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Joined: Dec 2002
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Campfire Outfitter
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Campfire Outfitter
Joined: Dec 2002
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Like Art, I had a hard time catching a Barnes. I have one and it went lengthwise. I haven't used as many Partitions but I don't have any of those yet either. The 1/2 dozen I have used were all pass throughs too. I have yet to shoot an elk with a Partition though.
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Those who live by the sword get shot by those who don't.
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Joined: Sep 2011
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Campfire Regular
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I have had great results with Accubonds and both deer and elk. Have two that I've recovered, one from a deer and one from an elk. Don't know the weights, but they did mushroom and hold together nicely. Am sure they dropped weight as designed, just don't know how much.
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Joined: Jan 2010
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Campfire Outfitter
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Campfire Outfitter
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I have never used Accubonds in my 300 WSM, but this is the 180 gr TTSX that was laying against the skin on the off side of this years Wyo elk. With this kind of performace, I probably will never switch to Accubonds in the short mag. BTW, this was the second consecutive year, with the same results. from the TTSX. donsm70
Life Member...Safari Club International Life Member...Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation Life Member...Keystone Country Elk Alliance Life Member...National Rifle Association
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Joined: Aug 2003
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Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
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Curious if you guys ever have a concern with the mono metal bullets penetrating through and hitting something else behind the animal. Antelope and Elk travel in herds. Ever been concerned about them passing through an antelope and hitting a few others behind causing injury? With smaller animals any bullet has that potential. I can think of several doubles I've had with caribou (where we have a 5/day limit) where a second animal is not much concern other than the possibility of an ugly wounding shot. One such case happened for me when I stuck a large bull with a 100 Corelokt in 6mm. The pass-through struck a cow in the jaw and she took off like she had a fire under her tail until I gave her another, more lethal, shot. I have also doubled with the 200 NBT in a 340; a 100 XFB in 7mm-08; a 150 XFB in 30-06 (which passed through both); and watched my son tag two reindeer with one 150 grain Interlock (contract over-run) with his 280. I think I only ever caught one 100 Sierra Pro-Hunter in my 6 while killing several dozen caribou with it; never doubled, but the potential was probably there. I also never caught a 140 XFB in 7mm-08, also without doubling, so it also could have. (I did catch a 120 TSX in 7mm-08 the first time out with them...go figure!) I have bullets of every flavor I've collected from moose- from Interlocks and Gamekings, to Partitions, A-Frames, and Grand Slams, as well as several X iterations of .338, .358 and .375. I've also gotten pass-throughs on moose with everything from NBTs and Core-lokts through Fail-Safes and XFBs so you always need to be aware with any of them.
Sometimes, the air you 'let in'matters less than the air you 'let out'.
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Joined: May 2011
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Campfire Kahuna
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Campfire Kahuna
Joined: May 2011
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With smaller animals any bullet has that potential. I can think of several doubles I've had with caribou (where we have a 5/day limit) where a second animal is not much concern other than the possibility of an ugly wounding shot.
One such case happened for me when I stuck a large bull with a 100 Corelokt in 6mm. The pass-through struck a cow in the jaw and she took off like she had a fire under her tail until I gave her another, more lethal, shot.
I have also doubled with the 200 NBT in a 340; a 100 XFB in 7mm-08; a 150 XFB in 30-06 (which passed through both); and watched my son tag two reindeer with one 150 grain Interlock (contract over-run) with his 280.
I think I only ever caught one 100 Sierra Pro-Hunter in my 6 while killing several dozen caribou with it; never doubled, but the potential was probably there. I also never caught a 140 XFB in 7mm-08, also without doubling, so it also could have. (I did catch a 120 TSX in 7mm-08 the first time out with them...go figure!)
I have bullets of every flavor I've collected from moose- from Interlocks and Gamekings, to Partitions, A-Frames, and Grand Slams, as well as several X iterations of .338, .358 and .375. I've also gotten pass-throughs on moose with everything from NBTs and Core-lokts through Fail-Safes and XFBs so you always need to be aware with any of them.
