Nosler AB vs ABLR

[tydaws]

Yes….its a long shot on game, no doubt about it. However, in West Texas we have a lot of large wheat fields that attract a lot of hogs with farmers who want them killed. Makes for some quite fun long range shooting. I'm not suggesting that I'm going to pay top dollar for an out west elk hunt with the intention of shooting an elk (or similar) past 600 yards with a 7 SAW. But, I have anchored a bull elk at 531 with a 7 SAW & the trusty 160 AB.

 

[BRADMOTO]

Yes….its a long shot on game, no doubt about it. However, in West Texas we have a lot of large wheat fields that attract a lot of hogs with farmers who want them killed. Makes for some quite fun long range shooting. I'm not suggesting that I'm going to pay top dollar for an out west elk hunt with the intention of shooting an elk (or similar) past 600 yards with a 7 SAW. But, I have anchored a bull elk at 531 with a 7 SAW & the trusty 160 AB.

500yds on a hog sized target is ELR! LOL

 

[Roughrice]

We have lots of hogs here too but encounters are much closer because of the terrain and vegetation.

 

[Roughrice]

500yds on a hog sized target is ELR! LOL

I shot a Javalina in Fort Stockton at 300 and it felt like ELR hunting!

 

[Murtfree]

Wow.
I've noticed the harder I drive them the more dramatic the damage, for sure. But I haven't had separation unless I hit a knuckle in deer.
Haven't run them over 3420mv, personally.
But I may push some 129/130's this year.

In that 6.5-300 I was driving a 140 just a bit over 3500 FPS with N570, but I hit him at 400 yards so it wasn't doing 3500 anymore

 

[Left Hand Dave]

I've shot the Nosler AccuBond for years (mostly 7mm 160s & 30 cal 200s) and have never had a bad experience. They've always shot great in my rifles (with adequate load development) and terminal performance has been stellar.

I've always thought that the ABLR was a near perfect bullet, "on paper." Great BC, bonded, designed to expand at lower impact velocity, etc. I've tried them in two different rifles over the years and just never could get them to shoot well. I took delivery of a new custom rifle a few months ago and decided that I'd give them another shot. I'm in the process of developing a 7 SAW load with the 168 ABLR and am at a point that I'm extremely encouraged. Saturday morning's test resulted in a .364" 5 shot group at 100 yards with a SD of 4.46. I'll report back when full load development and testing is complete.

So did you do anything different in your load development this time or was it due to the rifle?

 

[tydaws]

So did you do anything different in your load development this time or was it due to the rifle?

Good question. Its probably been 10 years ago (maybe more) since I last tried the ABLR. I don't remember my exact procedure on those early attempts, as it's been so long and I can't locate my records. But, I'd like to think I've come a long way as a handloader & I'll guarantee that my previous attempts weren't nearly as thorough.

This time, on advise from a fellow LRH member, I sorted all bullets by BTO length with a Sinclair Bullet Sorting tool. I sorted in groups of +/- 0.0005", so no more than 0.001" difference in a group. Also, I started at the lands and increased jump by 0.003" at a time. I've never done this before and it has been very eye opening. I've seen 5 shot groups shrink from >1 MOA to <0.5 MOA with a seating depth difference of .006" (two steps of .003"). Generally, I utilize the Berger method to get close and do a bit of fine tuning thereafter. Had I not had better advise going into this, I believe I would have missed the sweet spot altogether.

 

[emp1953]

Grain for grain, say the 130 vs 129 or 140 vs 142, I'm wondering if anyone has seen a significant difference in when each type of bullet pressures up, velocity speaking.
I'd think the AB has a longer bearing surface, compared to the ABLR. But haven't done a side by side for myself.
Anyone?
Thank You, Phil

I started out with 130gr ABLR in my .270. The bullet looks like a dream on paper but I could not get a good enough grouping with a large variety of powders, primers, brass on and on. With the cost of components it became an adventure that was too expensive. I'm convinced that with unlimited access to resources I could have succeeded, but it was either fish or cut bait. I went to the AB only because Partitions were impossible to find. I quickly had an accurate consistent load that I have stuck with. 3 years ago I picked up a Weatherby Vanguard in 6.5cm. Again Partitions were hard to find in this caliber then. My first loading with the 150gr AB worked perfectly and has performed ever since on paper and on game. In my experience the ABLR's seem to be finicky and I ran out of patience and money and time.

 

[Phil Rizzo]

I started out with 130gr ABLR in my .270. The bullet looks like a dream on paper but I could not get a good enough grouping with a large variety of powders, primers, brass on and on. With the cost of components it became an adventure that was too expensive. I'm convinced that with unlimited access to resources I could have succeeded, but it was either fish or cut bait. I went to the AB only because Partitions were impossible to find. I quickly had an accurate consistent load that I have stuck with. 3 years ago I picked up a Weatherby Vanguard in 6.5cm. Again Partitions were hard to find in this caliber then. My first loading with the 150gr AB worked perfectly and has performed ever since on paper and on game. In my experience the ABLR's seem to be finicky and I ran out of patience and money and time.

Which one pressured up quicker and what was the difference in FPS?

 

[emp1953]

With 53gr of H4350 I was seeing avg 2905fps with the 130gr AB and 2950 with the ABLR.
Saw pressure signs with the 130ABLR first at 54.8gr H4350 with avg 3030fps.
This was out of a SIGArms 970SHR 22.8" barrel. Which I think is 58cm. The rifle was made in Switzerland.