I do like the Accubond

[Jeff Olsen]

This is a little late, but I just joined the forum so what the heck. I've got several rifles that just love the AccuBond in terms of accuracy, and as of last season I have at least one kill to report, a very successful one in terms of bullet performance...

I mainly hunt blacktail deer in western Oregon. For last year's hunt, my intent had been to use my Model 7 which I had just had rebarreled by Pac-Nor to .358 Winchester, but I could not get the rifle straightened out in time for the season (I blame Barnes X-bullets) so I ended up carrying ol' faithful, the 30-06 that I killed my first buck with. I had two hunting loads worked up for it at the time, a 150-gn AccuBond at 3100 fps (also a Pac-Nor barrel on this one, sucker is faaast) and a 180-gn AccuBond at 2840 fps. I opted to use the 180 since shots can be close on blacktail.

On opening day, I killed a very large-bodied 3x4 near Cougar Reservoir. The shot was on level terrain at about 80 yards with the buck quartering sharply towards me. The bullet hit the near shoulder bone, broke it, then traversed through over 26" of deer before exiting the off flank. The deer dropped in his tracks. The near shoulder was not wrecked as far as eating; the bullet did not "explode". The exit wound was fine- nothing major, just a 3/4" hole.

This is about as perfect as bullet performance gets, IMHO. Unfortunatly I have not been able to test my .338 WM elk load, a 225 AccuBond at 2900 fps.

As a side note, by this season I had my Model 7 worked out and the .358 just whacks the hell out of deer. I've killed 4 with .358 now and it's just awesome. NOSLER- are you listening- please please please make me a 200-gn, 35-caliber Partition or AccuBond!

-jeff

 

[JD338]

Congrats on your deer hunting success!
Nosler will offer a 225 gr AB in 35 cal next spring.

JD338

 

[Jeff Olsen]

!! Really?! Sweet!

Well, that brings up another question, then. I am currently using a Hornady 200-gn Interlock in the M7, because it, a 200-gn Corelokt that's hard to get, and the X-bullets are the only 200-gn Spitzers in 35 caliber. The Hornady is easy to get and seems to work well- if you guys want, I'll try to figure out how to post the picture of the exit wound on this year's little buck. It was.... large. Maybe, at a MV of just over 2600 fps, the Interlock is a good bullet but you hear horror stories about 'em so I am still a little leary.

In .358, I've killed deer with a factory Winchester Silvertip (first year with .358, from a BLR); with a 225-gn Partition, and now this year with (2) Hornady Interlocks. I had exit wounds in all cases and in 3 of the 4, the deer died right then, right there. The 4th was the abovementioned forkie from a couple weeks ago, and he ranabout 125 yards with no lungs... whaddaya gonna do....

So ANYWAY, my dream bullet would be a 200-gn AccuBond. The sharp, sleek, boattail bullet would really help the "reach" of the .358. A 225 is still very interesting to me but, due to case capacity, I end up really pushing my load to get to 2500 fps with 225's; this would only be worse, probably, with an AB since it's such a long bullet.

So finally, my question. Anyone ever take a belt sander to the plastic tip? Round it off? That would gain me over 1/10th inch of case capacity, because the mag well length will be the limiting factor, I think, with a Ballistic Tip or AccuBond in my little .358. I could make a little jig to cleanly grind the tips down, I bet....

Nosler? Any thoughts?

-jeff

 

[JD338]

Jeff,

I have a 35 Whelen and have killed quite a few WT Deer and a Black Bear
with the 225 gr PT. Always get an exit wound the size of a quarter. Only had a couple of blood trails to follow but they were only 30-40 yds but very heavy.
The 225 gr AB will be a welcome addition to my 35 Whelen.
As for altering the polycarbonate tip, I would suggest you try it as is.
The AB's are designed to open up down to 1600 fps.

JD338

 

[Jeff Olsen]

Jeff,

I have a 35 Whelen and have killed quite a few WT Deer and a Black Bear
with the 225 gr PT. Always get an exit wound the size of a quarter. Only had a couple of blood trails to follow but they were only 30-40 yds but very heavy.
The 225 gr AB will be a welcome addition to my 35 Whelen.
As for altering the polycarbonate tip, I would suggest you try it as is.
The AB's are designed to open up down to 1600 fps.

Oh, I'll try it for sure. With a .358 (based on the .308 case) a guy is always fighting the case-capacity battle and since my Model 7 has a short magazine well, the tenth of an inch that the plastic tip takes up will cost me a tenth of an inch of powder, basically! So... I'm just thinking since it's a 250-yard cartridge tops anyway, that plastic tip sticking way out there isn't doing a whole lot for me anyway... is it?

If I had a Whelen, I'd be using 225's exclusively. With a .358, 200's are about ideal. I can get just under 2500 fps with 225-gn Partitions, or just over 2600 fps with 200-gn bullets. If the AccuBond really will open up at 1600 fps... that is a very good thing for us .358 guys. Just not quite AS great as a 200-gn AccuBond would be! :grin:

-jeff