Disappointing Accubond performance?

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prosper

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I've never used accubonds myself before, but I did help my brother work up a ~3100fps load for his 300, using 180 grain accubonds. Yesterday, he shot an average sized buck. It was a slightly quartering shot, 3 rounds entered the front shoulder area all within a 3" circle of each other; shot placement was just about perfect. 2 went through ribs, into the heart, lungs and liver, but did not exit. One seems to have hot bone and deflected, turning the front shoulder to jelly, but not penetrating into the chest cavity. This was at about 60 yards.

Maybe my expectations are off, but a 300 magnum shooting 180 accubonds really ought to be a moose load (which it was developed to be), and have no problems whatsoever passing completely through a white tail from any angle. But after seeing 2 rounds fail to penetrate even the squishiest part of a white tail, and another one fail to make it though bone and joint - I'm now re-thinking the Accubond's credentials as a serious 'premium' bullet. Maybe I'll have to revert back to the tried and true Partition, or TSX.
 
I have had several 165 Accubonds out of my 300 WSM "pancake" on deer, bear, and cougar without exiting. With that said everything I have shot with them has dropped within 50 yards of being shot.

Nosler claims they are designed for 60% -65% weight retention same as the Partitions.
 
This is what caused the pancaking 3100fps and impact @ 60yds. I'm not sure you would have seen any better performance with a traditional lead bullet.

IMHO I want the bullets to leave all their energy in side the deer not a pass threw but that's just me.
 
I tried the accubonds a few years ago. I found that some of the bullets (160gr) would fragment upon hitting deer. I expected penetration, not shrapnel. Even though I considered these as failures, I did not lose any animals.

I have since switched to TTSX and love them.
 
I'm of the 'two holes are better than one' school of thought. I'm trying some 139 grain Hornady GMX at about 3200 fps in my own gun 7mm magnum this season; so far, I haven't shot anything
 
I think folks need to realize that the amount spent on a bullet has absolutely no diff. effect on game, bullet placement trumps all this hyperbole. Bullets have been performing well on properly hit game for over 100years, sabre-tips, bronze points, whatever the flavor of the day is.
 
Not true, I've seen side by side comparisons of TSXs and traditional lead core SP's while culling in Africa, two shooters shooting many head of identical game. On equal shots, the TSX hit animals generally died notably quicker, and the blood trail was always much greater as every bullet would penetrate in and out. Energy doesn't kill animals, stopping the supply of oxygen to the brain does. That can happen through destroying the lungs, heart, or bleeding the animal out through a hit to a major artery or organ. The exit hole bleeds more than the entrance with any bullet, and I see an exit as highly desirable, especially on tough big game that can go a distance after a good hit before balling up. There is the rarer nervous system hit too (spine, brain), and if you make one of those non-choice shots even then the TSX has an advantage as it penetrates bone better.

In Africa, you'll see a content smile from any PH in the truck after picking you up when he asks you what bullet you've loaded, and reply "Barnes.". Swift A-Frames, and to a lesser but still admirable extent the Partition, are also viewed highly and I've been impressed. Barnes has an edge in my eyes however, even if for no more reason than blood trail. A lot of places I hunt even a 50 yard run before balling up and dying can make for a lot of searching if there's a weak bloodtrail of pin pricks of blood as I've experienced with lead core SPs.
 
ben hunchak said:
I think folks need to realize that the amount spent on a bullet has absolutely no diff. effect on game, bullet placement trumps all this hyperbole. Bullets have been performing well on properly hit game for over 100years, sabre-tips, bronze points, whatever the flavor of the day is.
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listen to this man. He knows what he is talking about.
 
Ardent said:
Not true, I've seen side by side comparisons of TSXs and traditional lead core SP's while culling in Africa, two shooters shooting many head of identical game. On equal shots, the TSX hit animals generally died notably quicker, and the blood trail was always much greater as every bullet would penetrate in and out. Energy doesn't kill animals, stopping the supply of oxygen to the brain does. That can happen through destroying the lungs, heart, or bleeding the animal out through a hit to a major artery or organ. The exit hole bleeds more than the entrance with any bullet, and I see an exit as highly desirable, especially on tough big game that can go a distance after a good hit before balling up. There is the rarer nervous system hit too (spine, brain), and if you make one of those non-choice shots even then the TSX has an advantage as it penetrates bone better.

