Accubonds VS VLD's

You do not need VLD's for shots to 300 yards. The VLD design is intended to minimize turbulence beyond that range. I use Accubonds in my 30 cal rifles. They are accurate and open perfectly on deer at all distances. Never shot a bear or hog with them.

 

Like was said before the VLD design was made for shooting at distance (300 plus yards). If you want a all purpose bullet I would push the 200 grain accubonds. It is what I ran in my 300 weatherby. My thoughts on that were that the game will not know the difference between the 180 and 200 grain bullets but I will gain a better BC with the 200 grain.

 

Dude you need to check you ballistics chart again. You can push those 200 grain accubonds between 2900-3000 fps. With this MV you can get out to a mile plus. Never stretched my weatherby beyond a mile but running the ballistics chart with my data it showed me dropping subsonic around the 1900 yard mark.

Anyway I pick my bullets based on BC and terminal performance. Like I said before game will not know the difference between 180 grains and 200 grains but when shooting at distance you will know the difference in BC.

 

Yes and no. First off you need to chrony that ammo with your rifle. Each rifle is unique, thus don't rely on published MV. Next off The accubonds are effective below the published 1800 fps. Those numbers are based off test that are not always accurate for field conditions. Expansion will occur below that velocity especially if you hit bone (shoulder blade, spine, etc...).

Even at only 2800 fps you can get a thousand yards out of an accubond. On a side note if you really want to get the most out of your ammo and rifle you NEED to handload. Quality handloads can really make a rifle.

 

i would shoot a 165 bt or a 168cbt.

 

I would go with the VLD for sure. The only reason is that I have experienced, witnessed, and been told by a reliable source of three instances where the tip broke off of an Accubond. One a .338 225 grain(happened to me), one a .308 180 grain(saw it happen to a friend), one a 7mm 140 grain(heard about it happening to a friend). All three snapped off flush with the jacket tip while feeding. I have shot thousands of NBT's and have not seen this even once. Curious....

I have a ton of 140 grain 7mm NAB's for the wifes gun and have yet to have a problem with them. They shoot so good that I will use them up, then switch.

I suppose if you shoot the NAB's single shot there would likely be no problem.

 

You are making a good point in regard to velocity vs expansion. In your original post, you stated that you wouldn't be shooting farther than 600 yds. If this is the case, I would use the accubond over the berger mostly because you stated that the majority of your shots will be 100-300 yds. If the majority of your shots were in the 400+ yard range, then I would choose the berger. Also, if you are using the accubonds at longer ranges (lower velocity) expansion is definitely an issue. For this reason, and at the ranges you are talking about, (600 yds.) the 180 accubond will shoot "a little" flatter and expand better because of more terminal velocity.......Rich

 

I think you are on the right track! B.C. in and of itself does not equate to better accuracy. It gives you an advantage, especially at extreme ranges because of less drop and wind drift......Rich

 

At 600 yards the 180's and 200's are within a couple of FPS of each other(using Nosler published velocity of 2950 and 2800 respectively) past 600 the 200's are moving faster than the 180's opening the gap the further you go.

 

Before I started reloading, I was using 185gr VLDs from HSM ...

http://www.thehuntingshack.com/catalog/retail/BergerRetail.pdf

Good luck!

Ed