243win 90gr Accubonds to much for Alabama Does

[DrMike]

I have wound up tracking several bears because I used a bullet that didn't expand enough. Consequently, I like using a Sierra GK, a Hornady InterLock or a Nosler BT when hunting black bear/deer.

 

[6mm Remington]

I did a bunch of testing on water jugs and have shot enough animals with the Accubonds to know they will mushroom very nicely close up and way out there. Sounds like they performed very nicely for you. If you go to the bullet tests you can see some Accubonds I shot out of a 6mm Remington into Water jugs at 25, 100, 200, 300, and 400 yards. I also have one out of water jugs shot from a 300 WSM at 500 yards. Penetrated very well and had a nice expansion mass on it.

 

[jimbires]

I really can't think of a bullet that will drop a deer on the spot every time . I've shot the heart apart , on more than a few , and they've run 60 or 80 yards , with little to no blood to help trail . sometimes things just don't know they are dead . when my son started hunting he used a 243 . I tried a few different bullets with mixed results . I finally switched to a 100 gr Partition and it worked well on Pa sized deer . he would usually shoot them right on the shoulder , so I adapted the ammo to him .

Same story here Jim. I like the 95 BT alot, but after seeing a bunch killed with it (by my hands and others) and then 3 this year I can't hardly tell the difference. Not saying there isn't any, but AB might not expand quite as wide as the BT's?

When you say a pencil hole all the way through do you mean it looks like a field tipped arrow zipped through it with no real wounding?

this stuff makes me wonder too , Scotty . what the heck is the difference guys see when using the same bullets at about the same shot distance . one guy is super happy , the other is trying to figure out what is going on . could the barrel twist rate cause this much difference ? could guys be running bonded or other tough bullets at to low of velocity to make them work ? or do we just say , crap happens ? this pencil hole all the way through just sounds like my experience with the Barnes TSX bullets , but there are many guys that wouldn't shoot nothing but a TSX . I guess all Norman can do is try these on another deer or two and if things don't get better go back to the ballistic tips .
Norman would you give us your load , and barrel length so we can get an idea of your velocity ? do you know what the twist rate of your barrel is ?

 

[lefty315]

One thing I think we forget about in bullet performance and testing is what the bullet actually comes in contact with. A small doe shot broadside, possibly the bullet never even touched a rib. If that's the case there isn't a whole lot of resistance to deal with. Thickness of hide going in, lungs that are not dense material at all (a lot less than water in a jug or even gelatin) and thickness of hide going out. If that same shot is 3/4 inch over it hits a rib bone causing much more trauma. The same could be said for the meat in a shoulder.

I had a friend experience the same thing with a 210 Nosler PT from his .340 Weatherby on a spike elk at 40 yards. He was flabbergasted at the pencil hole in and out, again though the ribs were not touched. Sometimes weird things happen.

 

[TackDriver284]

One thing I think we forget about in bullet performance and testing is what the bullet actually comes in contact with. A small doe shot broadside, possibly the bullet never even touched a rib. If that's the case there isn't a whole lot of resistance to deal with. Thickness of hide going in, lungs that are not dense material at all (a lot less than water in a jug or even gelatin) and thickness of hide going out. If that same shot is 3/4 inch over it hits a rib bone causing much more trauma. The same could be said for the meat in a shoulder.

I had a friend experience the same thing with a 210 Nosler PT from his .340 Weatherby on a spike elk at 40 yards. He was flabbergasted at the pencil hole in and out, again though the ribs were not touched. Sometimes weird things happen.

The 308 BT did not touch a rib ( path is right to left ) and still expanded nicely, its dumbfounding why his penciled through without touching a rib. Same spike shown above with the big exit hole. I believe the bullet chugged along at about 2,720 fps. Was a mild load. You can see some frags around the inside of the exit hole.

 

[lefty315]

I'm assuming the above picture shows the rib the bullet hit going out? If so, then that would cause a different effect on the animal, and a larger exit hole as displayed in the photo. Also giving you expansion or deformation of the bullet as it impacts the rib. Just saying, without hitting rib on both sides there isn't a lot of resistance on smaller critters.

