Testing the 142 LR Accubond

[BryanLitz]

Here are my measurements and test results for the .264 cal 142 grain Nosler LR Accubond.

The performance I measured seems consistent with the BC's you guys are getting from drops.

-Bryan

 

[stomp442]

Awesome thanks for the Info Bryan! Your work has proven to be most helpful thank you for what you do and keep up the good work.

 

[stomp442]

This really makes me question Noslers character as a company. The advertised numbers for these bullets is an outright lie and a slap to the face to any serious hunter or shooter. I have never trusted Noslers BC numbers and I knew from the get-go that the 142 was vastly over estimated but a difference of .147 in BC is just down right false advertising. I think it's high time we as serious long range hunters and shooters hold Nosler and other companies to a higher standard of reporting truthful and realistic numbers.

Bryan, at what velocity would the 142 have to be pushed to even come close to the .719 advertised number Nosler is reporting?

 

[bigd 7378]

Bryan,
I have your book Ballistic Performance of rifle bullets.
Do you have the test results and measurements for the 129 ABLR?
I Just printed out the 142 ABLR to keep with the book.
Do you see another edition coming out?
Thanks

 

[BryanLitz]

bigd,

My test results on the 129 and other LRAB's can be seen here: http://www.longrangehunting.com/forums/f19/nosler-lr-accubonds-bc-testing-results-137554/

I didn't have any 142's at the time of that test which is why they weren't included then.

My guess is that Nosler is testing their BC's over 100 yards, at high velocity. This is why their advertised G1 BC's are so much higher than the averages over long range. This is one of the problems with G1 BC's; what's technically correct over 100 yards and high velocity is practically useless over long range. You'll notice that they also advertise G7 BC's for their Long Range Accubonds, which are not nearly as far off from my test results because G7 BC's don't change as much with velocity. If everyone used their G7 BC's, they wouldn't be nearly as far off as they are with the G1's.

Another aspect that Nosler is suffering from is the reality that the longer bullets have faster twist requirements than what many shooters are using so the BC's in some cases are depressed even more thru marginal stability (there's more info on the in the post linked above). Nosler does cite recommended twist rates, but even they are slower than optimal in some cases and they're not shown on the bullet boxes and are difficult to find online.

-Bryan

 

[alf]

Thanks Bryan. I had no doubt on my results, glad to see we jive.

 

[Farmerbrown32]

Awesome! We were spot on alf! Thanks for the info bryan. You are THE MAN.

 

[Wachsmann]

I tried some 142 ABLR out today as well. I only loaded 55.5 grains of retumbo in each one. I was checking seating depth first to see how they shot. Shooting3 shot goups. Nothing to write home about but I think I found something to work around. I started at .050 thousands off the lands and went to .100 thousands off. My best group came in at .090 of the lands. It was right at 1 inch group at 150 yards. So I going to try .085, .90, and .095 but also going to increase powder charge by .5 grains. Also the question I had is...Is anyone using a mag primer in there 6.5x284 to insure a better powder burn with the retumbo. I know its been said the a mag primer will increase speed about 25fps when used with the same powder charge. I think the 55.5 of retumbo is rather mild for this gun. I was running about 2880 fps with the 55.5 grains. Hoping to get above 2900 fps and get a good group. Hoping to get .5moa are better would be great for this rifle, Is a stock savage 116. Usually this rifle has shown pressure early and it been slower than most. So if I can get a good consistant group and 2900+ fps I will be happy. Velocity was measure today with my shooting chrony.

 

[Greyfox]

Wachsmann, I have used and tested both 210's and 215's with with Retumbo in my 6.5x284's. Changing from a 210 to a 215 has the same effect incresing the powder charge about .5grs. or about 25 FPS. I have generally found that 210's tend to give lower ES. I havn't seen any indication that Retumbo with 140 gr bullets does not give a complete burn(fireball) even with 24" barrels using either primer and a stiff 59gr of powder. I believe this view is another Internet Myth and based on conjecture. Im not sure that switching to a hotter primer will solve your problem. While you may get an increase in velocity, you will likely get an increase in pressure also.

 

[Wachsmann]

Thanks for the reply Greyfox. After a little while of thinking this over and doing some more searching I will only be upping the charge weight and not both. To say the least I just really enjoy shooting this cartridge. Low recoil and good accuracy. Hoping to dial in these bullets. Will give me a second load to shoot in the gun. My go to load is the 140 berger. It will also become my wife's elk rifle if we both ever get tags together.

