Nosler Accubonds - Losing Their Tips

Pdvdh

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Nosler Accubond, Product No. 54357, .338 caliber/225grain Spitzer, Lot #KB08F102.

I purchased this 50ct box of Nosler Accubonds about 7 years ago. About the same time Long Range Hunting was becoming contagious. I loaded and shot a few bullets from this box at that time and didn't notice any of the white plactic bullet tips missing. They shot well from my .338 Imperial Magnum. Today I opened that box of bullets with the intention of HBN coating the bullets, and found five bullets that had popped their plastic tips.

My unofficial interpretation as to the cause? Corrosion formed behind the shoulder of these plastic tips, shoving the shoulder of the plactic tips forward until the shoulders separated from their shanks; because all five plastic tips separated at their shoulder joint. The shank behind the plastic shoulder did not remain attached to the plastic tips. The obvious concern is that if these bullets are losing their white plastic tips in the comfort of their box at room temperature, how much more likely will they be to lose their plastic tips in field use. Worse yet, what if they lose their tips at the moment of the high Gravity forces of bullet launch. The BC value of these bullets will be drastically reduced if you happen to shoot one minus its tip.

Might want to examine all bullets in your older boxes of Nosler Accubonds prior to heading out hunting. It could be a bitter disappointment to hit 1' low at 500yds due to a flat-nosed Nosler Accubond.

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There IS evidence of corrosion byproducts inside the jacket tips. I don't know what, if anything, Nosler does to neutralize their bonded lead core bullets against corrosion prior to seating their plastic tips. Perhaps this Lot of bullets left their factory lacking that step of the manufacturing process?

The white speckles on the black surface is from the white plastic tips.
 
I had the same problem with some .284 160gr A/B. call Nosler's tech line, Mike @ Nosler will need your bullet lot number. Nosler will make it right with you they are very good to deal with & they are aware of this issue w/ certain lots of A/Bs.
 
I had the same problem with some 30/200s some 7 years ago.

And Yes, Nosler will make it right with you. They did with me.
 
I has a bit of corrosion on the lot of 7mm 140 ab's I shot my buck with the year before last... I shot the rest of the box up without incident, but now I'll keep a better eye out and save boxes/ write lot #'s on my ammo boxes.
 
Paul.....I can tell you EXACTLY what it is. If they use acid core bonding (which is what I use) and don't get it neutralized completely, this is exactly what will happen! I have seen it several times in my own bullets....Rich
 
That makes the most sense Rich. The only other plausible explanation would be a bad batch of plastic tips. Plastic too brittle, or plastic that decomposes over time.

It sounds like Nosler has been made aware of this. So it's a pretty safe bet they've ID'd the cause and taken corrective measures.

I found it a surprising, and interesting discovery. Nosler's version of exploding tips! :) Gave me the bug eyes for a moment or two...
 
Had a pile of 6.5 120 TTSX that snapped off this past year. Had one that came out of the magbox that was hanging on by a thread. Would have hated to see what would have happened if I'd fired it. Ended up yanking them out. Came out easily, maybe a little more easier than I would have preferred.

I'm sure the BC sucks a bit now. Haven't shot any though.
 
Had a pile of 6.5 120 TTSX that snapped off this past year. Had one that came out of the magbox that was hanging on by a thread. Would have hated to see what would have happened if I'd fired it. Ended up yanking them out. Came out easily, maybe a little more easier than I would have preferred.

I'm sure the BC sucks a bit now. Haven't shot any though.

I am sure with that size meplat, the b.c. is going to suck more than a little:D.........Rich
 
I had the 338 rum snapping them ...i just thought it was from recoil in the mag box or from when they pop out of the magazine and into the chamber area in a steep incline...hmmmm

my 340 was snapping the tipped triple shocks too
 
I finally contacted Nosler. I talked with Mike, who arranged to send me a box of replacement bullets.

Mike did confirm that in the early days of their Nosler Accubond production, corrosion from their bonding process attacked the plastic tips, resulting in some tips separating from the nose of the bullets. He said that problem was identified and an improved bonding process was developed.

Mike said my bullets were manufactured in November, 2004, so they were older than I remembered.
 
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