 

[norman_brown]

I really can't think of a bullet that will drop a deer on the spot every time . I've shot the heart apart , on more than a few , and they've run 60 or 80 yards , with little to no blood to help trail . sometimes things just don't know they are dead . when my son started hunting he used a 243 . I tried a few different bullets with mixed results . I finally switched to a 100 gr Partition and it worked well on Pa sized deer . he would usually shoot them right on the shoulder , so I adapted the ammo to him .

Same story here Jim. I like the 95 BT alot, but after seeing a bunch killed with it (by my hands and others) and then 3 this year I can't hardly tell the difference. Not saying there isn't any, but AB might not expand quite as wide as the BT's?

When you say a pencil hole all the way through do you mean it looks like a field tipped arrow zipped through it with no real wounding?

Yes, looks as if there was no expansion..the exit hole was as small as the entry hole.. not much internal damage compared to what i got from BT

Sent from my SM-G930P using Tapatalk

 

[elkhunternm]

I really can't think of a bullet that will drop a deer on the spot every time . I've shot the heart apart , on more than a few , and they've run 60 or 80 yards , with little to no blood to help trail . sometimes things just don't know they are dead . when my son started hunting he used a 243 . I tried a few different bullets with mixed results . I finally switched to a 100 gr Partition and it worked well on Pa sized deer . he would usually shoot them right on the shoulder , so I adapted the ammo to him .

Same story here Jim. I like the 95 BT alot, but after seeing a bunch killed with it (by my hands and others) and then 3 this year I can't hardly tell the difference. Not saying there isn't any, but AB might not expand quite as wide as the BT's?

When you say a pencil hole all the way through do you mean it looks like a field tipped arrow zipped through it with no real wounding?

Yes, looks as if there was no expansion..the exit hole was as small as the entry hole.. not much internal damage compared to what i got from BT

Sent from my SM-G930P using Tapatalk

If that's the case,I would go back to the BT.

 

[TackDriver284]

I'm assuming the above picture shows the rib the bullet hit going out? If so, then that would cause a different effect on the animal, and a larger exit hole as displayed in the photo. Also giving you expansion or deformation of the bullet as it impacts the rib. Just saying, without hitting rib on both sides there isn't a lot of resistance on smaller critters.

Fragments on the inside of the exit hole indicated expansion as well even without bone.

 

[DrMike]

I would anticipate immediate expansion of the Ballistic Tip just from hydrostatics. Ditto for any well-constructed cup-and-core bullet.

 

[mcseal2]

I actually think the AccuBond begins expansion faster than the BT if anything. The process that bonds the bullet softens the jacket I've read. It just holds more weight together and has less fragmentation or shrapnel that leaves the main bullet and creates a larger wound channel. I'd agree it usually doesn't expend as much of it's energy inside an animal or leave as dramatic a wound channel. The channel will be deeper if the shot isn't broadside.

I've shot a lot of big Midwestern whitetail with accubonds and almost all ran 30-80yds no matter what I shot them with if I took a broadside shot. Mostly 270, 7 mag, or 264WM. Even deer that I shot with the old 180gr BT bullets from a 300WM at 3250fps would sometimes run a bit after the shot, especially if they were already running when I shot them. Those bullets sometimes didn't exit meaning the deer absorbed a heck of a lot of energy! I don't think anything is guaranteed to drop them in their tracks except a CNS shot or taking out their running gear.

For what it's worth I've probably seen more drop in their tracks shot with the Sierra Gameking than anything, maybe just because I've hunted with a lot of guys that use them. The 90gr Gameking from a 25-06 drops a lot of them where they stand on a lung shot. The 85gr from a 243 or 6mm loaded hot does also. Neither are ideal for quartering shots and will tear up a lot of meat on a shoulder though if hit there.

 

[Anonymous]

Most of my whitetail experience was gotten with a .30-06 shooting 125gr Silvertips (the old ones, not the Ballistic Silvertip).

That was a really soft bullet going very fast and it dropped deer so quickly it was ludicrous. Of course, I never got an exit and the cavity looked like a grenade went off in there. If you hit a shoulder it was pretty much toast.