In Africa, you'll see a content smile from any PH in the truck after picking you up when he asks you what bullet you've loaded, and reply "Barnes.". Swift A-Frames, and to a lesser but still admirable extent the Partition, are also viewed highly and I've been impressed. Barnes has an edge in my eyes however, even if for no more reason than blood trail. A lot of places I hunt even a 50 yard run before balling up and dying can make for a lot of searching if there's a weak bloodtrail of pin pricks of blood as I've experienced with lead core SPs.
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Have to agree with Ardent on this!! I have taken game with the Accubond, and it has worked well, but it is not a Partition, A-Frame or Barnes TSX/TTSX.
I like a blood trail that can be seen.
Over about 50 years, I have shot a lot of game, and I don't mind saying that I have become somewhat opinionated over this time period.
About 20% of the Partitions I have shot have been recovered, the rest made exit.
I am now using the 180 TTSX in one of my 308 Norma Mags, and shot a couple of moose with them....both have been passthroughs, and neither moose went 20feet after being hit.
I do load the Accubond in my other Norma Mag, but the 200 grainer, because it shoots so well.
It has only one head of game to it's credit, a cow elk, but it,too, was a passthrough.
If I could get the TTSX to shoot in this rifle, I would switch over, but so far, no success.
Regards, Eagleye.
 
hmm seems like your driving them a little fast and it seems everyone handloading is doing the same today me depending on what im hunting i like about the mid point as i hate biting into a chunk of lead that has fragmented from the bullet

you dont need to drive them that fast even for moose my moose gun is my martini henry mk iv witch is a BPCR only driving the .470", 480gr cast bullet at about 1350 fps but it has enough stopping power for most african plains game and anything in north america

my deer gun is a my lee enfield no 4 mk 1 with a cast soft nose 220gr flat point bullet (base is linotype and nose is pure lead) witch is enough for most any game in north america

i seen a deer hit by a fmj in the hart and it droped where it stood its not rocket science

id drop the fps a bit maybe it will punch through a little better
 
Don't know about Africa so much, I just hunt and shoot in a very small patch of saskatchewan, but when I test bullets as well as on game the pure copper bullets tend to over penetrate leaving animals to wander around wondering what happened. This only works well when the bullet is very wide and flat to begin with and little or no expansion occurs. For me, the key is a good hit in the vitals and plenty of expansion, though not so much as to inhibit penetration. If the animal is much thicker then our deer, moose, or bear, results with the overhyped (read:well advertised copper) bullets may be better. My first experience with this was when I fired some X-bullets into a barrel of frozen meat and bones that I test bullets with before I bait my bears. Some bullets expanded a bit, some bent, and some didn't expand at all, the ones that didn't expand penetrated the most. I got the bullets for free, thankfully I didn't spend money on them.
 
camerl2009 said:
hmm seems like your driving them a little fast and it seems everyone handloading is doing the same today me depending on what im hunting i like about the mid point as i hate biting into a chunk of lead that has fragmented from the bullet

you dont need to drive them that fast even for moose my moose gun is my martini henry mk iv witch is a BPCR only driving the .470", 480gr cast bullet at about 1350 fps but it has enough stopping power for most african plains game and anything in north america

my deer gun is a my lee enfield no 4 mk 1 with a cast soft nose 220gr flat point bullet (base is linotype and nose is pure lead) witch is enough for most any game in north america

i seen a deer hit by a fmj in the hart and it droped where it stood its not rocket science

id drop the fps a bit maybe it will punch through a little better
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400-yard opportunities are common around here. Last weekend, I lasered a big buck at 1200 yards. Perfect conditions, too if I were inclined to take such a shot. But he was gone by the time I was able to close to a more reasonable distance.

