Nosler .264 142 Grain Accubond LR Pass or Fail?

[Louisiana Reloader]

Ok, this post is sure to have some opinions and comments so I thought I would see what you guys think. Before I get into the performance of the 142gr ABLR I want to say how I got there. Earlier in the deer season this year I shot a buck with a 143gr ELD-X and I was not pleased with the performance. Pencil hole in; pencil hole out at 120 yards. Could have been the shot placement since I hit him kind of forward in the front shoulder. Knocked him down & he ran about 50 yards and expired. Zero blood but dead is dead and I happily retrieved my deer. The pencil hole kind of scared me so I loaded up some 142gr Nosler ABLR. These loads are averaging about 3,050fps—basically the same as the ELD-X's. A week or so ago I shot another buck at 127 yards with the 142gr ABLR and dropped the buck in his tracks. No exit hole and I was able to retrieve the bullet and share it with you guys. I weighed the bullet and it weighed 53 grains or 37% of its original weight. So basically, the bullet shed 63% of its weight. This was somewhat disappointing; however, dead is dead and I harvested a nice buck and I was very happy. The Nosler ABLR performance in this scenario is not enough to make me stop hunting with them because again—dead is dead and I dropped the buck in his tracks. I have attached a picture of the recovered bullet to see what you guys think. Happy shooting and Happy New Year.

 

[xsn10s]

Ok, this post is sure to have some opinions and comments so I thought I would see what you guys think. Before I get into the performance of the 142gr ABLR I want to say how I got there. Earlier in the deer season this year I shot a buck with a 143gr ELD-X and I was not pleased with the performance. Pencil hole in; pencil hole out at 120 yards. Could have been the shot placement since I hit him kind of forward in the front shoulder. Knocked him down & he ran about 50 yards and expired. Zero blood but dead is dead and I happily retrieved my deer. The pencil hole kind of scared me so I loaded up some 142gr Nosler ABLR. These loads are averaging about 3,050fps—basically the same as the ELD-X's. A week or so ago I shot another buck at 127 yards with the 142gr ABLR and dropped the buck in his tracks. No exit hole and I was able to retrieve the bullet and share it with you guys. I weighed the bullet and it weighed 53 grains or 37% of its original weight. So basically, the bullet shed 63% of its weight. This was somewhat disappointing; however, dead is dead and I harvested a nice buck and I was very happy. The Nosler ABLR performance in this scenario is not enough to make me stop hunting with them because again—dead is dead and I dropped the buck in his tracks. I have attached a picture of the recovered bullet to see what you guys think. Happy shooting and Happy New Year.

Two dead deer, I don't see the failure with either bullet. Just two different characteristics of terminal performance. No bullet is going to be perfect in all circumstances. There is no perfection, just results. Two close range dead deer are your results. You could continue to search for something that produces a larger exit wound but that bullet might not kill as well close in or further out. Take a look at the vital organ damage and decide which bullet killed better. At those close range shots a Partition or even Ballistic Tip would serve you well. Read this post by Steve Timms. it might help you.

Tell me about the 6.5-280 Ackley

After reading Spomer's latest in Rifle magazine, he has my interest piqued. I've long thought about a 6.5-06, but I want to reach 3,000 fps in a 23" bbl, so the 6.5 sounds just about perfect. Plus, I dont have a wildcat in the stable, and the 6.5 just sounds cool. I'm thinking ...

www.24hourcampfire.com

 

[adam32+P]

The ABLR is designed for 400+ yard hunting. Wrong bullet choice for the application.

 

[Hydra6]

First, 120 and 127 yards. You are using long range bullets at short range. ELDX and ABLR are designed for long range - not saying they do not work at 120ish yards - they obviously did. You could use regular Accubond, etc.

143 ELDX - pencil in and pencil out. Interesting to see damage internal as the front half fragmented and assume the base was the "pencil out".

142 ABLR - ABLR designed to fragment at lower impact velocity (long range design) so would assume significant fragmentation at 120ish.

