165 Ballistic Tip vs. 165 Accubond

ReloadKy

Handloader
May 13, 2020
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IMG_1768.jpgIMG_1767.jpgDecided to do a side by side comparison of the aforementioned bullet out of the 30-06. I was very pleased with all the numbers; velocity, weight retention, expansion and milk jugs! My son loved it!! I would feel extremely comfortable using either!
 
Thanks for posting your results. Both are excellent, you can see where the bonding of the core gives it a bit more toughness and a bit more penetration which might help on big animals. Love the Ballistic Tip's for deer sized game but in all honesty these 165's can handle even bigger game if necessary.
 
the 165 B-tip impresses me . I hunt with a couple guys that shoot them out of 300 ultra mags .
 
That is very nice expansion with both bullets. I have always been a fan of Ballistic Tips and Accubonds, I favor them more than any other bullet for hunting. May I ask what the range was when you tested them?
 
Tack I was shooting at 30 yards. I have hunted with the Ballistic tips but was not lucky enough to shoot anything. This is my first experience with the accubonds and so far they have proven to be just as accurate at the BTips in my rifle. I have gotten those 165 BTips to shoot sub-moa with 4 different powders and different charge weights on top of that.

Jim I was curious to see if the BTip would hold up at almost 2950 fps. If they hold up in a 300 ultra mag then they should hold up in a 06.
 
Man looks like that 165 ballistic tip will do just about everything in North America!
 
Really cool side by side!
Thank you!
In that 165 weight I have a pile of PT’s and BT’s. Really live how these bullets perform!


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Funny how this came up again, a year later! :grin:

With the 165 grain Ballistic Tip I've taken whitetail, mule deer, pronghorn antelope, elk and black bear. All very nicely.

Here's the 165 grain Ballistic Tip I recovered from a mule deer buck I shot lengthwise in 2016:
TtfrNHjl.jpg


And a link to a 2012 test I did with the Ballistic Tip:

viewtopic.php?f=50&t=18211

Good bullets, no doubt!

Guy
 
Guy Miner":2w3eh7l3 said:
Funny how this came up again, a year later! :grin:

With the 165 grain Ballistic Tip I've taken whitetail, mule deer, pronghorn antelope, elk and black bear. All very nicely.

Here's the 165 grain Ballistic Tip I recovered from a mule deer buck I shot lengthwise in 2016:
TtfrNHjl.jpg


And a link to a 2012 test I did with the Ballistic Tip:

viewtopic.php?f=50&t=18211

Good bullets, no doubt!

Guy

Show off :mrgreen:

That was an excellent year for the 06 for you though. I will admit your results prompted me to break out my 30-06 and commence to prove to myself how well it works
 
I used the solid base Noslers until the Ballistic Tips came out and have been steady using them. I tried the .308 Accubonds in 150gr. and 165gr. in my 30-06 for deer with good results but prefer the 150 gr. AccuBond or 165gr. Ballistic Tip. I found the Ballistic Tips to be slightly more accurate and put deer down a bit quicker than Accubonds but with more meat damage. The 165gr. Ballistic Tip and IMR-4350 just seem to be made for the 30-06.
 
I've used the 165 gr. AccuBond a lot in my 30-06 and the 140 gr. AccuBond in my 280AI. The 280AI is what I shot my grizzly bear with and the bullet performed perfectly.
I don't know if you tried this or not, but the AccuBond and the BT seem to hit almost exactly in the same spot with the same load so a person can switch off to us the BT for practice as it's a bit less costly than the AccuBond.
 
I used BT's in a 7 mag way back when, had some issues. in the late 80's early 90's after nosler revamped them I started using them again. They are a much better bullet than they used to be. have had impacts on deer at 3400+ fps and they hold up well. at 3000 fps there is no difference between the BT and the AccuBond as far as terminal performance.
 
About 5 years ago I made the 165 AccuBond my standard go-to bullet in my Model 70 .30-06. Since then I’ve recovered three of them from all the various game animals I’ve taken with them. One from my Aoudad, shot through both shoulders at 150 yards, two from two elk, also shot through both shoulders at about 200 yards; all three bullets were recovered under the offside hide and retained 70 percent of their weight. I have not yet recovered one from a mule deer nor anything smaller that I’ve shot.

Of all the bullets I’ve tried in the .30-06, the AccuBond is far and away my favorite.

IMR4350 is my preferred powder.

Below is the picture of the slug I recovered from the Aoudad.

0D7E6BC4-9408-4380-AD74-F888062FAE40.jpeg
 
No doubt here that both will work when the shooter does their part!
The early BT's got a bad rap, but mostly from cartridges with high velocities; didn't hear about that from standard cartridges.
The redesign definitely righted things and people keep using them with great results!

Actually picked up 2 more boxes of .257 115 gr BT's yesterday for the Roberts whenever we get around to shooting and loading for it...or the 250AI....in case it prefers the 115 BT to the 110 AB.
 
About 5 years ago I made the 165 AccuBond my standard go-to bullet in my Model 70 .30-06. Since then I’ve recovered three of them from all the various game animals I’ve taken with them. One from my Aoudad, shot through both shoulders at 150 yards, two from two elk, also shot through both shoulders at about 200 yards; all three bullets were recovered under the offside hide and retained 70 percent of their weight. I have not yet recovered one from a mule deer nor anything smaller that I’ve shot.

Of all the bullets I’ve tried in the .30-06, the AccuBond is far and away my favorite.

IMR4350 is my preferred powder.

Below is the picture of the slug I recovered from the Aoudad.

View attachment 18400
I think you’d be hard pressed to find much game that could stand up to either bullet in the’06. I started with 200 grain AB’s in my .300 WSM because I couldn’t find any 180’s. When I did I started loading those in my ‘06. I’ve since gone to the 180’s in the WSM and 165’s in the ‘06. I’m not getting some of the velocities you guys at in the ‘06, 2800 with the 165 and 2700 with the 180, but they shoot so that’s all I care about. At those speeds I should play with the BT’s again some day, even if it’s just for messing around.
 
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