200 Nosler Accubond vs. a cow elk

[D.Camilleri]

I have had several experiences this year also with accubonds.
1) 400 yard shot on antelope buck, quartering towards me, entrance at point of shoulder, blew such a big hole in hide that cape was trashed, bullet recovered off side hide by ham, DRT bullet weighed 110 grns, this was 180 grn launched @ 3300 from 300 rum

2) 275 yard shot (dad) 200 gr accubond @ 2980 from 338 win mag, bullet hit a little farther back than wanted, but DRT none the less. Recovered bullet in off side shoulder (not quite sure how it ended up there, weird angle) beautiful mushroom about 3/4 inch in diameter, have had a chance to weigh, but I will guess about 80%

3) 300 yard shot, whitetail doe facing straight on, 338 RUM 225 accubond @ 3300, DRT hoping to recover a bullet, didn't happen, wound channel blew out 8 inches of hide on top of back, and bullet exited with a 40 cal hole 12 inches further back.

4) 300 yard whitetail yearling buck, DRT five inch hole in center of back, 338 RUM, 225

5) 125 yard shot whitetail buck, facing straight on, DRT shot through neck, another ruined cape on exit side

6) 125 yard running shot 5 point bull elk, broken back, fist size exit, second hit through neck, down for the count.

The only bullet that gave me questionable results, were the 180's out of my 300 RUM as it appeared that the frontal portion of the bullet exploded on impact, yet the rear half looked good.

 

[Buffalobob]

This is a very old thread!!!!!!!

As I remember the situation, Nosler acknowledged at that time that they had some problems with the bonding on a couple of lots of bullets and subsequently fixed it. Several people had the same problem around that time. Nosler replaced every bodies bullets that complained to them IIRC.

 

[D.Camilleri]

In all honesty, I didn't look at the date on this thread, but I have seen others recently posting of problems with accubonds this year.

 

[limapapa]

This is an old thread, but recent experience shows the problem still exists. I have killed about a dozen elk, bulls and cows, over the past 20 years, all but two with Nosler Partitions. One with a 7 Mag, , five with a .338, and 4 with a .300 Win Mag. Every Partition, regardless of range, caliber, or weight has penetrated fully and either was not recovered, leaving a quarter sized exit wound, or recovered under the offside hide, and weighed 58% of initial wt. No kidding, 58% each and every time, every bullet.

This year I dropped a cow broadside at 220 yds with a 200 gr AB in my .300 WinMag, chrono'd at 3000mv+-. The shot went through the right tricep muscle (or the elk equivalent), missing the front leg bone and the blade, and blew a 3" diameter hole through the ribcage, with a corresponding 3" hemispherical wound cavity back through the tricep muscle. It went on to blow the top of the heart off, and a small piece of the bullet exited out the left brisket , leaving a tiny exit hole and two drops of blood. When it blew up on the rib, it created a baseball sized round crater in bone and meat, including backwards through the muscle it had just passed through. Very surprizing to me.

A Partition would have punched a quarter sized wound through the rib, through the heart, and probably come to rest in the offside shoulder in one piece or exited in one piece. I'm not sure I like this "blowing up" on small bones such as an elk rib, although it did continue through to the heart. I suppose I can't complain, but I'm very tempted to go back to the 200gr Partition just for the certainty of complete penetration. The .300 Win Mag is now my "go to" elk rifle and will be so for the foreseeable future. Thoughts or comments on this bullet's performance?

 

[elkaholic]

This is an old thread, but recent experience shows the problem still exists. I have killed about a dozen elk, bulls and cows, over the past 20 years, all but two with Nosler Partitions. One with a 7 Mag, , five with a .338, and 4 with a .300 Win Mag. Every Partition, regardless of range, caliber, or weight has penetrated fully and either was not recovered, leaving a quarter sized exit wound, or recovered under the offside hide, and weighed 58% of initial wt. No kidding, 58% each and every time, every bullet.

This year I dropped a cow broadside at 220 yds with a 200 gr AB in my .300 WinMag, chrono'd at 3000mv+-. The shot went through the right tricep muscle (or the elk equivalent), missing the front leg bone and the blade, and blew a 3" diameter hole through the ribcage, with a corresponding 3" hemispherical wound cavity back through the tricep muscle. It went on to blow the top of the heart off, and a small piece of the bullet exited out the left brisket , leaving a tiny exit hole and two drops of blood. When it blew up on the rib, it created a baseball sized round crater in bone and meat, including backwards through the muscle it had just passed through. Very surprizing to me.

A Partition would have punched a quarter sized wound through the rib, through the heart, and probably come to rest in the offside shoulder in one piece or exited in one piece. I'm not sure I like this "blowing up" on small bones such as an elk rib, although it did continue through to the heart. I suppose I can't complain, but I'm very tempted to go back to the 200gr Partition just for the certainty of complete penetration. The .300 Win Mag is now my "go to" elk rifle and will be so for the foreseeable future. Thoughts or comments on this bullet's performance?

I have killed close to 25 bulls over the years with a 6.5 most of which were shot with a 140 nosler partition. The reason you get 58% "everytime" is that the front lead core weighs 42% of the total bullet weight. The front expands and fragments at "most" hunting velocities and comes completly free of the back section leaving the jacket peeled back to near the base with the rear section intact. My experience is identical with yours! The bullet will either exit with a quarter sized hole or be lying under the hide. They do a good amount of tissue damage with the fragmentation/ or expansion, of the front core and then drive on through leaving a nice long wound channel. IMO, the partition is still one of the best, and definitely most consistent, of any bullet made. The only reason it isn't used as much today is the fact that there are SOOOOO many other options, and also, hunters get hung up on the highest b.c. even though 90 some % of all game is killed under 400 or 500 hundred yards....Rich