Accubond LR bullets

In 7mm, I had best results out of the 7STW in New Zealand with 168g ABLR. The small sample of 175's (25) were used on Australian deer for testing, both Sambar and Red deer. The 168's performed the best. I didn't have any blow-ups and found the 1300fps bottom limit to be about spot on with both weights. I expected the 175's to penetrate further at 800-1000mtrs, but it was the other way around.
The 30 cal 210's performed the best out of all the 300WM's I owned and the 300RUM.

I really like the ABLR, haves used 7mm, 30 and 33 to date. No complaints from me at all. I will say I never shot anything closer than 400, which I think is the minimum distance.

Cheers.
 
Same thing for me, maybe not 30 years, but as long as I've been shooting and reloading I always bought a lot of Nosler stuff. I have more than 500 bullets for my 325 WSM, both Partitions and AccuBonds so I won't change loads or start looking for something for that rifle anytime soon (good 8mm bullets are really hard to find). Everything else has been getting switched over to Berger or Hornady though. I see ELD-Xs available in almost every weight and caliber that I need so I don't mind. I've had good luck with them in my 6.5 Creedmoor and Grendel too. I'm not on 6mm bullets though and that's a Nosler BT, I'll be looking for something for that rifle too. I just can't see myself actually looking for or developing a Nosler load anymore. I believe availability and price is going to really hurt them in the future.
I was actually just doing some math, it's been almost 40 years. Lol
1985 when I started loading and it was always Nosler and Leupold.
I just bought a 6.5 PRC so I'll probably be working up loads with the ELD-X.
I'm hoping to find some Bergers but not holding my breath.
It's just sad the companies can't keep up with demand.
And I think your right Nosler must not be making bullets anymore.
Even with the new plant and all ?
 
But no fancy cool polymer tip. That's all that holds it back anymore. Sierra did it with the Game King, Nosler should follow suit. Heck, Nosler hasn't made a bullet in 3 years so doubtful that's gonna happen. Seems like Hornady is the only company producing any bullets that hit the ground.
Exactly, i've been waiting on the tipped boattail high BC partition for years. Seemed like a no brainer.
 
And I think your right Nosler must not be making bullets anymore.
Even with the new plant and all ?
That must be why everything has doubled, to pay for the new plant while maintaining a low number of components for the general public. I've seen some of their bullets in factory ammunition and a few boxes here and there but nothing I needed or wanted.
 
Last edited:
That's must be why everything has doubled, to pay for the new plant while maintaining a low number of components for the general public. I've seen some of their bullets in factory ammunition and a few boxes here and there but nothing I needed or wanted.
Same here. It's just too expensive.
They should have stuck with the old plant. Bullets were available when they had that.
 
What's the experiences with the accubond LR bullets on elk? I'm shooting a 7mag. Can't find the 160 accubonds I want to use.
I have shot several deer and 5 elk with both the 175 and 168 ABLR. None have blown up. Perhaps because I have found them to shoot best at lower velocities (below 3,000).
50-600 yards. Both pictures were through a shoulder and in the offside hide.
Didn't lose more then 20 lbs of meat from 5 elk and 3 deer combined

They do like a lot of jump, lower velocity and seem to do better out of slower twist rifles.
 

Attachments

  • 8437FA9D-8F66-463F-BEF9-6CDBAFFE5E5F.jpeg
    8437FA9D-8F66-463F-BEF9-6CDBAFFE5E5F.jpeg
    465.7 KB · Views: 84
  • B687458C-982D-45DF-9853-EE3801BDF47B.jpeg
    B687458C-982D-45DF-9853-EE3801BDF47B.jpeg
    1 MB · Views: 78
They weren't always though. I remember paying $50 (or a little less) for 100 150gr .284 ABLRs, that was one of the things I liked about them. Yes, the Partitions and AccuBonds have always been more expensive bullets, I know that. I've bought 175gr ABLRs for around $60 too. They're now on the Nosler website for around almost $120. Now, I have a lot of 200gr 8mm Nosler bullets, both Partitions and AccuBonds that I paid close to $50 per 50 piece box for. Their prices have doubled, that order I made was 2018, everything on their site has doubled in the last 3 years. View attachment 450709View attachment 450710
I sometimes find NOS items buried in some hunting store, but with anything reloading nowadays nothing's easy to procure.
 
