Accubond does good in Africa

lefty315 · Sep 29, 2004

Earlier this year I had an oportunity to talk to Chub Eastman. He told me that a cull hunt had been performed in Africa using alot of the bonded bullets. He told me the AccuBond performed extremely well, as designed, holding up like a Partition. I have since been working on some loads for my .338 Win mag with the 225 gr. and have experienced some pretty excellant accuracy. (4 out of 5 shots within 3/4 inch) This is great considering my rifle has never been a tack driver. I hope to be able to use one on an Elk hunt in Montana in November. Likewise my friend will be using a 180 gr AccuBond in a .300 WSM on the same hunt.

Have their been many other actual field reports in on them yet?

NOSLER · Sep 29, 2004

I had the opportunity to go to Africa this summer and took 11 animals. The Eland was taken behind the front shoulder and smacked right thru the rear front shoulder with the 260gr AccuBond. The bullet was in the hide, and as we arrived to the game we could see the bulge from the bullet. Weighed 70% and the 2 ton critter ran all of 40 yards.

The PH I was with was astonished.

These bullets are incredible

barbour · Jan 30, 2005

I am off to Africa in May. I am trying to work up a load for a .338 win Mag. in a Rem 700. I plan on using 225 grain Accubonds or partitions. Does anyone have any specific loads they would share? Thanks

R Flowers · Jan 30, 2005

I own a Remingotn 700 Classic in .338 Win Mag and have very good luck using the 225 grain Nosler Parition. The load consists of a Winchester case, a Fed 215M primer, 71 grains of H 4350 and the 225 Partition seated to an OAL length of 3.39 inches. The velocity runs about 2880 fps and the groups are 3/4 of an inch routinely.

Unfortunately, when I tried the same load using the 225 Accubonds my groups ran closer to 3 inches!! Pretty sorry! I tried the 225 AccuBond in two different .338 Win Mag rifles and two different .340 Weatherby's all with poor results. Having said that, when I put them in a .338 RUM the darned thing shot like a varmint rifle, groups under a half inch.

Go figure. You just have to try them in your rifle to see what will happen. I think the AccuBond is a sound design, but most guns I tried them in just did not shoot them well.
I had the same experience with two 300 Wby's that will shoot 180 Partitions into 3/4 of an inch most any day, but did not shoot the 200 grain Accubonds well at all.

Those Remington's chambered for .338 Win Mag will shoot. Just this morning I shot a group using 74 grains of IMR 4831 behind the 200 grain Nosler Ballistic Tip that measured 0.44 inches. This with a 2.5X8 Leupold scope.

Good luck, R F

barbour · Jan 31, 2005

Thanks I may try the 4350. I took the .338 to the range yesterday for the first time. I have fired this caliber before but it was 15 years ago. I had forgotten how much it backs up. Man! I ran 15 rounds through it using Reloader 19 and the 225 AccuBond. It seemed to like 72.5 grains and produced a 1 1/8" group. I have no idea how fast this is moving. The load was given to me by a guy that uses that loading with a 225 gr. Barnes. He says it shoots 2780 out of his gun.

I am also taking a Rem. mountain rifle in .280 Rem. I am trying to shoot the 160 Accubonds. So far I haven't enjoyed much success. The best I have done with 4350 and H4831 is a 2 1/16 five shot group. Four of the five measured 7/8". I tend to give the equipment the benefit of the doubt and chalk it up to operator error. Not sure if that is logical or not.

Any advice on taming recoil on the bench with the .338? I think I can stand it in the field but load development is getting hazardous.

R Flowers · Feb 1, 2005

Well, a .338 or .340 can get tiring on the bench, that is for sure.

Just do not shoot too many shells on any one outing and try some sort of padding on your shoulder. Even wearing a good coat will help. I did not bother when I shot on Sunday, but I often wear a Past recoil pad that you can purchase to help when shooting the large calibers. The Past pad is a strap on gadget that you wear on your shoulder, it helps a lot. I have even resorted to just folding a dish towel and putting it between my shoulder and the recoil pad.

Reloder 19 is indeed a good powder for the .338 WIn Mag. I used to use it with 250 grain bullets all the time. One thing I found though was oddly enough I got better groups and more consistant speeds on the chronograph if I used standard large rifle primers instead of magnums with that powder. I tried it with CCI and Federal brands. In both cases the standard primers gave better performance. Odd, but true.

Keep at it, R F