That's an eye opener for me. Thanks for the info.
_______________________________________________________ An 8 dollar driveway boy living in a T-111 shack
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What a great looking trio of animals....sure wish I had a freezer full of sitkas!
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Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
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Stuff does happen as the saying goes but I'd not say you used the wrong bullet necessarily but the wrong bullet-cartridge combo. In the any of the big thirties I probably would have felt more comfortable with the 180-grain AB at least for hunting moose. And the 200-grain would have gotten strong consideration; that is if I'd chosen to use an AB at all. I have gone from the "X", to the TSX, and now to the TTSX. I had the now well known pressure problems with the X but the later two have been both very accurate in my rifles and of the three I've caught showed nearly a hundred percent weight retention and very quick kills. Two were 270-grain TSXs from a 375; one was stopped by a very stout mare zebra at about a hundred yards after drilling both scapula. It started out at about 2750 fps but mushroomed completely, trampolining against the off-side hide. Another hit a small branch about twenty-five yards in front of a waterbuck but remained on course but flying side-ways. It coursed through his chest that way and was also seen as "a knuckle" protruding under the off-side hide. The last took a big bodied mule deer buck at the base of the throat at about a hundred yards as he was facing head-on. It was found near the anus on dressing and was a grain or a couple less from the original 140 grains; this was at 3000 fps mv out of a 284 Win. There are roughly twenty-some I didn't catch or find but I've not experienced any blood-shot meat nor have I seen evidence of any not opening or "penciling through." Even the big NE Sandhills whitetail I took at five hundred yards with the 284 and this time with the 150-grain TTSX, showed bullet expansion on a broadside chest shot. If I were to see "penciling through," I would have almost expected it on that shot. They have been the most accurate bullets in the three rifles I've shot them the most in--a 375, a 30/06, and the 284. In fact the smallest group I've shot with an above-thirty caliber cartridge was with that 270-grain TSX in my 375 using H4350. As mentioned It runs around 2750 fps. That combo resulted in a three-shot, one hundred yard group of .38". I have found I like the 165-168 weights in the '06; the 270 TSX shoots wonderfully out of my 375 but I want to try the 250-gr TTSX for my presumed moose hunt next year. And the 140-grain does all I need out of the little 7mm. Edit: The two 375s to the left and the 284 at right. The 375 270-grain went to .820" and the 7mm 140-grain to .620" after four and a half feet or so of mule deer innards. I am sure the 375 in the middle would have been long gone had it not traversed the water buck (like a small cow elk) sideways. It's hard to beat that for performance and dependability.
Last edited by George_De_Vries_3rd; 10/26/14.
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53gr triple shock found just inside the hide of a mature mulie. It's the one one I've recovery it retained 100%. Can you imagine those blades twisting through your body. I also use acubondacubond on deer and don't expect them to hold togethere. I've found prices but never a mushroomed intact bullet. They also kill very well.
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Joined: Jan 2006
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Campfire Kahuna
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Campfire Kahuna
Joined: Jan 2006
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It is quite possible that if I had used a 180 gr, I may have gotten a better experience. I have a friend of mine that uses 300 gr AB's and he said he does not have the issue I wrote about at all. I've shot a number of elk with 180 AB's in a 300 WSM. I've had several come apart upon entry. If they hold together, they'll penetrate very well but they don't always hold together. The amount of destroyed meat on the near side is always very large, even if it doesn't hit bone.
“In a time of deceit telling the truth is a revolutionary act.” ― George Orwell
It's not over when you lose. It's over when you quit.
