Corroded Accubonds

[RAD57]

I recently opened a box of 338 225 grain AccuBond bullets and was shocked to see half of the points broken/corroded off of the bullets. I contacted customer service and talked to Mike and he is sending me a new box. Thumbs up with Nosler Customer Service. He told me my box was about 15 years old. I have other boxes that are just as old in 6mm, 277, 7mm & 308 without this issue. I was curious if anyone else has had this issue with the Accubonds. It appears that perhaps the bonding agent eats away the tip material and starts to corrode the bullet over a period of years, or it could be what the bullets are cleaned with. I have three questions: 1. Anybody else experience this issue? 2. Can I hunt with these "Hollowbonds" and expect them to expand? 3. Is this an old issue already remedied or is it something we can expect over time with all the AccuBond bullets?

 

[drakehammer]

Accubonds don’t use a bonding agent to bond the lead core to the jacket as far as I know. Thumbs up to Nosler for making it good.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Charlie-NY]

I have seen that twice before with Accubonds. First with some 160gr .284 bullets and then with some 200gr .338 IIRC. On both occasions Nosler sent replacement bullets right out.

Since they didn't want me to return the tarnished bullets (or tipless bullets) I just shot them at paper. They generally shot to the same point of ammo as good bullets but I wouldn't hunt with them.

 

[Nimrod84]

I don't have Accubonds that old, so I can't directly answer your first and 3rd question. Also, I have not shot any Accubonds without a tip so I can't help you on the expansion question. You might consider shooting a few into milk / water jugs and see how they do.

Were the 338 cal Accubonds stored differently than your other bullets; such as by any cleaning solvents (gun cleaning or other), by pipes or in an unconditioned area? Some times stuff like Ammonium can leach out of a container, become airborne and start eating away at what they land on. I have had corrosion on new brass cases when stored in plastic bags along with corrosion on Speer bullets that were stored a few feet from my cleaning chemicals.

If there isn't an environmental problem than my best guess is that it was an issue with the specific plastic blend they used on that lot of bullets. Plastic isn't always benign, some use strong acids like Chlorine in their creation, and improper mixing can leave them in the product.

 

[RAD57]

All my bullets are stored together or are on a shelf with other bullets in original packing. No solvents, water, alcohol, etc. are near bullets, primers or powders. I only reload with a Nitrile EMT glove on the hand that handles brass and bullets! My reloading bench is only for reloading and then I have a cleaning bench (thanks Harbor Freight) that is separate. I learned about certain cleaning products and copper/brass alloys many years ago by putting some brass on a cleaning pad like Tekmat ... they don't go together well! As you can see in the photo, the corrosion comes from inside the tip cavity. I'm thinking it has something to do with they way the bullets are cleaned.

 

[ElmerThud]

I experienced the same issue across three boxes of 110gn .257 AB’s around two years ago.
I contacted Nosler about the problem & gave them the box serial numbers.
They told me they’d been made around four years earlier.
There wasn’t any corrosion, just broken tips...approx 15% of each box ....
I used them for zeroing and at 100 yds there was no difference in POI to perfect bullets.
I didn’t use any of them on live quarry.

 

[Guy Miner]

Crud. I still think of the AccuBond as a new bullet. Sigh.

This is actually an old issue. The tips falling out problem was traced to a single employee who was trying to keep up with demand and taking some shortcuts.

There may have been problems since, but the original problem of tips falling out of the AccuBond bullets was dealt with long ago.

Regards, Guy

 

[cloverleaf]

So, it seems to me that this might be a good time for a bullet test. Line up the jugs, load some of each and see if the expansion/ performance looks any different. We'd be curious if you don't mind spending some at our expense. Just a thought. CL

 

[TackDriver284]

I had the same issue two years ago when I opened two boxes of 7mm 160 grain Accubonds that I had sitting on the shelf a few years and to find the tip corroded and in powdery form. I called Nosler, gave them the Lot # plus pictures and they said its an old batch but sent me two new boxes. Great Customer service. They did not give me a reason on the cause of the issue, except that it was made several years ago.

 

[RaySendero]

This is actually an old issue. The tips falling out problem was traced to a single employee who was trying to keep up with demand and taking some shortcuts.

So does anyone know what the root cause was?

Like what was th1s shortcut?

How did it lead to corrosion?

 

[Guy Miner]

This is actually an old issue. The tips falling out problem was traced to a single employee who was trying to keep up with demand and taking some shortcuts.

So does anyone know what the root cause was?

Like what was th1s shortcut?

How did it lead to corrosion?

I have no idea. Was just passing on what I'd heard from a reliable source. But I don't know any more specifics.

Guy

 

[Charlie-NY]

The "single employee" story is kind of hard to believe. Many shooters have encountered this problem and Nosler has confirmed that some of these bullets are 10-15 years old while others are of fairly recent manufacture. The effected bullets also seem to run the spectrum from small caliber bullets to some of the heavies.
Either Nosler maintained a completely incompetent employee for for over 20 years or the story doesn't hold water.
The good thing is that Nosler is a great company that makes a quality product and stands behind it when problems are identified.

 

[Guy Miner]

Perhaps I only heard about the original, old problem from years ago.

Regards, Guy

 

[TXbaldhunter]

I had issues with Accubonds when they first came out.Some of the tips fell off and the plastic that was inside the bullet was soft and chalky.The plastic never cured right.May have been improperly mixed,since it's white maybe hard to tell if it is. I've never seen this happen with Ballistic Tips.Nosler sent me a box too.

 

[RaySendero]

Perhaps I only heard about the original, old problem from years ago.

Regards, Guy

My post wasn't pointed at you Guy.
Think you got part of THE (or A) story.
I was wondering what the rest of the story was?
If any knew.

The comments regarding corrosion got me thinking;
What's there that would lead to corrosion?

 

[Charlie-NY]

When you make zillions of anything, a few slip through that don't make production standards. I rarely can find anything wrong with Nosler "seconds" so their standards must be pretty high for their "firsts".

 

[SJB358]

I’ve got some 200 ABs the tips have fallen out of. Also had some 160 Accubonds with the same problem. Nosler has always been good refilling the broken ones.