I have used Nosler 175 ABLRs for about 6 years now in a 7mm Rem magnum, from from BOTW in Cody WY. I handload for it, using H1000 (most reloading manuals have load data for this bullet weight/powder type), but starting load development at 65 grains and working up should be safe. Primers were Fed 215M and Brass was Nosler; Muzzle velocities are around 2850-2875 fps, which is a fast, yet safe and not "hot" load. I have also shot 180 Bergers and 180 Hornady EldM bullets, loaded by BOTW. These are also going about 2850 fps. Before the Covid-era primer and powder shortages, BOTW typically used H1000 or Retumbo with these 180 grain bullets. An interesting fact about all three of these bullets: the ballistic data and the point of impacts are near identical so I can use the same custom turret, out to 600-700 yards or so, as long as my 200 yard zero is the same (sometimes I didn't even need to move the scope more than 1 click to rezero between these different bullets). Other powders to consider for these 175-180 bullets in the 7mm Rem mag are N565, IMR7828SC, R25, R26, R33, Magpro and the New Winchester HD powder. Powders like H4831SC, N560, N165, R22 and R23 are a bit fast for these heavy bullets, but will work if needed.

On larger sized game animals, the Nosler 175 ABLR has shown more consistent penetration and weight retention than the 180 Berger or EldMs, but I have not had any issues with any of these bullets failing or exploding I have also shot 168 Bergers and 162 Hornady EldX bullets in my 7mm, but prefer the 175 ABLR, the 180 Berger and 180 EldM as muzzle velocities are under 2900 fps (keeping speeds of target style bullets under 2900-3000 fps is less likely to cause failure on close range shots (especially on 50-150 yard shots)), than the 162 and 168 grain projections, which are around 3000-3050 fps. I did have some penetration issues on close shots (around 100 yds) with these lighter bullets. The largest animal I shot with the 175 ABLR was a WY Shiras moose (approx. 90 yards) and I shot a few Wildebeest and Zebra in Africa, from 100-300 yards. The weight retention and Penetration on these 175 ABLR bullets was better than the other 2 mentioned.

I am also a Fan of Monolithic bullets for the 7mm in the 145 to 155 grain Weight ranges: Cutting Edge Laser or Maximus, Badlands BD2 or SBD2, Hornady CX, Barnes TTSX or LRX are all good options. The Nosler 160 Accubond or Partition would be solid bullets also (they are "tougher" and have thicker jackets than the ABLRs). I have not used any Hammer bullets, but they seem to be popular too. What I like about the 175 ABLR, is it's ability to hit hard at both close and long ranges, due to it's construction and High BC. I have shot a lot of steel and rocks out to 1300 yards, and the accuracy has been excellent too. In talking to other experienced reloaders/shooters, the 180 EldM and Bergesr are generally easier to find an accurate load for, over the 175 ABLR, but I have not had issues with any of the three. My 7mm is not picky though and the guys at BOTW told me my barrel was a natural shooter with almost any type of bullet. The twist on my barrel is only 1:9 which works for 180 grain Lead core and up to 155 grain Monolithic bullets. The 160 Badlands SBD2 and the 168 Barnes LRX will not stabilize in my rifle. These long, monolithic bullets need a 1:8 twist or faster to function correctly. I hope this information is helpful.
 
I have used Nosler 175 ABLRs for about 6 years now in a 7mm Rem magnum, from from BOTW in Cody WY. I handload for it, using H1000 (most reloading manuals have load data for this bullet weight/powder type), but starting load development at 65 grains and working up should be safe. Primers were Fed 215M and Brass was Nosler; Muzzle velocities are around 2850-2875 fps, which is a fast, yet safe and not "hot" load. I have also shot 180 Bergers and 180 Hornady EldM bullets, loaded by BOTW. These are also going about 2850 fps. Before the Covid-era primer and powder shortages, BOTW typically used H1000 or Retumbo with these 180 grain bullets. An interesting fact about all three of these bullets: the ballistic data and the point of impacts are near identical so I can use the same custom turret, out to 600-700 yards or so, as long as my 200 yard zero is the same (sometimes I didn't even need to move the scope more than 1 click to rezero between these different bullets). Other powders to consider for these 175-180 bullets in the 7mm Rem mag are N565, IMR7828SC, R25, R26, R33, Magpro and the New Winchester HD powder. Powders like H4831SC, N560, N165, R22 and R23 are a bit fast for these heavy bullets, but will work if needed.

