180 Accubond recovered from bull nilgai

[TackDriver284]

180 Accubonds out of a 300 Win Mag, muzzle velocity @ 3,125 fps, left bullet at 200 yards center in lower neck and deep in the chest to the right shoulder, and the right bullet at 30 feet center in the neck. Last two pictures was the first shot which entered in the lower neck and stopped on the shoulder as described above.

 

[Blkram]

AccuBonds doing what they are designed to do!
Congrats on the nigai!

 

[Guy Miner]

Congratulations on a successful hunt! Looks like typical excellent AccuBond performance.

That's a hunt I'd like to do someday.

Regards, Guy

 

[stevelsd]

180 Accubonds out of a 300 Win Mag, muzzle velocity @ 3,125 fps, left bullet at 200 yards center in lower neck and deep in the chest to the right shoulder, and the right bullet at 30 feet center in the neck. Last two pictures was the first shot which entered in the lower neck and stopped on the shoulder as described above.

That is impressive!

 

[RL338]

Congrats in another successful outing. You sure are stacking those nilgai critters up.

 

[TackDriver284]

Congrats in another successful outing. You sure are stacking those nilgai critters up.

This was the recent nilgai hunt where it took three 300 Magnum rounds, one 30 caliber round from some other hunter, and two .45 rounds from the hunting guide.
Topic is " What a tank" from a couple months ago.

What a tank!!

Woke at 3 am, got all my gear ready and loaded in the truck plus 3 ice chests loaded up with ice. Filled up the truck and grabbed two burritos for the road with some coffee. Hooked up with the guide at the gate at 6 am and was warmly greeted at camp by the owner and another guest. Settled all...

forum.nosler.com

 

[kujuak]

180 Accubonds out of a 300 Win Mag, muzzle velocity @ 3,125 fps, left bullet at 200 yards center in lower neck and deep in the chest to the right shoulder, and the right bullet at 30 feet center in the neck. Last two pictures was the first shot which entered in the lower neck and stopped on the shoulder as described above.

What powder did you use to get 3,125fps with a 180gr AccuBond in a 300WinMag?? Or is the factor your barrel/chamber set up? 2950 to 3015 is the best I can ewver do with any 180gr bullet (I use R-P, Winchester and lately Lapua brass.

Thanks!

 

[leadchucker]

Congrats on your harvest! Those look really nice

 

[TackDriver284]

What powder did you use to get 3,125fps with a 180gr AccuBond in a 300WinMag?? Or is the factor your barrel/chamber set up? 2950 to 3015 is the best I can ewver do with any 180gr bullet (I use R-P, Winchester and lately Lapua brass.

Thanks!

I used RL22 and 180 Accubonds earlier in January. I recently tested the Barnes 180 TTSX a few weeks ago with RL25, I was able to run them at 3,240 fps average. I backed off a half grain before it got to pressure. Barrel is 26 inches.

What powder did you use?

 

[kujuak]

I used RL22 and 180 Accubonds earlier in January. I recently tested the Barnes 180 TTSX a few weeks ago with RL25, I was able to run them at 3,240 fps average. I backed off a half grain before it got to pressure. Barrel is 26 inches.

What powder did you use?

H1000 and H4350. RL powders are unobtainable for the most part in Canada. am shooting a Sako 75, 24" barrel and a Remington AWR, also 24" barrel. That extra 2" of barrel may explain, at least in part the velocity difference. Thanks for the information. Good hunting to you!

 

[TackDriver284]

H1000 and H4350. RL powders are unobtainable for the most part in Canada. am shooting a Sako 75, 24" barrel and a Remington AWR, also 24" barrel. That extra 2" of barrel may explain, at least in part the velocity difference. Thanks for the information. Good hunting to you!

RL 22, 25 and 26 will get you insane speeds.

