Accubond early expansion problems.

[nralifer]

Shocking to think that LR bullets do not hold up to short range high velocity. I dunno maybe they intended the bullet to
Expand at low velocity for a reason seeing as it is called Accubond LONG RANGE?

I have loaded 175 ABLR down to 1590 fps impact in a 7-08 and shot it into gel. They still expand even at that velocity. Crank that dude up to 3110fps impact in my 7wsm and it is the shallowest, most explosive expansion I have ever seen from a bullet of this sectional density in any caliber. It's more violent than a berger, amax, eld m/x, TMK, I tried them all at various speeds.


with all that being said I no longer shoot bergers at very long distances on deer sized game. When they get below 2000 fps I've seen a lot pencil through both gel and deer. ELDs expand down to about 1750 fps. ABLE even lower than that.


so to sum this up, it's not surprising that when nosler engineered this bullet to expand at very low impact speed, if you shoot it at a range that means high impact speed, it over expands and under penetrates. There is no magic to it.

You have observed common problems of lead core bullets. A uniformly thick jacket is too fragile to hold the lead core at a high impact velocity and if there is no tip or exposed lead nose then expansion below 2000 fps can be unreliable. Nosler, at least, has progressive thickness in the Accubond bullets to limit expansion as it reaches the shank.

 

[FEENIX]

I hope the OP, @Snowboy, has finally resolved the issue after two years.

 

[nralifer]

Predator Slayer is a little slow.. or just ignorant
A 225 ELDM will absolutely blow apart at 700 yards if you hit the shoulder bone on an elk.
Here's the pic from last season where my buddy did just that.

I'm getting tired of totally ignorant people running their mouths when someone states a factual experience with a bullet that they are in love with.

I'll take your word on the ABLR's you used being explosive, but so far I'm not seeing that evidence with my testing of the 265's. However I'm open to the possibility and will keep testing it in hopefully a more realistic media.

225 ELDM
300PRC MV 2870
700 yards, impact center shoulder
Result wounded elk that required tracking approx 1/2 mile.
View attachment 176616

Big game hunting of all sorts, from Deer to Cape Buffalo, requires a stout bullet that reliably expands AND penetrates at all angles of impact and close as well as far distances. The performance envelope is the widest for those copper bullets with highly engineered tipped hollow points, or should I say hollow ogives, that have the ability to penetrate at least 30"+ regardless of shot angle or bones penetrated. I saw the same result in a Caribou I shot with a 210 gr Scirocco at 250 yds from a 330 Dakota (very similar case to a 33 Nosler). Destroyed a lot of meat and forced a second killing shot.