 

[Clark]

I am finishing up building a 6.5-06 A square 8" twist ratchet rifling Dumoulin Mauser action.
I bought 300 of the 142 gr ABLR bullets, but never really believed that 0.719 BC1

Not that I know anything about exterior ballistics, I could just tell by looking at other numbers.
I have been staring at charts of numbers for a long time, and I know when something looks wrong.
Reading this thread confirms my suspicions.

I moly coated and seated 100 rounds at 3.505" OAL with 54 gr H4350.
That puts it 0.13 into the lands.
If I were to be 0.010" off the lands, I would still be 3.365" OAL
I need to get that down to ~ 3.34" OAL to fit in the magazine.

 

[Wachsmann]

So I shot my second group of rounds, 3 shots each at 0.085.....0.090....0.095 off the lands. Each was loaded with 56 grains of retumbo. My 0.085 grouped at 1.5 inches at 210 yards. Nothing special but close to what is expected from this stock savage. I actually think I may have pulled the first shot outside of the group. The other 2 was stacked right next to each other. Whish I had loaded 5 of each. All shots were pretty close to the same height. No vertical stringing but this was only 210 yards. I think i'll try upping the charge now a little more and see if it will hold but if it doesn't then that is ok cause currently the brass and primers are showing no signs of pressure and I'm 80fps over my previous load with a different powder. Gota love the retumbo. gun)

 

[Wachsmann]

So long story short. Hope Nosler is also reading some of these post . 142 ABLR'S weighing them are 141.6 to 142.5 grains range out of 20 bullets I had weighed out. Bergers picking 20 randoms out of my box all hit the mark at 140 grains. I'm tired of wasting good powder on these bullets (ABLR) for below average grouping. There are 2 high fliers due to flys getting in my face/eyes...(Utah desert) they looks for any type of moisture....The bottom right is 3 shots from bergers that had a much large range in velocity spread and I shot at about 30 seconds apart. When testing bullets/powder I generally wait 5 minutes with my bolt open between shots so its more of a stable test. Depending on the groups of shots if a 3 shot work up then I clean using a bore snake every 3 shots or if 5 then every 5 shots and I run it through twice for consistency. The sad thing the bergers were really just loaded to shoot rocks at long ranges for practice using I think 50 or 49 grains of 4831ssc. Not my hunting load that I have for the bergers but it does product almost the same results at 200 yards. My hunting load makes more of a clover instead of a vertical line. I think this was due to the increasing velocity in each one. The ABLR goup had an ES of 20 and a SD of I think 10 or 9. So hope this works... below is a target. Obviously if it isn't broken don't fix it. Keep shooting the bergers.

 

[Short Case]

So long story short. Hope Nosler is also reading some of these post . 142 ABLR'S weighing them are 141.6 to 142.5 grains range out of 20 bullets I had weighed out. Bergers picking 20 randoms out of my box all hit the mark at 140 grains. I'm tired of wasting good powder on these bullets (ABLR) for below average grouping. There are 2 high fliers due to flys getting in my face/eyes...(Utah desert) they looks for any type of moisture....The bottom right is 3 shots from bergers that had a much large range in velocity spread and I shot at about 30 seconds apart. When testing bullets/powder I generally wait 5 minutes with my bolt open between shots so its more of a stable test. Depending on the groups of shots if a 3 shot work up then I clean using a bore snake every 3 shots or if 5 then every 5 shots and I run it through twice for consistency. The sad thing the bergers were really just loaded to shoot rocks at long ranges for practice using I think 50 or 49 grains of 4831ssc. Not my hunting load that I have for the bergers but it does product almost the same results at 200 yards. My hunting load makes more of a clover instead of a vertical line. I think this was due to the increasing velocity in each one. The ABLR goup had an ES of 20 and a SD of I think 10 or 9. So hope this works... below is a target. Obviously if it isn't broken don't fix it. Keep shooting the bergers.

View attachment 51254

After reading this I went and took 10 ABLR 129 and 10 Berger 130 off the top of
the box and this is what I found of my 6.5 bullets

3 @ 129.0, 2 @ 129.1, 4 @ 129.2, 1 @ 129.3, 2 @ 130.0, 5 @ 130.1, 1 @ 130.2, 1 @ 130.3, 1 @ 130.4









I have not bought any of the 142 ABLR yet