You knew it was bound to happen... I had to slay some water-filled milk jugs with the .375 H&H... It was 108 degrees at the range today, and milk jugs died in the heat! Water evaporated before I got the split jugs cleaned up!

I've got to tell you - seeing that 260 grainer slam the jugs at 20 yards was impressive! I had 12 jugs lined up, and it was one dramatic hit! Water and jug shrapnel burst wildly. Loved it! What an impact....

Okay to the results...
260 grain Accubond loaded to 2650 fps, a middle-of-the-road load
20 yards to the water-filled plastic milk jugs - same as I used for most of the .45/70 & .25-06 tests last year

The Accubond was recovered from the 7th jug. It weighed 179 grains and measured .83" diameter at the widest.









I've heard this one is dandy for elk, moose and bear. After seeing the results, I can believe it. Am not one to worship at the alter of weight retention, but it is interesting. I do like to see an expanding bullet expand. This doggone Nosler certainly expanded! It penetrated as well as the better .45/70 loads, and expanded well. With the accuracy I've seen already, it is a pretty impressive choice. At this point I also have a few 270 grain Barnes TSX's and quite a few 300 grain Sierras waiting to be tested. Right now though, I'm back inside, enjoying the air conditioning and a cool Alaskan Amber.

Regards, Guy

It looks like the few that we were able to recover from various species of plains game that I took in Namibia a few years ago. I have taken a couple of large bull elk as well as kudu, oryx, waterbuck, zebra, blue wildebeest and impala (oh, yeah, and a duiker, too). I am sold on this bullet for non-dangerous game in the .375 H&H.

The 260-grain Accubond is currently the only bullet I'm shooting in my 375 H&H. Very accurate and fast out of my rifle.

This is good news, as I just got done working up some very accurate loads in my 375 Ruger with these 260's. Though I think that your selling this bullet short by suggesting it wont work well on dangerous game.

That's about 3 feet of water if you were using 1 gallon jugs. I wonder if I could download one to 2450 simulating 100 yard performance? Has anyone tried these on 200 pound deer? I would assume complete pass through behind the shoulder. The Accubond has a tougher jacket than the conventional BT from what I understand. I'm glad you took the heat for a worthwhile test. Thanks for sharing. Regards, Rick.

I know two people who have used the 260 AB from the .375 H&H on Cape buffalo, with fine results each time.

One was taken broadside, and the bullet recovered under the skin on the far side--generally considered a good thing when hunting buffalo in herds, where you don't want to bullet to go all the way through and wound another.

The other buffalo was facing the hunter. Two shots put it down for the count, both penetrating well into the chest cavity.

Well, if the state of the economy ever allows me to return to Africa, I will give them a try on buffalo. They surely do shoot good in my rifle.

Thar number 1 actually attracts me ...

How's the recoil ?

Thanks for the posting!

I can't wait to see how the 270 grain TSX compares on your next set of tests!

GuyM,

When you increase the velocity a little, you loose a little penetration. Take a look at the following:

.375 260 Nosler Acubond 2,982 fps (.375-.416 Rem 28" barrel) in the sixth water filled milk jug. It weighed 160 grains.

That's generally what I've found - boost the velocity and see increased expansion & decreased penetration...

Recoil on this rifle isn't bad at all. Some previous owner installed a real nice Pachmayer Decelerator recoil pad, and I'd guess the whole thing scoped weighs around 9.5 - 10 pounds - just guessing. The 260 at 2650 isn't quite a max load either. Two of my shooting pards were at the range with me and neither had shot anything that big. They didn't have any trouble with it at all. One said it kicked less than a .338 Win mag as far as he was concerned. I'd describe it as a big push.

It's nothing like touching off a stout-loaded .450 Ackley or similar...

Guy and I just confirmed that his rifle used to belong to me. I bought it new around 8 years ago from Capital Sports & Western Wear in Helena, Montana, and took it to Africa a couple of times before putting it on consignment in Capital a few years later.

Somebody else added the Pachmayr pad. I always shot it with the stock tire-rubbed Ruger pad, and even without the scope (I fitted a NECG aperture sight for one trip to Botswana) it didn't kick all that bad, even though it weighed only 8-1/4 pounds. In fact I feel that the typical No. 1 has less felt recoil with irons than when scoped, as the buttstock is shaped for irons.

Anyway, I took eight species of African game with it that I can recall, ranging from springbok to Cape buffalo, including my biggest impala and gemsbok.

For now I'm going to be content using it for black bear and elk...

After the record it piled up for you John, I'm not going to have any excuses... Dang!

I was spotting for my hunting pard last year when we spotted a heard of cows at 200yds. One well placed 260NAB from his H&H and it was lights out for the lead cow. I've not ever heard a "whack" that that one and I'll not soon forget it. Bullet penetrated about 2ft of elk and was found under offside hide. Looked just like your pic GuyM. Great elk/moose/bear bullet.


Brett

Guy,

I did miss one impala at about 150 yards with the iron sights. I made a good belly-crawl through 2-foot grass to get within range, but just as I was about to shoot a couple of giraffes spotted me and the impala got nervous. I hurried my shot, which went right under the biggest ram!

Not the rifle's fault, though.

I'm hoping that you managed to shoot all the misses out of this rifle! Looks like it will be on a bear hunt with me in a few weeks. Poor bear...

These two Nosler ABs landed in a small Canadian moose last fall, fired from a 375/338 CT.

Interesting. Looks like the AB provides excellent expansion, but maybe not as much penetration as some of the heavy-duty .375 bullets... Might be very good for my purposes...

What the heck is a 375/338 CT ?

Well it is a bonded core bullet and bonded core bullets work..

As to hunting buffalo with them I am sure they will work under ideal conditions as even a 30-06 or 7x57 will work on most broadside shots, but the 260 gr. bullets are NOT heavy enough for clean up work, or for taking the rear end shots that are normally necessary as the bull departs or for head on shots into a charging buff or even frontal shots into the chest where the .375 H&H tends to fail, that is the calibers only downside IMO and I have seen it happen on more than a few ocassions, so I won't take that frontal shot without the use of a solid, or perhaps a 350 gr. Woodleigh. That you can take to the bank with you.

AKA .... 375 Chatfield-Taylor.

It's a 338WinMag necked up to 375cal. Same as a 375H&H, but a shorter case.
.

Ray - thanks - an African trip is well down the road. But... I might get to try this thing on black bear in a few weeks!

SuperCub - thanks, figured it was something like that! Looks like a great cartridge!

Should I expect similar performance with a 9.3 cal. 250gr AB at 2700fps?