Bullet pairing for hunting and practicing in 300WSM

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kdriedger

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Hi all

I'd like to use a good bonded bullet for hunting, but I'd also like to spend more time practicing at the range.

That gets expensive, so I'm looking to find a pairing of bullets that can allow me work up a good load and then improve my shooting at ranges of 300-500yds without breaking the bank. I'd like a cheap one for practice, a good one for hunting, both similar in weight and BC so I can duplicate my load expect similar performance.

Is that a realistic goal or do different bullets simply behave too differently in a given rifle to make this effort worthwhile?

I shoot a 300WSM and was looking at something between 180-200g.

Suggestions?
 
I’m using matched weight Nosler BT hunting and Accubond in my 7mm mag. Same factory specs. Using one load for both and getting identical accuracy and velocity. BTs at the range at 60% of the cost of the Accubonds.
 
The Nosler 180 gr Partition and the Sierra 180gr game king flat base are pretty close in profile. If I have them loaded and get them mixed up I have a hard time telling them apart.
 
I did this exact thing with my 300 wsm. I used 200 gr Sierra HPBT MKs and 200 gr nosler Accubond. The bullet geometries were pretty close, BCs were pretty close.

Using reloader 22 I found a really good load that would routinely print 1.5-2" groups at 300 yards. I shot 5 x5 shot groups of the Sierras, and then marked and measured the shots. I then fired 1 accubond into each of the 5 shot groups and five out five accubonds landed inside the 5 round group. If I hadn't pre marked them they would have been indistinguishable. Chrony confirmed that velos were consistent as well.

I repeated this pairing for my dads 30-06 using IMR 4064 with a similar result. I spoke to one of the ballistic specialists at Sierra about this surprisingly good pairing at shotshow, and he assured me based on differences in jacket thickness, bullet CoG, barrel wear, rifling, barrel material, powder burn rate, barrel length, etc etc etc, that my surprisingly good luck not once, but twice in two different guns was a pure coincidence and there was nothing to it.

I was specifically asking him why companies didn't make bullets that would deliberately lend themselves this kind of process, a cheap target round with the same ballistic properties as a well made hunting round, and his answer astounded me: no one ever asked.

In any event, I later redid the workup for a buddy with 300 WM and IMR 4350, and low and behold, it worked again.

2000 training rounds, 10 confirmation groups and 3 moose later, and the results have been steadily consistent.

To be clear, in all cases I used the exact same case, primer, powder and quantity in both loads, same seating depth (off the ogive, COAL was slightly different). Basically followed the exact same recipe and only substituted the rounds.

Pre hunt I simply zero the rifle with the training rounds before heading into the bush, and fire a single of the hunting rounds into the final group just to give me confidence that the ammo still tracks. My dad does the same. Only once has the hunting round landed outside the 5 shot group. It was 3mm outside of a group measuring 55mm @300M, and we are pretty sure it was wind.

Whatever variances there are between these two rounds, they don't seem to matter much.
 
Nosler Ballistic Tip for the range, Accubond for hunting.

Hornady SST for the range, Interbond for hunting.

Speer Hot-Cor SP for the range, Nosler Partition for hunting.
 
Peecos said:
I’m using matched weight Nosler BT hunting and Accubond in my 7mm mag. Same factory specs. Using one load for both and getting identical accuracy and velocity. BTs at the range at 60% of the cost of the Accubonds.
Click to expand...

Same for me BT & Accubonds
 
Cameron SS said:
I did this exact thing with my 300 wsm. I used 200 gr Sierra HPBT MKs and 200 gr nosler Accubond. The bullet geometries were pretty close, BCs were pretty close.

Using reloader 22 I found a really good load that would routinely print 1.5-2" groups at 300 yards. I shot 5 x5 shot groups of the Sierras, and then marked and measured the shots. I then fired 1 accubond into each of the 5 shot groups and five out five accubonds landed inside the 5 round group. If I hadn't pre marked them they would have been indistinguishable. Chrony confirmed that velos were consistent as well.

I repeated this pairing for my dads 30-06 using IMR 4064 with a similar result. I spoke to one of the ballistic specialists at Sierra about this surprisingly good pairing at shotshow, and he assured me based on differences in jacket thickness, bullet CoG, barrel wear, rifling, barrel material, powder burn rate, barrel length, etc etc etc, that my surprisingly good luck not once, but twice in two different guns was a pure coincidence and there was nothing to it.

I was specifically asking him why companies didn't make bullets that would deliberately lend themselves this kind of process, a cheap target round with the same ballistic properties as a well made hunting round, and his answer astounded me: no one ever asked.

In any event, I later redid the workup for a buddy with 300 WM and IMR 4350, and low and behold, it worked again.

2000 training rounds, 10 confirmation groups and 3 moose later, and the results have been steadily consistent.

To be clear, in all cases I used the exact same case, primer, powder and quantity in both loads, same seating depth (off the ogive, COAL was slightly different). Basically followed the exact same recipe and only substituted the rounds.

Pre hunt I simply zero the rifle with the training rounds before heading into the bush, and fire a single of the hunting rounds into the final group just to give me confidence that the ammo still tracks. My dad does the same. Only once has the hunting round landed outside the 5 shot group. It was 3mm outside of a group measuring 55mm @300M, and we are pretty sure it was wind.

Whatever variances there are between these two rounds, they don't seem to matter much.
Click to expand...

