Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles Do Accubonds have a Dark Side?

I shot a forked horn Muley at 160ish yards with .277 130 grain Accubond with a muzzle velocity of 2970ish. I shot him quartered away and bullet never exited but I think it made it to far shoulder. I donated the deer so I never got the bullet.

Same combo as above. I shot a whitetail buck at 88 yards on the flat of shoulder. Buck hit the ground but was still very much alive. Shot the buck a second time up close. Neither bullet exited. The shoulder shot bullet was found in the ribs on the far side. Bullet looks like it was beat with a hammer. I never found the second bullet so my guess is it fell out with the heart and lungs.

The first year they were out I shot a coyote at 95 yards with 150 grainer from my old 30/06. Entrance wound look like it was from first generation BT. Bullet hit him on the shoulder. You couldn't cover the hole with your hand. No exit.

Last year I shot a buck at 210ish yards with the same .270 combo. The angle was steep quartering away. All I found was hair. I would bet money the bullet never made it to the front end.

I have shot a dozen or so deer and a few antelope with 180 grainers from a 300 RUM. I have never caught one and had good performance from them.

I want to like them. But I just don't trust them under 180 grains.

Dink

Tanner I also had a 110 grain accubond out of a 257 weatherby do the same thing on a buck at about 200 yards but the second shot did exit. Not real sure what happened to make the first one not penetrate very well. Ive shot 6.5 130 accubond, 7mm 140 grain accubond, 160 grain accubond, 165 and 180 grain 30 cal. and also will be giving the 225 grain 338 accubond a run this year. Ive had nothing but great luck with them besides that one out of the 257 weatherby. Im a big fan of them.

It's interesting that the poor performances mentioned here were all with the 25 caliber 110 Accubond.

No. Not in my experience.

Below is the result of a 110gr Accubond (250AI). Distance was about 60 yards and the bullet didn't stay in the bear. Example of one.

I've played with a bunch of different bullets just to 'see'. Except for certain situations or extreme range, I've yet to 'see' a reason to not throw Barnes TSX/TTSX or Nosler Partitions at critters.

Add me to that list. None blew up, but I was catching bullets in 100-150lb whitetails regularly. The animals were dead, but penetration was not what I wanted. Saw better results with 6mm and 257 Partitions/E-Tips. On the other hand, 6.5mm AB penetration was great on game.

I guess I just shrugged it off as [bleep] happens sometimes when I had it happen. In my 25-06 ackley I shot 100 grain hornady interlocks and 100 grain ballistic tips and never had a problem with penetration.

Have only seen one recovered 200 gr Accubond out of a 30-06 at 2725 fps, Elk at ~150 yards (Elk shot by friend who I loaned the rifle to). It was trapped by offside skin with the boat tail exposed






Every other kill with the AB's (200 gr 30 caliber & 160 gr 280AI) have resulted in complete pass thrus

Before I ever killed any game with it, I had a 110 AB fired from my .25-06 into a gallon milk jug full of water at 550 yards do something that left me scratching my head. The jug burst, and when I went to collect the scraps, I found the fully expanded bullet inside the jug. It couldn't have penetrated more than a few inches. That is the only entire bullet I've recovered from a jug (unless shooting multiple jugs in a row), and that includes bullets of all sorts, many of which are designed for minimal penetration.

I made a mental note that I'd try and stick to the 100gr TSX/TTSX for game shooting

I had a 130 in 270Win. blow up pretty good. Around 100yds angling away behind the shoulder. Entrance hole you could stick your fist in and an exit in brisket you could put both fists in. I wasn't impressed. That's the only animal I've ever killed with one. Those 130's were very accurate but I've struggled getting them to shoot in multiple 7mm's.

Billy,

It is indeed very interesting that the real troubles seem to occur with the 110 .25--especially since I've had some experience with the 100 and 115 Ballistic Tip .25's and never had a problem with either one, even at close ranges.

Mule deer I have never had a problem with the 100 grain ballistic tips. I can't remember ever keeping one in anything Ive shot. Even have a friend that shot a cow elk with one a few years ago and the 100 grain was on the opposite side mushroomed up just under the hide.

I did recover one from a whitetail. The deer was quartering toward me at about 50 yards, and the bullet hit the big shoulder joint. Found it under the hide at the rear of the ribcage on the opposite side.

Another friend shot a cow elk with one, broadside through the ribs, and the bullet exited.

My AB experience has been with the 225's out of a .340.. Killed 3 elk and a whitetail with them.. Of course the whitetail was not a problem.. Dead on the spot.. All of the elk were killed in rather warm weather so I had them processed.. I did recover one bullet that was under the hide.. It was fully expanded and the jacket and core were still together.. I have it some where..

The rest of my use of AB's has been with .30 cal.. Only two elk have been killed with that caliber:
First a huge cow shot with a .300 Wea. and 200 grain AB.. The bullet hit near the junction of the neck and body and drove on back into the chest.. Not recovered.. Dropped her in her tracks..

Second was a cow elk also shot with a .300 Win. and 165 grain AB. The shot was similar to the one just described and the elk dropped instantly.. Again the bullet wasn't recovered..

Ya'll are really making me worry about the 110 .257 pill. Playing around with it this summer revealed very nice, repeatable groups ad great ballistics, so I have decided to run it this year. I am usually a 100 TTSX man, but am going to try the NAB this year.

I have seen them go stem to stern on coues deer, breaking hip and shoulder bone from my dads 7RUM, and about 3 or 4 deer killed with the 140 from my 270wsm. Most impressive was the 140.277 pill with a MV of 3250 hitting a bedded buck 1/4'ing to at 35ish yards on the front shoulder, then recovering it in the rear hip with I think 67% weight retention after being scrubbed clean.

I believe I will skip the 110 Accubond.

Ugh. I am thinkin same. 100 NBTs or 115 NPT for me this fall.

I used the 110 NAB last year for the first time, so I have a very small sample size to offer. Out of my .257 Roy, I shot a Black bear at 60-70 yards and 3 whitetail does at 300 yards.

All pass-through and no "explosive" exit. I am looking forward to using them again this year. They are very accurate in my rifle too.

I've found absolutely nothing that concerns me on a dozen or so whitetails taken with the 110 Accubond launched at 3450fps from my 257 Wby. Only one failed to exit (which is perfectly fine by me). A big doe shot high shoulder at approximately 200yds. These days, I'm happy to just shoot B-tips at deer 'cause they are cheap, they have good BC's, they are accurate as hell, and they wreck deer!

For those battling T.B.A., all I can say is this,,,, Nosler Accubonds are harder than B-tips and are not necessary for deer. They are one hell of an elk bullet though!

Lots of Barnes fans here, but I for one will likely never launch another Barnes at a deer unless it's a fluke like a 45gr TSX via .221 fireball or Hornet.......


X-VERMINATOR

I had the tips fall out while feeding them with my bolt-action .308 Win. Had this happen on 200s and the 150s. They are a great bullet but this is a bit of a concert if trying to cycle these in a hurry.