Speed does matter
 
I think it depends alot on the type of terrain you choose to hunt, but getting back to the OP, I think that the Accubond has great potential, and am surprised that the user was not impressed.
 
prosper said:
400-yard opportunities are common around here. Last weekend, I lasered a big buck at 1200 yards. Perfect conditions, too if I were inclined to take such a shot. But he was gone by the time I was able to close to a more reasonable distance.

Speed does matter
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me if i cant get 100-200 yards away with a rifle i dont take the shot but thats just me
 
I may not have the expierence of some on here, but I find the accubonds work well. I've shot a few deer with 150 trainers from a 30-06. Haven't recovered any bullets or fragments yet (most shots range from 100-200 yards) They seem to shatter shoulders with ease and continue on there way. I've also taken a moose with 150 accubonds at about 275ish yards. It wasn't a great shot but it blew through the knee on the back leg leg and through the front one an the bullet was recovered from the far aide just under the hide.

Don't worry, we got the moose, and man was it tasty!

I also shot a buck a few days ago with a 180 grain ballistic silvertip at about 175 and it was a complete passthrough as well, but then again it didn't hit any big leg or shoulder bones on it's way through.
 
I have been shooting the Winchester 140gr factory loads from my 270WSM this year. I decided to stick with them due to reports of good performance on game, but mostly because of the accuracy through my rifle. I get a .5" group or better every time if I do my part.

So far they have performed well on game. I took a big whitetail buck on opening day. First shot punched both lungs and passed clean through, dropped the buck. He managed to get to his feet and make a couple steps, so I figured I had pulled the shot. I quickly hit him with a second shot, high on the neck. From the internal damage, I probably did not need the second shot as both lungs were destroyed. I retreived the second bullet from the shattered vertebrae. Looked to be retaining about 75% of the original mass.

Took a whitetail doe this past weekend. Folded her on the spot with a heart and lung shredder. She went straight down without a kick. The bullet made a complete pass through and left a baseball sized hole for an exit wound.

So far, I like the Accubonds.
 
ben hunchak said:
Don't know about Africa so much, I just hunt and shoot in a very small patch of saskatchewan, but when I test bullets as well as on game the pure copper bullets tend to over penetrate leaving animals to wander around wondering what happened. This only works well when the bullet is very wide and flat to begin with and little or no expansion occurs. For me, the key is a good hit in the vitals and plenty of expansion, though not so much as to inhibit penetration. If the animal is much thicker then our deer, moose, or bear, results with the overhyped (read:well advertised copper) bullets may be better. My first experience with this was when I fired some X-bullets into a barrel of frozen meat and bones that I test bullets with before I bait my bears. Some bullets expanded a bit, some bent, and some didn't expand at all, the ones that didn't expand penetrated the most. I got the bullets for free, thankfully I didn't spend money on them.
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Odd experience with the TSX, I've had good expansion even on animals as light as warthog, and coyote, and as heavy and thick boned as Cape Buffalo and every size in between. The TSX is the bullet I choose not because of advertising, but because of the results I have had (I shoot a lot of head of big game, around a dozen head for 2010/2011). Also, several friends are PHs in Africa, and they come to the same opinions based purely on results, they don't even see advertisements for Barnes ever. Their first encounters were American hunters bringing over strange blue bullets that worked better than anything they'd seen in the days of the original X bullet.

Since then, watching hundreds upon hundreds of head of big game go down, to all the different bullets out there, every PH I've met has an extremely high opinion of the Barnes TSX (usually ranked #1). Pretty much the best test pool out there for big game bullets, very few others see that kind of volume of game being shot with different bullets. They have to follow up the wounded animals for poor-shooting clients, so their preferences are well founded. Things shot with TSXs, A-Frames, and the Partition (in third place behind the two for me) generally mean easier days for PHs and that's why they like em. Yes, animals die to old-style bullets too, they just die better and more reliably to new mono-copper bullets- especially when you get into the truly tough stuff.
 
prosper said:
I'm of the 'two holes are better than one' school of thought. I'm trying some 139 grain Hornady GMX at about 3200 fps in my own gun 7mm magnum this season; so far, I haven't shot anything
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Did you chronograph them in hunting weather temperature or are you going by what the box says? I just bought a box of superformance 139 gmx and they chronographed ~3070.
 
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