Wow, thanks! That's exactly what I was after!

Did you have to work through any loads that worked for one bullet and not the other? From your description it sounds like it came together pretty easily if the bullet characteristics were similar...
 
kdriedger said:
Wow, thanks! That's exactly what I was after!

Did you have to work through any loads that worked for one bullet and not the other? From your description it sounds like it came together pretty easily if the bullet characteristics were similar...
Click to expand...

I did not discover any loads that worked for one but not the other. I worked up a load for the SMK in the normal way, got it dealed in, and the used that load topped with the nosler and it worked. I was fully prepared to have to accept a large standard deviation but it worked straight away. Same when I worked up for the 30-06 and the 300wm. Once I found the load that worked for the SMK the nosler worked too.

Again, the experts at sierra think this is just lightning striking three times, and there is no way that it should have worked that precisely. Shrugs.
 
Nosler Partitions, Woodleighs and Hornady Interlocks.

Nosler Accubonds and Ballistic Tips.

Those are some easy ones.

I've got several rifles that have many loads that shoot together. That is sort of handy for my cull hunt/bullet test endeavours. Getting those loads isn't so much black magic; just observation while working up loads. Its hard not to notice that some loads shoot to the same point of impact, and at that point you're 95% of the way there. At the relatively short ranges you're talking BC isn't that huge of a deal yet. 180 grain 30 cal flat-bases are going to be about .4 and rather ordinary BTs will come in at 'bout .5. Its not much to expect a guy to try that hard.;)

Its fun to play and experiment if money doesn't matter but you've already mentioned that it does. Therefore its fair to point out that it is easy to burn through enough components that finding the good load and using it for everything might end up being cheaper. Another possibility is a scope with reliable adjustments, That plan pays double because it comes with a good scope instead of a torn up area on the backstop.
 
9.3mauser said:
The Nosler 180 gr Partition and the Sierra 180gr game king flat base are pretty close in profile. If I have them loaded and get them mixed up I have a hard time telling them apart.
Click to expand...

You must mean the Pro-Hunter Sierra, the GK is a boattail bullet. I keep my bullet types separate by coloring the primer with a permanent marker. That way I know which are practice, and which are hunting.

Ballistic Tip/Accubond usually are very close. I have a 308 Norma Mag that prefers 200 grain bullets. I use the 200 Speer Hot-Cor for basic work, then move to the 200 Partition.

My 8mm Mag shoots the 220 Hornady Interlock [obsolete now] practically identically to the 220 Swift A-Frame. Makes for economical load development, since the A-frames are $2.00 each. Dave.
 
Dogleg said:
Another possibility is a scope with reliable adjustments, That plan pays double because it comes with a good scope instead of a torn up area on the backstop.
Click to expand...

I have several rifles with the "come-ups-in-clicks" written down on a card in the ammo box to switch the POI from the practice bullets to the hunting bullets... those loads were not quite close enough for my liking, and it was cheaper and quicker to move the scope than to tweak the loads.
 
hoytcanon said:
I have several rifles with the "come-ups-in-clicks" written down on a card in the ammo box to switch the POI from the practice bullets to the hunting bullets... those loads were not quite close enough for my liking, and it was cheaper and quicker to move the scope than to tweak the loads.
Click to expand...

Sure, and set the dial markers for the main load so you don't double down on the corrections.;)
 
180gr Accubonds, and 180gr Ballistic tips. IMR 4350 near max book loads. About 1 gr below max if I recall perfectly.

Same powder charge, same seating depth,

Gave me the same POI out to 300 meters (as far as I tested), and almost exactly the same velocity (I think it was off by 30fps or so) in my Winchester Mod 70 in 300WSM. I used to load up 35 BTs and 15 ABs in each box of 50. Use the white tips for hunting, and the green tips for practice...too easy...

At the time, Nosler advertised the BTs as a light game and cheaper practice round for the ABs.
 
friend of mine uses 200gr AB and 200gr ELDx in his 300WSM. In his rifle, point of impact is basically the same inside 500y
 
As others stated, I do same. For my 300 wsm I use 165 gr normal not LR accubonds and "cheap" Hornady interlocks. Same powder, primer and load and they shoot to same POI. Use the Hornady's as practice then hunt with accubonds, do a verifying group with accubonds before a hunt. All is the same in my 300WM with the same bullets in 180-200.

MJB
 
Just want to point out something that may be missed in this discussion... variances in POI may not always show up in a significant way when tested at 100 yards only. Some bullets that shoot to the same basic POI at 100, may well open up at 200 and be significantly divergent at 300 and 400. Before making assumptions about your long range POI with your hunting bullets take the time to test them at all the ranges that you are anticipating shooting game.
 
ahlsy said:
180gr Accubonds, and 180gr Ballistic tips. IMR 4350 near max book loads. About 1 gr below max if I recall perfectly.

Same powder charge, same seating depth,

Gave me the same POI out to 300 meters (as far as I tested), and almost exactly the same velocity (I think it was off by 30fps or so) in my Winchester Mod 70 in 300WSM. I used to load up 35 BTs and 15 ABs in each box of 50. Use the white tips for hunting, and the green tips for practice...too easy...

At the time, Nosler advertised the BTs as a light game and cheaper practice round for the ABs.
Click to expand...

i d like to know what are the real differences between the accubond and ballistic tip ...at least in the .366 or 9.3s there is none ...
 
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