**Dec.7 elk added** - Field report on 7mm RM + 168gr LRAB + Mule Deer

1899

1899

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I figure some of you may be interested in how the 168gr Long Range Accubond performs on game so I took some pictures of a Mule Deer buck that I shot the other day. Estimated live weight was 275 lbs.

The load is quite mild - 65.0gr of IMR 7828 giving 2800 fps over a 35P.

The deer was just over 300 yards - I don't know the exact distance as it was between two spots I had ranged earlier (250 yards and 335 yards, but it was quite close to the 335 yard spot).

It was a broadside shot and he made it to the brush, which was about 25 yards and then about 15 to 20 yards in. I noted the spot where he entered the brush and I found a fair amount of blood. It wasn't gushing but it wasn't just specks either. It would have been easy to track. Especially since I had my Airedale with me. :)

At any rate, the bullet entered behind the shoulder right about the middle of the chest. It entered between ribs and exited between ribs too.

There was lots of blood inside the body cavity. Here is a picture of the lungs. Note the specks of bruising to the right of the main wound and the bottom right on the picture - more on that later.

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While cleaning the heart I noticed a bruise in the fat near the top edge of the heart. It was about the size of my thumb.I cut the fat away and saw a small hole, similar to what you would expect from a shotgun pellet. I cut further and found a shard of lead. One can imagine that the blood shot areas on the lung were from other shards of lead.

Here is a picture of the entrance wound with a 7mm RM empty for scale.
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With the layer of fat peeled away. Note that there really isn't too much bloodshot meat:
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Exit wound:
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Exit wound on inside - note that is a bloob of congealed blood - I just hadn't cleaned it off when I took the picture.
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Here is the rib cage from the inside on the entrance side.
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Now, I had mentioned how there was little bloodshot meat. Upon breaking the carcass down I found significant bloodshot layers. This will all clear up with a bit of cleaning and soaking as it is in the layers between the meat.

Inside of shoulder - entire area had bloodshot layers...
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Entrance wound is just to the right of the big blob of fat about 3/4 of the way to the top of the picture. Note bloodshot area over entire area where shoulder was...
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Exit side was pretty much the same.
 
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Great post!!! Thanks for the info and review. Gives way more details then the standard response "I use a ___ calibre and had bang-and-flop every time." Every shot, animal, hunt, shot placement will inheritably present different circumstance and results, so nothing is cast in stone but if you can put enough of these style posts together you can start to draw some "general" conclusions.
 
I shot a white tail this past weekend. He was a healthy young buck, probably 3 years old. He had lots of fat, but was not very large at an estimated 200 lbs live weight. The distance was about 40 yards. As an aside, it was quite comical how close he was because I was watching an area that had some deer out at 300 yards when all of the sudden this buck bursts out of the bush at close range.

At any rate, the shot was quarterng away. At the shot he took off and disappeared into the brush. We waited a bit before following up. There were quite a few tracks in the snow, but my friend and little boy were able to sort things out. There was no blood to be found for at least 30 yards, and this caused some concern. After that there was only a few hairs and tiny specs of blood.

After about 60 yards they found the buck, but even where he lay was virtually devoid of any significant amount of blood.

I put the bullet fairly far back into the chest, centered height-wise. The entry wound was very small, right about caliber sized. The bullet hit a rib on entry, pretty much dead on. It crossed through the lungs and made a nice wound channel. The angle of the shot was such that the bullet passed in front of the off side shoulder, but within the muscle of the off-side shoulder. We found the bullet lodged about 1/8" - 1/4" deep in the muscle of the off side shoulder. There was lots of blood in the chest cavity.

It is pretty clear now why there was no blood trail to follow: a tiny entrance wound with no exit. It would have been a bit of a chore to find the deer has there been no snow on the ground. Mind you it only went about 60 yards so we would have certainly found it in any event.

This is how we found him...a nice young 5x4..
whitetail_zps5e72c173.jpg


Entry wound - notice large bloodshot area and small entry wound in the middle of the black circle:
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Entry wound on hide:
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lungs:
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The bullet is under the bump by the tip of the knife - that gives you an idea of the angle:
bulletlocation_zpsce713689.jpg


Here are some pictures of the recovered bullet beside a new 168gr LRAB for comparison. The recovered bullet weighs 83.6gr, so just a hair under 50% weight retention.

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I also shot a small black bear with the same combo, but did the gutless method so I can't say what kind of damage the bullet did. That shot was from around 125 yards and broadside. There was pass through on the behind the shoulder shot and the bear left a good blood trail. He didn't make it far, maybe 25 yards or so.

So I am happy with the performance so far, but I think something a bit more stout would be useful on heavier game at closer ranges. I know that 3 animals don't make for a huge sample size, but this last white tail led me to believe that the good old Partition - in 175gr - is probably ideal for me as a "one bullets does all" type load. Looking at the overall penetration from this white tail makes me hesitant on taking this bullet on next year's moose hunt. I want to be confident in making that hard 1/4-ing to or away shot on a big bull.

However, for deer and sheep sized game this bullet seems to work quite well.
 
Those pictures are pretty much the same results I have had with the 7mm mag, lots of blood shot meat to deal with even on decent size moose. I have used partitions, accubonds and various other factory loaded ammo all with similar results.

Since I started carrying a 308 almost exclusively for all game, meat loss due to being bloodshot is far less and the animals still drop just as easy as with the magnum.
 
Brian46 said:
Those pictures are pretty much the same results I have had with the 7mm mag, lots of blood shot meat to deal with even on decent size moose. I have used partitions, accubonds and various other factory loaded ammo all with similar results.