 

[Louisiana Reloader]

Two dead deer, I don't see the failure with either bullet. Just two different characteristics of terminal performance. No bullet is going to be perfect in all circumstances. There is no perfection, just results. Two close range dead deer are your results. You could continue to search for something that produces a larger exit wound but that bullet might not kill as well close in or further out. Take a look at the vital organ damage and decide which bullet killed better. At those close range shots a Partition or even Ballistic Tip would serve you well. Read this post by Steve Timms. it might help you.

Tell me about the 6.5-280 Ackley

After reading Spomer's latest in Rifle magazine, he has my interest piqued. I've long thought about a 6.5-06, but I want to reach 3,000 fps in a 23" bbl, so the 6.5 sounds just about perfect. Plus, I dont have a wildcat in the stable, and the 6.5 just sounds cool. I'm thinking ...

www.24hourcampfire.com

Thanks and all makes sense. Again, two dead deer—no real complaints. If you look at the picture the ABLR did exactly everything it is supposed to do. Front expanded and base held together well. I have used ballistic tips in the past in a 25-06 and because of the speed they almost always blew up & didn't exit. The tricky part about that was that I shoot a lot of deer in the evenings and with no exits if it didn't drop they were sometimes hard to track. I'm now using 110 grain AB's in my 25-06. One thing I think I failed to mention in my original post is the 142 grain ABLR I am using is in a 6.5 PRC. I think I am going to stick with the 142 grain ABLR in this gun. Thanks for your response.

 

[FEENIX]

Ok, this post is sure to have some opinions and comments so I thought I would see what you guys think. Before I get into the performance of the 142gr ABLR I want to say how I got there. Earlier in the deer season this year I shot a buck with a 143gr ELD-X and I was not pleased with the performance. Pencil hole in; pencil hole out at 120 yards. Could have been the shot placement since I hit him kind of forward in the front shoulder. Knocked him down & he ran about 50 yards and expired. Zero blood but dead is dead and I happily retrieved my deer. The pencil hole kind of scared me so I loaded up some 142gr Nosler ABLR. These loads are averaging about 3,050fps—basically the same as the ELD-X's. A week or so ago I shot another buck at 127 yards with the 142gr ABLR and dropped the buck in his tracks. No exit hole and I was able to retrieve the bullet and share it with you guys. I weighed the bullet and it weighed 53 grains or 37% of its original weight. So basically, the bullet shed 63% of its weight. This was somewhat disappointing; however, dead is dead and I harvested a nice buck and I was very happy. The Nosler ABLR performance in this scenario is not enough to make me stop hunting with them because again—dead is dead and I dropped the buck in his tracks. I have attached a picture of the recovered bullet to see what you guys think. Happy shooting and Happy New Year.

You are correct; dead is dead. However, if you want weight retention, use the wrong bullets, as others noted.

As far as shot placement ...

 

[Louisiana Reloader]

First, 120 and 127 yards. You are using long range bullets at short range. ELDX and ABLR are designed for long range - not saying they do not work at 120ish yards - they obviously did. You could use regular Accubond, etc.

143 ELDX - pencil in and pencil out. Interesting to see damage internal as the front half fragmented and assume the base was the "pencil out".

142 ABLR - ABLR designed to fragment at lower impact velocity (long range design) so would assume significant fragmentation at 120ish.

Thanks for taking the time for this great feedback. I actually use regular 110 grain Accubonds in my 25-06. You want to take a guess at what happened on the buck I shot last year with it? He dropped in his tracks.
To your point, there was significant fragmentation on the buck I shot with the 142 grain ABLR last week. Again, dead is dead and no complaints here. I just figured the ABLR would have maintained a little more weight. I doubt I will do anything differently with my loads because I do have a 300 yard shot on one of my lanes. Thanks

 

[xsn10s]

Thanks and all makes sense. Again, two dead deer—no real complaints. If you look at the picture the ABLR did exactly everything it is supposed to do. Front expanded and base held together well. I have used ballistic tips in the past in a 25-06 and because of the speed they almost always blew up & didn't exit. The tricky part about that was that I shoot a lot of deer in the evenings and with no exits if it didn't drop they were sometimes hard to track. I'm now using 110 grain AB's in my 25-06. One thing I think I failed to mention in my original post is the 142 grain ABLR I am using is in a 6.5 PRC. I think I am going to stick with the 142 grain ABLR in this gun. Thanks for your response.

