175 Accubond, so this is what I am running. I will say, just because you don't shoot LR, doesn't mean a bit more BC won't help. A few inches of impact difference from a 10MPH wind at 300 yards is enough for me to try for the edge. I shoot ton's of plain stuff as well, but this rifle was built to hunt elk and so far, it what works well. They are guilty accurate as well.

Meat damage is meat damage in my opinion, I'd rather lose 5lbs of elk meat than an entire elk in order to put them down as quickly as possible. The ABLR would probably bang up alot of meat on a front leg up close, but I believe that base will stay intact and keep trucking as well.

I found a box to try. Low and behold there was 1 box at the local store so I bought it. We'll see if a pre64 300 H&H can shoot the 190g version.

Let me know how that goes. I happen to have a ton of those 190's that would really be great in my H&H as well.

The 190s are designed to stabilized very well in the typical 1-10 .30 caliber rifling twist. Have owned three .300 H&Hs of various makes, including a pre-'64 M70 Winchester, and all had 1-10 twists.

How did the 190 ABLRs shoot in them John?

I have had some problems with Accuracy with the LRAB"s. I tried just about every combination known to man for accuracy and could not get what I wanted. Switched over to the 160 AB in my 280 AI, Kimber Alpine and got 2.5 inch groups at 290 yards. Have killed 4 elk with the AB, one got away (good hit in the chest) and the others layed down within 100 yards. Longest kill with them for me is, 435 yards, I don't think they preform as well as the Partition, but I feel they are better farther out.

I’ve killed two elk with the 7mm 168gr from a 280AI, they performed well.