Since I started carrying a 308 almost exclusively for all game, meat loss due to being bloodshot is far less and the animals still drop just as easy as with the magnum.
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I have not seen any difference between similar bullets at similar velocity when going from one chambering to another. I have found the 175gr Partition to be amongst the best so far. I think I will go back to using that bullet. I also may try out Hornady's GMX, but I am not sure. The more I try other bullets the more I appreciate Partitions.

dthunter said:
The long range Accubonds are lead tipped!? Is that bullet just a grey polycabonate tip?
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It is a grey polycarbonate tip.
 
Well the 4th animal went down to the 7mm RM + 168gr LRAB yesterday. It was a nice cow elk on a late season draw. She was a dry cow but still pretty good sized at an estimated +500 lbs live weight. Unfortunately this time I do not have any pictures. The shot was from about 150 - 175 yards (did not range). It was a pretty much broadside shot as she was trotting along the brush line.

At the shot she veered into the brushline and piled up within about 40 yards. There was not a single drop of blood in the snow. The bullet hit right behind the shoulder, pretty much centered height-wise. The entry hole was small and the bullet did contact the muscle above the elbow, behind the scapula. The bullet did not exit.

The bullet opend up so violently within that small path through the muscle that it broke two ribs on the way into the chest cavity. The diameter of the entry into the chest cavity was about 3" - 4". The bullet, or I suspect parts of the bullet, hit above the heart and through the lungs. No part of the bullet made it to the off side of the rib cage, and in fact the off-side was completely unscathed.

Overall I am a little disapointed in the 168gr LRAB on larger game. After the initial mule deer I was pleased, but in hind sight the reason for the elongated wound on that deer was probably due to the bullet starting to come apart.

Since I like hunting with one bullet/load, I am going to stop using the 168gr LRAB. I am comfortable with it on deer and sheep sized game, but I cannot imagine taking a bad angle shot on a large bull moose or elk. I was hoping the LRAB would be a better balance, but it seems there still is no one size fits all bullet out there. For my type of hunting the Partition still seems to be the best bet, although I am not opposed to trying Barnes' LRX in either 145gr or 168gr.
 
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Thanks 1899!!

I may just refrain from using that LRNAB bullet after these types of reports.

I too, am a stalwart Partition user, and all others are compared to that bullet.

In over 40 years, I have never had a "glitch" when using Partitions, and that
would encompass over 100 head of game taken with them.

Regards, Dave
 
I've got far, far less experience shooting game than many on here and other forums, but I believe I see a distinct trend in the threads and user reports I've seen.

There seems to be a desire among some hunters to chase the bleeding-edge long-range ballistics enjoyed by target shooters. That's understandable; after all, who doesn't want the best performance available?

I think the question becomes one of exactly what type of performance are you after? Is it about hunting, or shooting?

I've seen enough anecdotal evidence to convince me that the currently available crop of "long-range hunting bullets" are so limited in their versatility, that they're not at all appealing as a hunting bullet for me. I can't imagine a scenario where I would be faced with shooting opportunities ONLY out at the ranges where these types of bullets seem to perform acceptably.

When the mathematics of ballistics are so well known that they're available on your smartphone, and optics available are generally so well-made as to ensure confidence in adjustment and resolution for longer-range shots, what is the point of using a bullet which has such a narrow margin of ballistic advantage over its more conventional brethren, at the expense of the wide margin of versatility offered by the same competition?

It seems largely self-defeating to me, and I'll stick with GameKings, Partitions and Triple-Shocks for my bullets.
 
Even my 162g sst made it to the far shoulder of a 6+6 bull elk at 30 yards. But then again that bullet is more of an all rounder not designed to open up down at 1300 fps. The 175g LRAB bullet may have done better for you.

I guess you can't have it all quite yet. I would not be surprised to see Nosler change the bullet a little
 
I have found that the regular AB performs admirably... On medium game... I am not enticed to try the LRAB... On game it will be IB, GMX, TTSX, AB or Part for me... They have been reliable performers... This was a very good report, thank you for taking the time to post as thoroughly as you did.
 
Great job sharing your experiences with us. It is extra work to be stopping and taking careful photos of things as you go, and we appreciate it.

And, even though the LRAB didn't turn out to be exactly what you were hoping for, it seems you won't be going hungry this winter either :)
 
Why are people disappointed when a bullet designed to work at long range doesn't perform perfectly at short-medium range? I have to ask 1899, why did you even try this bullet?
 
sheephunter said:
Why are people disappointed when a bullet designed to work at long range doesn't perform perfectly at short-medium range? I have to ask 1899, why did you even try this bullet?
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Straight from Nosler:
Designed with an optimum performance window ranging from 3,200fps to 1,300fps, the unique tapered jacket geometry and proprietary bonding process of the AccuBond®-LR allow it to expand rapidly for effective energy transfer and significant tissue damage while retaining sufficient weight to ensure deep penetration into the vitals.

The AccuBond® bonding process allows the AccuBond®-LR to perform reliably on game throughout the entire velocity range, eliminating the problem of being “too close” often encountered with other high-B.C. bullets
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The bullet on this elk did not hold together well at all at even ~2500 fps.

I like to shoot at longer distances for fun and to be competent in case I need to make a longer shot. I have NEVER used Berger bullets because I do not want Berger type on game performance. Clearly Nosler marketed the LRAB differently, as can be seen from the above quote. I do not believe the bullet performs as they claim. I didn't measure the depth of penetration, but I guess that it was no more than about 10". That is without hitting a major bone of any sort.
 
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