Accubond Disappointment

[old_school_guy]

I loaded 6 test rounds for my Remington 700 in .280 Rem caliber, 22" barrel. Brass is once fired Remington, bullets are 140 gr AccuBond, primers CCI 200, powder IMR 4350. Bullets seated .030" off lands. I loaded 2 at 53.0 grs, 2 at 53.5 grs and 2 at 54.0 grs. Distance was 100 yards and shooting was done from a nice bench, on sand bags like I have done for 40 years. The results were absolutely shocking to me. I have never had any of my hand loads group that bad. Distance between the 2 holes from 53.0 grs was 2.375", between the 53.5 grs was 1.75" and distance between the 54.0 grs was 3". I thought something had happened to the rifle. I fired a 3 shot group with factory Remington 140 gr Accutip bullets and could cover the group with a quarter. Now I have been loading Ballistic Tips for years in several different rifles and they always grouped great. I worked up a load for my Remington 700 Sendero 7mm Mag last year with the 160 gr Accubonds and it was a tack driver. Have any of you ever had a rifle "hate" AccuBond bullets? Seeing how bad they shot, would it even be worth the time to try different seating depths, powders, primers, etc? Or is it that obvious this 700 just don't like Accubonds? Please look at the two pictures. Any opinions or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

[mjcmichigan]

For me, AccuBond likes lots of jump.
Loaded my 300 WM at Saami OAL and bang, nice tight group.


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[Ridgerunner665]

Yep...me too.... loaded at SAAMI spec for the round (3.34" 280 Ackley) they shoot like match bullets.

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[DrMike]

As already mentioned, allow plenty of jump to the lands. I usually start at 0.100 inches off the lands. Seldom have I had a problem getting the AB to deliver excellent accuracy. Now the ABLR, that's another story.

 

[358 WCF]

This is almost apples & oranges as I think if you play with OAL your 280 may come around, but I have a 358 Winchester that wants absolutely nothing to do with 200gr Accubonds. The long sleek nose kinda screws things up in a short action. Even single loading with a longer OAL is not good. After trying 4 of its favorite powders with several jumps from .010" to .110", each series of 4 shot groups looked more like buckshot than rifle groups. The best of the mess was with the .010" jump, but it was still pretty poor. I can usually squeak out 1/2" to 1" groups with this rifle.

My 358 Norma really likes the same 200 & 225 Accubonds with about .080" jump. Will be trying them in a Whelen soon. Bummer that SPS sold out of these.

 

[FOTIS]

For me, AccuBond likes lots of jump.
Loaded my 300 WM at Saami OAL and bang, nice tight group.


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Yes

 

[old_school_guy]

Here is a little more information. I did have flat primers with all 3 powder charges. Velocity with 53.0 grs was 2883, with 53.5 grs was 2888 and 54.0 grs was 2927. By the way, the factory Remington's clocked 2787 fps. There was also a noticeable increase in recoil with my hand loads vs the Remington factory loads.

 

[dd.payson1018]

View attachment 1I loaded 6 test rounds for my Remington 700 in .280 Rem caliber, 22" barrel. Brass is once fired Remington, bullets are 140 gr AccuBond, primers CCI 200, powder IMR 4350. Bullets seated .030" off lands. I loaded 2 at 53.0 grs, 2 at 53.5 grs and 2 at 54.0 grs. Distance was 100 yards and shooting was done from a nice bench, on sand bags like I have done for 40 years. The results were absolutely shocking to me. I have never had any of my hand loads group that bad. Distance between the 2 holes from 53.0 grs was 2.375", between the 53.5 grs was 1.75" and distance between the 54.0 grs was 3". I thought something had happened to the rifle. I fired a 3 shot group with factory Remington 140 gr Accutip bullets and could cover the group with a quarter. Now I have been loading Ballistic Tips for years in several different rifles and they always grouped great. I worked up a load for my Remington 700 Sendero 7mm Mag last year with the 160 gr Accubonds and it was a tack driver. Have any of you ever had a rifle "hate" AccuBond bullets? Seeing how bad they shot, would it even be worth the time to try different seating depths, powders, primers, etc? Or is it that obvious this 700 just don't like Accubonds? Please look at the two pictures. Any opinions or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

I had same problem with my Weatherby 270 Win using 140 grain Accubonds and 150 grain AccuBond Long Range. I couldn't get them to group. However, The 140 grain Nosler Ballistic Tips shot great as well as Hornady 145 ELD-X.

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[AFG270]

I agree with the others, seat them deeper. My 280 with 150g AB are seated .110" off the lands and it shoots bug hole groups. I started at .050 off and didn't get good accuracy until I was near .100 off.

Noslers' max for a 140g bullet with IMR 4350 is 52g. I used IMR 4350 a little, but got a lot better accuracy and velocity with RL17 and with 150g, 160g bullets, RL26.

 

[SJB358]

So, your speed doesn't sound too bad and I'd never tell anyone to just go above published data, but I'd maybe keep inching up a bit with the 4350 at your current seating depth to see if anything comes together. A 22" 280 shouldn't be breathing hard to get a 140 with 4350 up to 3000 in most combo's.

If you get up a bit in speed and you see the groups starting to come together, I'd try 30, 60, 90 and 120 thou off the lands and see what that gets you. Chances are you'll end up with something in the 60+ off the lands. As the others mentioned, they like the jump.

 

[HodgemanAK]

I've found that in my rifles, Accubonds like more jump compared to other bullets. I would try deeper seating depths and see what happens. In one of my rifles, bullet jump in excess of 0.100 is proving most accurate and attempts at seating closer to the lands just falls apart.

 

[D21ALASKA]

This is just an echo of what others have said but plenty of jump seems to be a good thing for the AccuBond. My .375 H&H jumps a full .26" and shoots under an inch if I do my part. '06 is right at .163" for best accuracy.

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[1Shot]

USE NOSLER LOAD DATA. I had to learn this when working up a load for my 264 Win Mag with 130 AccuBond. The AccuBond is a bonded bullet and in my experience with all bonded bullets you can not use cup and core bullet data. These bullets will reach pressure quicker. You will usually reach the same velocity with them using less powder than with cup and core bullets using more powder. I also concur the AccuBond likes to jump a ways.

 

[lhsako]

Try ballistic tips or SST's. For me AB and tips both shoot well at the same seating depths. Interesting......