On larger sized game animals, the Nosler 175 ABLR has shown more consistent penetration and weight retention than the 180 Berger or EldMs, but I have not had any issues with any of these bullets failing or exploding I have also shot 168 Bergers and 162 Hornady EldX bullets in my 7mm, but prefer the 175 ABLR, the 180 Berger and 180 EldM as muzzle velocities are under 2900 fps (keeping speeds of target style bullets under 2900-3000 fps is less likely to cause failure on close range shots (especially on 50-150 yard shots)), than the 162 and 168 grain projections, which are around 3000-3050 fps. I did have some penetration issues on close shots (around 100 yds) with these lighter bullets. The largest animal I shot with the 175 ABLR was a WY Shiras moose (approx. 90 yards) and I shot a few Wildebeest and Zebra in Africa, from 100-300 yards. The weight retention and Penetration on these 175 ABLR bullets was better than the other 2 mentioned.

I am also a Fan of Monolithic bullets for the 7mm in the 145 to 155 grain Weight ranges: Cutting Edge Laser or Maximus, Badlands BD2 or SBD2, Hornady CX, Barnes TTSX or LRX are all good options. The Nosler 160 Accubond or Partition would be solid bullets also (they are "tougher" and have thicker jackets than the ABLRs). I have not used any Hammer bullets, but they seem to be popular too. What I like about the 175 ABLR, is it's ability to hit hard at both close and long ranges, due to it's construction and High BC. I have shot a lot of steel and rocks out to 1300 yards, and the accuracy has been excellent too. In talking to other experienced reloaders/shooters, the 180 EldM and Bergesr are generally easier to find an accurate load for, over the 175 ABLR, but I have not had issues with any of the three. My 7mm is not picky though and the guys at BOTW told me my barrel was a natural shooter with almost any type of bullet. The twist on my barrel is only 1:9 which works for 180 grain Lead core and up to 155 grain Monolithic bullets. The 160 Badlands SBD2 and the 168 Barnes LRX will not stabilize in my rifle. These long, monolithic bullets need a 1:8 twist or faster to function correctly. I hope this information is helpful.
How about Ranshot Magnum?
 
I witnessed a pretty extreme "failure" from a 150 grain ABLR on a small whitetail buck. 7mm-08, ~2750 fps MV, ~400 yards.

Buddy had a fairly extreme "miss", and hit the animal in the neck a few inches in front of the shoulder. It grenaded into a million pieces, failed to penetrate even a foot of deer neck, and none of it exited the offside. The deer was instantly lights out, so the shot was a "success", but the bullet performance was startling, particularly considering it was a relatively low impact velocity (~2150 fps) on a soft target...

Ironically, 30 seconds later, I had the opposite experience with a 200 gr Sierra Game King from a 300 Win Mag. Hit right in the pocket, if a little high, double lung, through and through, which dislocated the on side shoulder, but the stupid thing ran 300 yards on three legs...
I'm confused which of those two scenarios did the bullet fail the one where the deer ran away or the one where it dropped where it stood!!!
 
I agree with cnk. I've had terrible experience with 6.5 129 LRABs just on WV deer. I test all the bullets I can on WV deer since I get lots of crop damage permits. I used a 6.5/.284 XP-100 handgun & killed 15-20 deer with the LRAB. Those shot on perfect broadside shots did OK. Lots of internal damage, big exits. On quartering shots- almost never exits, massive internal damage. Most of these deer ran 150-200 yds. on really good shots. Lost a few on extreme angle shots where only one lung was hit (I did these on purpose to see the effects of the bullets).
Based on my 2652 handgun deer kills, the best deer bullets are BTs, regular ABs, & NPTs. On really big animals the AB (not LRAB) is a superior bullet. 800# kudus, moose, elk, all one shooters with the ABs & they all droped with the shot up to 365 yds. with my handguns (WV deer up to 550 yds with the AB- one shot).
Well I can tell you're not in the northern half of West Virginia because you said crop damage permits and they don't hand those out in Northern West Virginia at all!!!
As for bullet performance I have good words for the 7mm 150 grain ABLR@3390 fps!! But since we can't get them anymore what's the point!!!
 
How about Ranshot Magnum?
Ramshot magnum should work ok also. Look at powders in burn rate charters which start around H4831SC or R22 in burn rate and then use powders which are even slower. The Ideal burn rate range for a 7mm Rem Mag is H1000 or even a bit slower, for these 175-180 grain bullets.
 
I've used 168's for years in my 7 RM. Retumbo, Nosler brass, Fed 215M primers. Would should half minute groups. Killed plenty of deer and elk out to 625. Never had a problem.
 
Top