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Joined: Aug 2005
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Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
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I'm not saying the AB will never fall apart, but I haven't seen it happen yet on probably 60 head of big game. My buddy stumbled into a big mule deer buck........ [img:left] [/img] and killed him at a grand distance of 30 yards, with a 7STW and 140 AB's sizzling along at 3300fps upon impact (according to jbm anyway). Bullet entered rear ham, and was found under skin on off shoulder, and retained almost 65% of it's weight. Couldn't ask for much better performance, as the buck dropped like the proverbial rock. [img:left] [/img]
It is irrelevant what you think. What matters is the TRUTH.
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Joined: Jul 2001
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Campfire Kahuna
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Campfire Kahuna
Joined: Jul 2001
Posts: 60,195 Likes: 24 |
There was a period maybe a year after AccuBonds were first produced when some faulty bullets went out. Demand was very high, and the problem was traced to one person on the assembly line who tried to speed up the process, resulting in unbonded bullets. Nosler recalled as many as they could, but some still got out there, and may even turn up now and then. Much of the �AccuBomb� reputation occurred because of those bullets, because of course the people who used them complained a lot.
My experience with AB�s is probably more extensive than JG�s, and runs from 140 .270�s at 3200+ fps to 260-grain .375�s at 2800. Some of it occurred in 2007 when I went on a big cull hunt in South Africa where over 180 animals were taken by several American hunters. At the time both AB�s and Barnes TSX�s were the hot new bullets, and probably 90% of the hunters used one or the other, and many used both. There was only one �failure� among the AccuBond�s, when a 180-grain from a .300 Winchester Magnum hit a huge eland right in the shoulder joint and didn�t penetrate much beyond the near lung, but the bull was hurt enough to not go far, and a second bullet in the same area soon brought it down. Among others, I saw a big blue wildebeest bull, considered perhaps the toughest of African animals, drop within 75 yards after taking a 140 7mm from a 7-08 behind the shoulder.
The least percentage of retained weight I�ve seen was a 140 .270 that went into a bull caribou�s spine lengthwise, after a frontal shot, and was recovered at the rear of the ribs, weighing 75 grains. The caribou, of course, dropped right there.
AccuBonds are not TSX�s, or E-Tips or any other monolithic bullet, and to expect them to perform like one is unrealistic. But if you pick the right one for the job, which in my experience would be a little heavier than a TSX of the same caliber, especially in faster cartridges, then they�ll perform very well. One of the more successful trophy elk hunters in this part of Montana uses a .300 Rum with 200-grain AccuBonds, because they penetrate great, and drift in the wind less than lighter bullets with less-sleek profiles. He hardly recovers any, and then only on severely angling shots. But if you want to run lighter bullets at higher speed, then no doubt a monolithic is the way to go.
“Montana seems to me to be what a small boy would think Texas is like from hearing Texans.” John Steinbeck
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Campfire Ranger
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It is irrelevant what you think. What matters is the TRUTH.
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Joined: Feb 2010
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I have and have shot several Accubond loads and are very intrigued by their incredible flight characteristics. I shot my .375 Wby with 260gr ABs at a muddy berm several times when chronographing the bullet at a tight average of 2,974fps. It blew large holes in the side of the muddy berm, which generated awes and gasps from the others at the range at the time. I assume that would kill almost anything that lives with a decent shot. I had perfect success with the same rifle with a 300gr NP moving at about 2,550fps impact velocity on a 9�-2� brown bear. If the NP and AB are fairly similar in results, both are very effective in that velocity range to be sure. And my view is that in the sub-2,800fps velocity range, both the NP and AB might be the best thing going. However, this TTSX 225gr load (3,160fps MV; 3,050fps imact) went through both front quarters, and much bone, of a large AK moose and ended up just under the far left front quarter hide: I shot the same moose within a few seconds later twice with the same TTSX loads and they both exited. I have no reason to know or believe that the excellent Nosler bullets would not have done as well or better, but at the 3,000+fps range, I find it hard to believe that, on large game, anything would do better than the TTSX in terms of penetration and expansion. The picture above of the 3,300fps AB makes me think that, while it may work fine at that velocity, the Barnes mono-metal bullets might be a bit more reliable at that velocity. JMO.
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