Thread: Nosler Accubond Vs Ballistic Tip terminal performance

When we lived in Oz my mate in Victoria convinced me that the Accubond is the greatest bullet ever invented. Got me to buy some and do load development ahead of red deer and fallow in NSW. I ordered two boxes thinking they were 100 a box and just about had a fucking fit when they turned up and it was only 50.

Anyway my comment is exactly as per @7mmsaum above. I used 150s in 308 Winchester at probably 2800fps and deer fell over if shot through the shoulders. Only shot half a dozen with them but enough to be sure that with good shot placement they will do the job. But my old buddy is a tracking dog fanatic and he always insists on the meat saver shot and consequently he spends half his day tracking the bloody deer, which when he shoots them run off as if they haven’t even been hit. The Accubond over-penetrates if shot through the ribs only and isn’t a great bullet for a heart or rear lung shot. I kind of think he does it on purpose, more for the tracking thrills. Whatever floats your boat I guess.

When we shoot together here in New Zealand he has to use my ammunition, which is soft fragmenting bullets. Nosler BT, ELDX, ELDM, Speer BTSP, GameKing. Consequently we don’t need a dog and all the time we would be tracking if he were in charge is spent shooting more deer. (Slightly tongue in cheek but not actually that far off in reality as most of the deer bang flop DRT)

Harder bonded bullets have their place, but in the 150 / 165 / 180gr class, in my view you need tough heavy game to get the best out of them, so I would only choose them if shooting heavy red stags with a Magnum cartridge.