Ballistic tip or nosler accubond ?

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elterrible

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Which would be the better hunting bullet for mule deer ? in a 25 06 i want to choose between one of these two loads 115 grain ballistic silver tip or the 110 nosler accubond.i never used either just the ballistic tips in a varmint calibre for coyotes .
 
Between the two, I would go with the accubond if you can find them. Good hunting bullets in .257 cal. have been hard to find lately.
 
I save the accubonds for the bigger animals.
Have not found them to expand well on deer sized game unless they hit bone... Then they do open up and cut a pretty massive wound... Which meant in my case, pretty massive meat loss.
The silvertip should expand well on deer sized game as it still contains a lead alloy core designed for rapid expansion. I try and use nosler partitions and find they work very reliably and don't destroy meat like the accubond. (For deer)

Would be interested in other folks opinion as well. Calibers I've used it on deer with are .308 and 7mm rem mag.
 
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Either should be good obviously shot placement is key. I'd see what your gun likes and go from there. I've had very nice groups with Accubonds in other calibers and wouldn't hesitate to use those in a heartbeat. I've also had similar patterns with Barnes TSX/TTSX bullets. If Accubonds aren't available in your area Barnes may be an alternative?
 
I've had excellent results with the accubond not so with the ballistic tips. They tend to blow up if they hit bone.
 
Okay thanks everyone theres two choices i have accubonds and ballistic silvertip and the winchester positive expanding point. Wasnt sure how ballisticsilver tip would do i dont like destroying meat i know they blow up coyotes in my 22 250 55 grains
 
We killed a few truckloads (literally) of mulies and whitetail with 100grain ballistic tips out of 257 weatherbys. Nothing came back to life. With slightly heavier and a bit sturdier NBTs and Accubonds at slightly lower velocities I doubt you'll have trouble killing deer. Wrecking meat is a whole different issue, because these bullets are rather spectacularly violent. Best way to not wreck meat is to not shoot them in the meat.
 
Dogleg said:
We killed a few truckloads (literally) of mulies and whitetail with 100grain ballistic tips out of 257 weatherbys. Nothing came back to life. With slightly heavier and a bit sturdier NBTs and Accubonds at slightly lower velocities I doubt you'll have trouble killing deer. Wrecking meat is a whole different issue, because these bullets are rather spectacularly violent. Best way to not wreck meat is to not shoot them in the meat.
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I have also killed a few truck loads of mulies, by myself over the years. He is right, does not matter what bullet it is, it's all about shot placement! Since that is the case, any one of those bullets will work. :eek:)
 
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I have shot about a half-dozen mule deer using the 110 Accubond out of my 250 Savage at ranges from 100 - 200 yards. All expanded well and all deer dropped within a few feet of where they were shot. I am sure that shot out of a 25-06 performance will be excellent.

We have also shot a few deer using the 115 grain Ballistic Tip using the .25 wssm (performance equal to the 26-06) and again all the deer died quickly.

I am sure that whichever of the 2 you select the deer will die if you shot them through the lungs. ;)

To muddy the waters further consider the 100 Grain Swift Scirocco. My daughter has taken a couple mulies using this bullet in the .25wssm and performance was phenomenal.
 
Have not had a whitetail walk away from a Ballistic tip yet out to 250yds in my 243. Yes they do get messy if they hit hard but through the slats have not seen one go more than 10 ft and not a single critter required more than one shot. I shoot the 70 grain varmit BT in this gun as well with similar results on coyotes
 
Dogleg said:
We killed a few truckloads (literally) of mulies and whitetail with 100grain ballistic tips out of 257 weatherbys. Nothing came back to life. With slightly heavier and a bit sturdier NBTs and Accubonds at slightly lower velocities I doubt you'll have trouble killing deer. Wrecking meat is a whole different issue, because these bullets are rather spectacularly violent. Best way to not wreck meat is to not shoot them in the meat.
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I would agree, but you have to train yourself to tuck the bullet well back of the shoulder crease. I've spent so many years using that shoulder crease as a nesting spot for the vertical crosswire that I find it almost subconscious to break the shot there. That doesn't work well with the BT. I've never used an Accubond but they should be more forgiving of my style of shot placement.

Maybe I should learn to leave a bit of daylight behind the shoulder. Then I could shoot whatever the hell I wanted.
 
BigUglyMan said:
I would agree, but you have to train yourself to tuck the bullet well back of the shoulder crease. I've spent so many years using that shoulder crease as a nesting spot for the vertical crosswire that I find it almost subconscious to break the shot there. That doesn't work well with the BT. I've never used an Accubond but they should be more forgiving of my style of shot placement.

Maybe I should learn to leave a bit of daylight behind the shoulder. Then I could shoot whatever the hell I wanted.
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In the majority of cases I shoot animals through the shoulder, and don't care about meat loss. I only mention the tendency of the NBT to make a mess because it seems to be a concern of the OP. I've found that the Accubond makes a similar wound channel, it just usually exits. I'll put the disclaimer in here that my Accubond experience is with 7mm and 30 caliber bullets.
 
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I think if I was going to use a hot loaded .25/06 or .257 Weatherby for deer or caribou I'd prefer the AB, and if shooting a .250 Savage or a .257 Bob, I'd prefer the BT. If I was moose hunting, with either class of cartridge, I'd choose the AB. If I was wolf hunting with either class of cartridge I'd choose the BT. To the extent possible, match the bullet to the weight of the game, and to the impact velocity you anticipate. The larger your game, the more penetration is an advantage, the tougher the bullet, the deeper the penetration you can expect. The higher the velocity, the more violent the terminal performance of the bullet, which in turn is modified by the design and construction of that bullet. The year I got my .375 Ultra, I got creative and loaded some medium game ammo, and I still have a few. In those days Nosler made a .375/260 gr BT, and I loaded them to a modest 2600 fps. For the purpose I had in mind, the BT was a good bullet, and the modest velocity provided a flat (enough) trajectory, whereas today I'd have to load an AB to full velocity to get similar bullet performance, but the level of power would be out of balance with the size of the game the BT load was intended for.
 
elterrible said:
Which would be the better hunting bullet for mule deer ? in a 25 06 i want to choose between one of these two loads 115 grain ballistic silver tip or the 110 nosler accubond.i never used either just the ballistic tips in a varmint calibre for coyotes .
Click to expand...
Either bullet is great for deer. Personally I've only used the 100 gr. ballistic tip out of the 257 Weatherby with bang flop results.......major soft tissue damage!
 
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