 

[Guy Miner]

For fast drops on deer & antelope... Give me some Blue Cyclones!



115 grain Nosler Ballistic Tip @ 3120 fps with nearly 1/2 MOA accuracy! Well, for three shots anyway, then the factory sporter barrel gets kinda warm...

Love those Blue Cyclones! :grin:

Guy

 

[Guy Miner]

Most of my whitetail experience was gotten with a .30-06 shooting 125gr Silvertips (the old ones, not the Ballistic Silvertip).

That was a really soft bullet going very fast and it dropped deer so quickly it was ludicrous. Of course, I never got an exit and the cavity looked like a grenade went off in there. If you hit a shoulder it was pretty much toast.

Yee Haw! I'll bet that was a deer dropper!

Nosler's manual shows a 125 gr Ballistic Tip at ridiculous velocity from a .30-06 rifle... Faster & flatter than my .25-06 with 115's... Kind of thinking about trying some on my next mule deer hunt... Worked well for my friend, from her .308 Win, in a fat whitetail buck.

Fragmenting bullet in the chest... Ya buddy. I like that for fast kills on deer sized game.

Guy

 

[Anonymous]

Yeah- dramatic is a bit of an understatement.

I was doing control work and the rifle was a SIG970... most finicky rifle on the planet. That was the only load I could find that even shot remotely decent...but it was a killer. Most of the shooting was 75 yds or so to boot so they got all of it.

The ancient chronograph was showing 3300 and change if I remember correctly. That was moving on for 1988.

 

[ozarkpugs]

Imho Nosler Partition open fast like BT and penetrate like AccuBond

Sent from my XT1093 using Tapatalk

 

[mcseal2]

Everyone has their idea of perfect bullet performance. I personally like controlled expansion and exit wounds because to many of the animals on my wall have been taken at angles that required some penetration. That's the reason for the love/hate relationship I have with the Bergers. Love the way they shoot, never had one fail, but it's not my ideal bullet performance. It works, I've taken a lot of critters with them and they died fast, just not ideal to me. My 2 best muleys were taken with Accubonds at tough angles, plus several of my whitetails.

I could see the 115BT from the 25-06 being a stomper at that speed. I've always seen fast kills from the 25-06 maybe because it's so easy to shoot well. Most of the ones I've been around have barrels on the longer and heavier side, forgiving rifles to shoot. I've got a buddy I hunted with a lot that used his exclusively for everything with the 90gr Winchester factory loads or 90gr Sierras we loaded when they got hard to find. His wife started hunting and stole his 25-06 so he bought a 257 Weatherby. We loaded 110 Accubonds in it because I thought it might be asking to much to have the little Sierra hold together on a deer at Weatherby speed. The AccuBond holds together fine even on closer shots.

My only concern on the 125gr BT is how tough it is. Is it designed for 30-06 speeds, or for smaller cases? On a broadside shot it would likely not matter.

My next experiment might have to be 100 or 110gr Accubonds in my 270 win if I decide to screw with it. I'm not using it much now, not because it doesn't work but because the 264 and 300 win mags seem to be the ones I grab. I'd be able to run speeds darn close to my buddies 257 Weatherby with those bullets if they shoot well.

 

[DrMike]

Imho Nosler Partition open fast like BT and penetrate like AccuBond

Sent from my XT1093 using Tapatalk

Welcome aboard, ozarkpugs. We all welcome contributions and questions. That is a good observation with which many of us are in agreement. Again, welcome to the forum.

 

[cloverleaf]

Dad used to shoot Jacks with his 7- Mag. 130 Gr speers was his only load. Some times you couldn't even see a hole, just a little blood. Dropped many deer/ antelope with that load too. Some dropped immediately, some ran a little or tried to get up but nothing got away. We did decide that they were not very "pelt friendly". Turned fox inside out :shock: CL

 

[cloverleaf]

For fast drops on deer & antelope... Give me some Blue Cyclones!



115 grain Nosler Ballistic Tip @ 3120 fps with nearly 1/2 MOA accuracy! Well, for three shots anyway, then the factory sporter barrel gets kinda warm...

Love those Blue Cyclones! :grin:

Guy

YUP...aint they sexy lookin'!