 

[kujuak]

And accuracy?? For example I have found that N140 gives me great accuracy but not speed in 308. In my humble experience I have never got my best accuracy with the RL famly when I have tried them.. Anyhoot, having not been able to find any Reloder powders for several years has a knocked them out of rotation for now. I will give them a try when I find some.

 

[Blkram]

H1000 and H4350. RL powders are unobtainable for the most part in Canada. am shooting a Sako 75, 24" barrel and a Remington AWR, also 24" barrel. That extra 2" of barrel may explain, at least in part the velocity difference. Thanks for the information. Good hunting to you!

Every now and then, you may run into a barrel that performs with higher velocities (or slower), than the norm, and that can account for the variance between various rifles' performance. As you stated, length will play into it, but isn't always the only answer.
For example my 7MM STW's 24" MacLennan barrel will produce velocities of about 120 fps faster with factory ammo than specified by the manufacturer. Listed at 3100 fps, my rifle will shoot the 160 gr AccuBond ammo to 3222 fps. This is almost at 7mm RUM velocities from a 26" barrel. With great accuracy too: 1/2" group at 100 yards and 1" group at 300 yards. Great combination in my rifle that has accounted for a fair number of animals over the years!

 

[kujuak]

Every now and then, you may run into a barrel that performs with higher velocities (or slower), than the norm, and that can account for the variance between various rifles' performance. As you stated, length will play into it, but isn't always the only answer.
For example my 7MM STW's 24" MacLennan barrel will produce velocities of about 120 fps faster with factory ammo than specified by the manufacturer. Listed at 3100 fps, my rifle will shoot the 160 gr AccuBond ammo to 3222 fps. This is almost at 7mm RUM velocities from a 26" barrel. With great accuracy too: 1/2" group at 100 yards and 1" group at 300 yards. Great combination in my rifle that has accounted for a fair number of animals over the years!

I have experienced a slow barrel in my Tikka 3Tx 6.5 Creedmoor.Great accuracy but my loads and factory ammo are all 100fps or more slower than the same ammo in my AI/AT with a Gradous barrel. Ah for the good old days when we didn't have convenient, easy to use chronographs. Ignorance was indeed bliss

 

[Blkram]

If I recall correctly, DrMike's Featherweight in 280 Rem was slow...in the 100's of fps slow. It finally came around after 400 rounds (???).
He can comment and verify the actual numbers.

My 6.5 PRC is a funny performer, with its 24" Wilson carbon fibre 1:8 twist barrel; in 7 of the factory loads tried it is slow, by up to 170 fps. And then in 3 other factory loads, it is faster than factory specs, by up to 130 fps. Accuracy is sub-MOA in all but 3 of the slow (1) and fast (2) loads. I have not had another rifle that shows such a wide variance in velocity performance. But with all but 3 loads producing MOA or better accuracy (my first goal), how can I complain?
And with the Browning LH X Bolt Hunter with a VX-5HD 3-15x44 weighing 8 lbs 2 oz with a loaded magazine, it is nice to carry hunting, and to shoulder to shoot!
The most accurate load (0.480" for 3 shot groups at 100 yards) is one of the faster loads (Nosler 142 gr LRAB), by 21 fps for 2921 fps (smallest variance of all loads tried), and the factory load I will be using in this rifle. With a 200 yard zero, this load drops 36.7 inches at 500 yards, and retains 2251 fps and 1597 ft lbs of energy. Good enough for most of the hunting I do!
The next most accurate factory ammo tried is the Federal Fusion 140 gr (0.537"), slower by 91 fps for 2834 fps.

 

[DrMike]

The 280 shot consistently slow (much reduced velocities from what was anticipated) until over 400 rounds were sent through the rifle. Velocities increased by over 200 fps after that.

 

[DrMike]

The 280 shot consistently slow (much reduced velocities from what was anticipated) until over 400 rounds were sent through the rifle. Velocities increased by over 200 fps after that.

You remembered correctly, Gil.

 

[Blkram]

You remembered correctly, Gil.

Glad to know it hasn't failed me yet!