Did you read the thread I linked? Steve Tims, Chub Eastman, and Matt Smith all used light for caliber 6.5mm Ballistic Tips and had exits. Basically silver dollar exits. I had a buddy that lived in Arkansas and his deer had to drop where he shot them. If they rand to the neighboring property sometimes they could recover them. Which was why he used Ballistic Tips. But you do you.

 

[Louisiana Reloader]

I think that xsn10s is EXACTLY right. There is no perfect bullet for all the different scenarios we could come up with—especially where I hunt. Dropped in tracks from ABLR and I am probably going to stick with it. Thanks for everyone's feedback.

 

[Louisiana Reloader]

Did you read the thread I linked? Steve Tims, Chub Eastman, and Matt Smith all used light for caliber 6.5mm Ballistic Tips and had exits. Basically silver dollar exits. I had a buddy that lived in Arkansas and his deer had to drop where he shot them. If they rand to the neighboring property sometimes they could recover them. Which was why he used Ballistic Tips. But you do you.

Yessir, read it. However in the rifles and loads I shoot, I never got exit holes from ballistic tips. Just basing it on my personal experience.

 

[xsn10s]

Yessir, read it. However in the rifles and loads I shoot, I never got exit holes from ballistic tips. Just basing it on my personal experience.

Did you use the same 6.5mm Ballistic tips as in the article? Or are you basing it from the .25 cal bullets in your 25-06? In any case if you like the ABLR's that's fine. However imo you'll get what you're looking for with the BT's, 140 PT, or the 140 AB. They are more designed for the range you are operating at.

 

[Phil Rizzo]

A lot of difference in today's Ballistic Tip "Hunting" bullet performance and the original version's.
Exit holes due to the jacket and core staying together is my favorite so far.
Still testing them compared to Accubonds of the same bullet weight
on these 100-240lb white tails here.
So far so good.
For 500-600 or less, I won't hesitate to use either one started out from 3000-3400 MV.

 

[Phil Rizzo]

But the accuracy is still stellar, at least out to 500.
They sure are easy

 

[VinceMule]

A lot of difference in today's Ballistic Tip "Hunting" bullet performance and the original version's.
Exit holes due to the jacket and core staying together is my favorite so far.
Still testing them compared to Accubonds of the same bullet weight
on these 100-240lb white tails here.
So far so good.
For 500-600 or less, I won't hesitate to use either one started out from 3000-3400 MV.

Same here, Phil!

140g Hornady SST is tougher for 150 and under shots than the 142g LRAB.

For those close-range shooting shots, 129g Hornady SP is a tough bullet to beat, acting like a 125g Nosler partition with better accuracy. I have shot the 129 Hornady Sp at velocities from 2750 to 3150 in different cases with no failures, and impressive penetration with massive internal damage, very impressive bullet performance.

I had a good friend that I helped develop a super accurate load in his tweaked Rem 700 in 270 Win. 140g Nosler ballistic tip, 58g of H4831, Win brass, bullet kissing the lands, and the CCI 250 had the bullets knawing a hole at 100 yards.

He shot a nice buck at 10 yards, bullet did not penetrate the off-side, slightly quartering. He was not happy because there was no blood to follow for the deer's 30 yard sprint. I thought my head was going to explode, but shrugged my shoulders, trying not to utter a word.

I carry a good skinning knife+ thin rubber gloves, and gut the animal on the spot, I want to see the internal damage before making any kind of judgment. Lung-shot deer run the majority of the time.