Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles 162 A-Max vs. 150 NBT

So I take it your MV was around 3400-3500?

Sounds like you recovered the bullet. Did the jacket seperate, was it just fragments? How bad did it blow up?

A 110 at 3500? I wish. More like 3,000.

Not recovered. Never found fragments or anything but I didn't look very hard.

160 Partition is your huckleberry. Life is easy, don't make it hard.

The more I hunt, the more I realize I should just run Partitions and be happy.

If you carry a complete weather station around with you while hunting you MIGHT have an advantage with the AMAX. I think that missing the call by 2 mph on the wind velocity might be about the same difference?

Lots of folks worrying about 2-3 inches of wind drift that can't tell the difference between a 5 and 15 mph wind..

Pick a bullet that shoots good out of your rifle, has a solid reputation of good on game performance and learn to run it. There are no magic bullets out there yet.

Great post from a great guy.

When it comes down to it, good terminal ballistics absolutely trumps a slight advantage in external ballistics.

Lotta wisdom in these comments IMHO......if my memory serves me correctly, there's a certain member here on the ' fire that probably has more trigger time behind the .280AI than almost anyone else..... Seems to me me he wrote quite a bit about the cartridge and also wrote the introductions about the AI cartridges in a few load data books.............IIRC, he's about filled a few arks with 120 NBT's.......... but then I might be wrong.............
YMMV,
BD

He also said the 150 NBT was a perfect match for the 280 AI at about 3,000 fps...

I just got a box of 150 LRABs, anxious to try them out and see how they shoot. I'll be even more interested to see how they perform on game.

The trouble is, miss the call by 2 mph with the BT, and you've now doubled the wind drift differential. Less drift in the same wind gives you a larger margin of error in your wind call.

A good LR hunting bullet is a different beast from a good point-blank hunting bullet, which is why I run two loads in all my rifles. I carry a mag full of TTSX loads for close, quick opportunities, and a few rounds in a pocket loaded with a better LR bullet like the AM or VLD. Until of course the bullet companies start to perfect the best of both worlds. The LRX and LRAB are both an effort to make a bullet that does both jobs well, but neither one is quite there yet, IMO.

The 150 LRAB might be the best one-bullet compromise yet available for Tanner's .280AI. It's price doesn't preclude ample practice, like the LRX does, yet it seems to be a slippery bugger that should hold together better than your average target bullet on close shots.

My exact experience with 25-06! I will not hunt with one again.
AMax, though designed as a match bullet, has given many people great results as a hunting bullet.

So you're blaming it on the chambering, and not the bullet?

Never shot a deer with the 110 AccuBond but I have used quite a few chamberings on them up to the 300 Ultra Mag. Nothing has killed any faster than the 25-06 its pretty close to deer cartridge perfection IMO.

Common sense here.

Tanner if I were doing it, I would grab he 150 BT,not because I have used it on game myself, but because Dober has killed a pile of western animals with it, and he says it works from the Mashburn and 7 Rem Mag.

Plus, it will likely shoot with the exact same loads and group alongside the 150 Partition (it does from my 7 Rem Mag),and you won't see a trajectory difference between the two bullets until you get to 600 yards; even then it will be about the width of your hand. I know this from shooting both at 200-600 yards.

And if you are squeamish at all about shoulder shots, or worry at all about bullet blow up at close ranges(which you should think about) the 150 Partition will end that conversation.

Re: chambering comment, EACH Bullet has an ideal or 'Optimum' speed envelope for max performance.

I don't know if technology will ever produce a 'One bullet Does ALL PERFECT at ALL RANGES' - it's simply asking too much IMHO.

If we toss BC, etc. all out the window and just look at what has proven to do a great job up close and on most shots of reasonable distance, the Partition leaves little to be desired. Many other bullets might work as well, some perhaps better on either ends of the impact speed spectrum, yet with a soft nose for long shots, and an H jacket for penetration, it's pretty reliable and simple. That said, I too have and will continue doing 'research' - though in the end the one variable that is perhaps most important is still shooter skill.

I have killed deer with 70gr TNT varmint bullets in 243 and 6BR b/c I used them within their limits, neck or lung shots.

Remember, you don't have to punch 1/2" Steel to kill game, simply thread vitals with the bullet in chamber. If your shot angle is poor, wait and/or pass the shot. If the range is too far, stalk, get closer, or pass the shot.

The Range we choose to take a shot, and WHEN we time the trigger break - ie. shot placement, is within the shooters ability and responsibility.

Tanner will do well with 150 BTs or PTs with shot placement, and many other bullets will do well. In the endless chase for speed, some forget just how darned effective much slower rounds have killed for decades. Think 45/70......

An Amax is a good bullet and proven very effective, yet as the impact speed goes up, the penetration shortens, and on larger game, this can create challenges or limitations if you will.

How much one wants to 'limit' themselves by using say an Amax is subjective. On deer, it's little issue. On Elk or Moose, it might fail to punch heavy bone or reach vitals from a raking shot, one cannot be as confident pre-shot as with a stronger constructed bullet. BALANCING Expansion and Penetration is the dilema, but again, a Partition does both........

Analyzing data is useful and fun, but it can also be over-done and give one headaches. Don't ask how I know

Tanner, when I 1st started with my 280 AI I went accubond. after reading Dober's experience with the BT's I tried them. For my work and after several successful hunts, the 150 BT is the choice.

Randy

BTW - Tanner, you might simply check POI with say a 162 Amax for the smaller species you hunt, and then the Partition for Elk n Bear.

I've made the switch to 168 VLDs. I've seen enough of the VLDs to know that I'll be just a little bit more comfortable with them....

I'm thinking that at around 2900, they'll be a damn good one....

Dammit, I was hoping you'd try the 162 A-max and report back on the results. I'm just going to run a 162 Hornady BTSP this year and call it good. I tossed the A-max idea around too, but the good ol proven interlock won out in the end. Good luck with your hunting Tanner!

His statement doesn't make a whole lot of sense does it SP...