Nosler B.T. or Accubond

[Mickey]

I just picked up a 30-06 for my Son.
Was going to load it with 165 grain BT's.
However, I've got guys telling me this bullet will splatter if my kid shoots a whitetail in the front shoulder with it. They say to use the AccuBond.
Then I got guys telling me the AccuBond is to tough for whitetail. You won't get any expansion with it. I'm totally confused.
I shoot 115 grain Partitions in my 257 Roberts.
Any advice or correct info would be appreciated.
Thanks Mickey

 

[1Shot]

Most of those people that tell you stuff like that do not have any or very much first hand experience. I have used both BT and AB on deer and they both do fine. They both start to open quickly but the AB will hold together and keep on trucking. With the 165 BT it should also exit through the shoulders of the average deer. It depends on the size of the deer but if you are shooting 100 to 175 lb deer I have found that if you keep the 125 gr BT under 3100 fps muzzle velocity it makes a great drop them in their tracks killer if you put it into a shoulder. It has much less felt recoil for a youngerster also.

I feel that the AB is the best of both worlds. It flies like the BT and starts to open up like a BT but holds together like the Partition and keeps on trucking. I actually recovered a 130 AB from my 264 Win Mag this past season. The bullet left the muzzle at average 3350 fps and struck the deer on the front edge of the left shoulder as it with a slight angel faced me. The buck was at 111 yards. The bullet smashed the front shoulder and made soup of the vitals and when I was cutting up the meat I found the bullet in the right ham. It was a text book mushroom and weight was 87 grs. For that bullet to hit that deer at that velocity which had to be still around 3200 fps and do what it did and still stay together you can't ask for a better bullet.

 

[DrMike]

Mickey,

Good to see your post. 1Shot is correct, most people that advise against one bullet or another have little first-hand experience, or they carry a particular bias that has no basis in fact. Use either the BT or the AB for your son, and if he does his part you will have venison that he harvested. The Ballistic Tip will take any whitetail cleanly. The people that argue against BTs often use or recommend Hornady InterLocks, Sierra Game Kings, Winchester Power Points or Remington CoreLocks and never stop to think that the construction on each of these is similar. I have heard anecdotal accounts on a number of forums relating failure in ABs. I've witnessed a number of moose, bison, elk, whitetail, mule deer and black bear taken with ABs, and when we recovered a bullet they performed very well. I've never witnessed an animal that failed to die when shot well with an AB. Load up whichever of these bullets shoots well in your son's 30-06 and enjoy the time hunting with your boy.

 

[3006savage]

At 30-06 velocities and on medium sized game like deer a BT will work fine. I would suggest the 168 grain BT over the 165. It has a higher BC, will retain more weight, and will shoot just as flat as the 165s due to the BC.

Most BT horror stories start with their "XYZ magnum at 3,400 fps". You will be fine with a BT and the lower cost will buy him more trigger time which is more important anyway.

 

[Elkman]

Most BT horror stories start with their "XYZ magnum at 3,400 fps"..

That and closing their eyes doesn't help either!!!!

 

[JD338]

Mickey

Welcome to the forum, glad to have you here.

Most BT failures are operator error! The wrong bullet for the application, too high a velocity, and poor shot placement. The BT is designed for deer sized game and it will kill like lighting.

Impact velocity is the key, keep your impact velocities below 3000 fps and you will be fine. The 165 gr BT will work great in your 30-06 for deer.
Also look at the 168 gr BT for its better BC.
I have used the 7mm 140 gr BT in a 280 Remington to drop several WT deer and 2 bull caribou. Both Caribou were shot at 250 yds quartering on shots, The bullets went into the shoulders and exited the off side rib cage with exits about the size of a quarter. Both traveled 30-40 yds and expired.

The AB's will hold together and retain more weight than the BT will and would be a better choice if you plan on busting shoulder blades. Again, at 30-06 velocities, they will be awesome! The AB will open up just fine on a WT deer. The bust was shot with a 250 gr AB from a 338 RUM at 2900 fps impact velocity and clearly shows the exit wound.

JD338

 

[30-338]

I just picked up a 30-06 for my Son.
Was going to load it with 165 grain BT's.
However, I've got guys telling me this bullet will splatter if my kid shoots a whitetail in the front shoulder with it. They say to use the AccuBond.
Then I got guys telling me the AccuBond is to tough for whitetail. You won't get any expansion with it. I'm totally confused.
I shoot 115 grain Partitions in my 257 Roberts.
Any advice or correct info would be appreciated.
Thanks Mickey

Mikey, when Nolser made the change over from the expander to the BT there was some problems with those bullets. I had a problem with them and I called Nolser and more than likely the person I talked may not be there. He acknowledge they were having some problem with the polymer tip and for me to send the bullets back and they be replaced. I'd asked him how he wanted to handle the shipping and he said I had to pay to return them. That been 25yrs or so and I never send those bullets back and I've never shot another BT bullet since and never will.

The guy I talked didn't have any concern for the animal it was more like so what. I lived in Calif at the time and I was shooting out of Sunnyvale Rod & Gun Club wasn't only problem for deer with the BT the varmit bullets had some problem also.

I'd started shooting Partition in my 243 back in 1965 and I still have a limited supply of those old expander bullets.

I'm sure the BT are OK now so what you hear did happen about half the guys I was shooting had problem including me others didn't.

 

[1Shot]

Yes when the ballistic tip first came out the jacket was too thin and the bullet did blow up. I used the 150 gr in a 30-06 back then and had to trail up a few deer with NO BLOOD TRAIL to follow. The bullet blew up inside but they did not go very far because their lungs were mush.That was many years ago. They have the ballistic tips right now and have had for a number of years. Like has been said keep you impact velocity below 3000 fps and you will be fine.

 

[6mm Remington]

Use the AccuBond! Then you can hunt anything with the 30-06 and not have to worry about it.........