Swift Scirocco VS Nosler Accubond & Elk

[Brad Quarnberg]

Son in law is getting ready for a NM Elk hunt the end of Oct. He has been reolading a number of 180 grain 300 WM bullets and testing them. Several have commented that the performance of the Accubond has not been consistent .... that they come apart too easily in the large animals. Neither he nor I have large animal field experience with any of them yet. He would love to have input and comments as well as experiences of board members who have used some of the 300 WM bullets on large animals. How does the Scirocco and Accubond perform. Which would you perfer and why? Any other comments on the subject? Thanks for any and all input

I have shot 5 elk, several caribou and mule deer, a grizzly and black bear and 3 moose with Accubonds out of a 270 WSM, 300 WM, 300 WSM and 325 WSM. The Accubond has been my go-to bullet for many years now and I've never had performance problems. Full disclosure, my longest shot on any of these animals was 459 yards (Leica rangefinder), so nothing really long distance.
I've seen hunters take long shots (600+) on elk and was part of tracking and recovering several that had bullets not perform as expected: that includes the Scirocco and others like it. In many of my big game animals, I didn't recover the bullet because it went completely through, leaving a large exit hole. I prefer heavier bullets so in my 300 WM/WSMs I'm shooting 190-210gr Accubond (my 300 WSM shoots 1 hole 3 shot groups with the 200gr Accubond but I haven't been able to find them lately). Accubonds I've recovered, even those hitting bone, mushroomed nicely and retained a lot of thier weight. The deer, caribou and both bears were complete pass throughs so no recover.
If your gun will shoot it, I'd go with the Accubond, but that's me.

 

[BountyHunter]

My buddy and i both killed 10 pts that were 250 lb whitetails in MO on a disabled hunt on a wildlife refuge 4 years ago. Both weighed 225 gutted on scales. I have seen multiple bigger there. That refuge has given up a 325 lb that was 22 points. I killed an 8 point that came out of the refuge and was 230 hanging before gutting. Only 10 disabled hunters a year and 20 ML from box blinds, no roaming around. They grow huge inside, plenty food and very limited hunting

 

[birddog 68]

Heck....compared to Muddyboots....I'm a Spring Chicken Son! Stay with what you know works....not into that dee-sign-er Sheeiit like RL or Vehit- it- tori! Hasn't been any of it Canada anyways for most of 2 years! Sorry...what'd you say ...Sonny?

Actually I like IMR 4350 and I am not close to 70 years old.

 

[Elk Fire]

I have killed a pile of elk with the accubond. No issues as long as they were at reasonable velocities.

 

[Power]

I've been using Accubonds for over a decade and always been satisfied with the performance. I continue to load them for all my family (wife and daughter) to this day. Plus Nosler as a company is great so I'm happy to support them.

I did try the 150g. Scirocco when they first came out but had limited experience with them. Shooting my 7mm RM I did take one mule deer, a small 3 point buck at 75 yard broadside. He was feeding and unaware and I wasn't rushed or buck fever as I was going to let him walk. I changed my mind just to put meat in the freezer and took him with a double lung shot.

At the hit he took off at a dead sprint and made is about 100 yards before crashing into a log. I knew he was dead so I watched for a couple seconds then took my eyes off to reload my rifle. Looking back I marked the spot by the log and headed over to check him out. When I arrived there was no deer and no sign of him. I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt he was dead but apparently still had some juice left.

It took another 30 minutes of searching for my wife and I to locate him. He had recovered enough to make it another 75 yards to a small patch of trees.


Dissecting him later revealed perfect shot through both lungs with only a small hole all the way through, with expansion likely 1.5x or 2x the bullet diameter. I wasn't that satisfied with that performance.

Of course there are many take aways from this. The buck wasn't a big one so not much mass to help expansion. It was also a bullet from the 1999 so they may have improved since then.

That being said, I've never had any problems taking the deer, elk and bear that I've taken with the Accubond.

 

[birddog 68]

Some will argue with this but I think the accubond is the best big game bullet. Very easy to work up a good load and works wonderfully.

 

[K.E.C.]

Now you are giving away your age. Certainly no one under the age of 70 uses that ancient powder.

IMR 4350 One of my favorite powders.
If nothing else works IMR.4350 WILL.

 

[tsyarnall]

If I had to put my money on one bullet to drop an elk, I would use a Nosler partition. It was made for stopping large animals and while it's nearing 100 years old, it's still getting the job done.

 

[Orange Dust]

Ford, Chevy, Whatever makes you feel good. Truth is both will have similar results in the field. You can add Interbonds to the mix if you want. The Swift is a little more sensitive to seating depth and often more accurate. The Accubond can be easier to tune. Shoot whichever one the rifle likes best and go slay some dragons. Any real difference in performance lies in folk's opinions and keyboards. That said, a Swift coated with HBN is a real bad boy. Just don't test either under 300yds deciding. 500 is much better.

 

[Orange Dust]

If I had to put my money on one bullet to drop an elk, I would use a Nosler partition. It was made for stopping large animals and while it's nearing 100 years old, it's still getting the job done.

Out to 500yds or so, no one who has seen a lot of game shot would disagree. And heavy for caliber just makes them better. Eat right up to the bullet hole. I killed a lot of stuff with a 300 Weatherby and 200gr partitions.

 

[birddog 68]

You can add Interbonds to the mix if you want

I love interbonds and have quite a few on my shelf. Unfortunately Hornady quit making them and from a email that I received they never will make them again.
A bit more finicky on seating depth compared to accubond but on game performance has been similar.

 

[Phil Rizzo]

I love interbonds and have quite a few on my shelf. Unfortunately Hornady quit making them and from a email that I received they never will make them again.
A bit more finicky on seating depth compared to accubond but on game performance has been similar.

Interbond must not be sexy and trendy enough for these modern times, so they started a new one with some super BC starbursts.
And it worked

 

[birddog 68]

Interbond must not be sexy and trendy enough for these modern times, so they started a new one with some super BC starbursts.
And it worked

Exactly! Luckily I'm well stocked.

 

[Phil Rizzo]

Terminal performance? What? Close to Moderate range? Huh?