Accubond grenade!

[Buck8541]

This was the result of a 150gr Accubond fired from a 300 Dakota Mag at a stated 3500fps. This antelope was shot at a little over 400 yards. The butcher said he had never seen so many metal fragments in the meat. So, despite what Nosler says there is a upper velocity limit.

 

[ddress00]

Talk about a hole.....geez

 

[trophyhill]

Accubond's fly great out of my 7 mag and have resulted in many a dead deer. never had a hole that big though lol. killed a cow elk with an Accubond too a couple of years ago. 140gr

 

[Buck8541]

Trophyhill,

I agree, I use Accubonds in my 280 Rem and 30-06 with great results. The 300 Dakota is my buddies rifle, he loves it, I think he is trying to compensate for something

 

[Colorado Cowboy]

Had the same problem with Nosler Ballistic Tips in my .257 Wby on antelope. The are now relegated to varmints only.

 

[llewokj]

too much gun for antelope. I use a .25-06 with a 117gr. hornady ballistic tip. knocks them down but doesn't blow them up.

 

[shootbrownelk]

View attachment 6996This was the result of a 150gr Accubond fired from a 300 Dakota Mag at a stated 3500fps. This antelope was shot at a little over 400 yards. The butcher said he had never seen so many metal fragments in the meat. So, despite what Nosler says there is a upper velocity limit.

Nosler Accubonds are nothing more than a Ballistic tip with a thicker jacket, supposedly to prevent just what happened to you. 3,500fps just may require a "lead-free" solid copper bullet out of that .300 Dakota. I have used BarnesX and Barnes TTS bullets for years without the explosive results you experienced. Hornady also has the excellent GMX. Worth a look. JMO

 

[Roboz]

Had the same problem with Nosler Ballistic Tips in my .257 Wby on antelope. The are now relegated to varmints only.

I had the same problem in my 257 Weatherby with ballistic tips, since I started loading the Accubonds I have had excellent results on Antelope up to Elk. The ballistic tips blew a hole in my antelope just like the one in your picture.

 

[mcseal2]

I'd say that was a freak incident at 400yds. The velocity at that range should have been down to 2594fps according to my ballistics program. It probably hit a rib or shoulder going in and the 30-40% of the accubond intended to shed off the main bullet did so quickly. The rest of the bullet may have tumbled or something else also to create that massive exit. Maybe bone chunks did part of it. I've shot many coyotes at different angles with accubonds in 6.5. .277, and 7mm that hit at much higher velocity than that one would have and never seen a hole like that. Maybe just a bad bullet or just the perfect combination of things on impact to make a mess. That bullet drops below 3200fps at about 125yds, I could definitely see problems on close shots.

Has he shot anything else with this bullet and had trouble?

 

[Tag stew]

View attachment 6996This was the result of a 150gr Accubond fired from a 300 Dakota Mag at a stated 3500fps. This antelope was shot at a little over 400 yards. The butcher said he had never seen so many metal fragments in the meat. So, despite what Nosler says there is a upper velocity limit.

Oh my!!!!!!!!..

 

[Buck8541]

No, he normally shoots the Barnes TTSX or the LRX bullets when he can find them. This was just a test to check performance at high velocity. Like I said earlier I use the Accubonds in my 280 Rem and 30-06 with great results. This was the first time I have seen an Accubond do that. The Accubond in the picture is a 160 gr, 7mm recovered from my deer. Muzzle velocity is 2700 fps and the deer was shot at 250 yards through the heart and far shoulder.

 

[Colorado Cowboy]

Here is what happened with the Ballistic Tip in my .257 Wby. The antelope was 200yds away. Muzzle vel on my load is 3750 with this 100 gr bullet.

 

[Bitterroot Bulls]

It doesn't seem really all that bad to me. Antelope are a thin target. The front portion of the bullet likely fragmented the most as it neared the off side, causing the large exit. My guess is the rear portion is still intact and fully perforated the antelope. On a larger animal (like an elk) the fragmentation would have likely happened at a similar penetration distance, which would have caused massive internal damage, but less of a big exit.

BTW, the accubond doesn't just have a thicker jacket. The rear portion of the core is bonded to the jacket as well.

I do think at least a 180 gr. would be a better match for the big Dakota.

 

[Buck8541]

Agreed Bitterroot, but this guy is all about velocity in his Dakota. He has even worked loaded up for a 130 Gr Barnes TSX load for it. I have no idea how fast it goes but it should be an interesting Antelope season next year.

 

[jims]

In response to CC's comment about performance of Ballistic Tips in his .257 Weatherby, .25 cal Ballistic Tips are not engineered for that kind of velocity. I reload 115 grain Ballistic Tips in my .25-06 at 3100 fps. The box of Ballistic Tips says the maximum velocity for optimum performance is 3200 fps. I shot an antelope a few weeks ago at 170 yards and I was satisfied with the bullet performance. I think Ballistic Tips are okay (not great) if you keep their impact velocity within bounds.

 

[squirrelduster]

Looks like shooting a squirrel with 75gr vmax out of a 6br.
Way overkill for the size of the antelope.
Shoot the 200 gr instead. Probably get better results.
I shoot antelope with my 300 win mag and the 180 accubonds and they don't destroy them too bad.

 

[Don K]

Well doesnt look like you needed to field dress it as the insides are gone!!!

 

[Colorado Cowboy]

In response to CC's comment about performance of Ballistic Tips in his .257 Weatherby, .25 cal Ballistic Tips are not engineered for that kind of velocity. I reload 115 grain Ballistic Tips in my .25-06 at 3100 fps. The box of Ballistic Tips says the maximum velocity for optimum performance is 3200 fps. I shot an antelope a few weeks ago at 170 yards and I was satisfied with the bullet performance. I think Ballistic Tips are okay (not great) if you keep their impact velocity within bounds.

I checked my box from Nosler and also the Nosler web site and could find no such max velocity warning. It seems that they now make a Varmint and big game BT. The Varmint has a thinner jacket.

 

[jims]

Yes, there are separate varmint and hunting (big game) ballistic tips. The boxes I have are the big game ballistic tips that were purchased this year. The box has interesting pictures showing the degree of bullet mushrooming with various impact velocities. Minimum stated impact velocity with the 115 grain is 1900 fps and max is 3200 fps. I prefer Accubonds, but I could not find a load that my .25-06 would shoot accurately. I have always found Ballistic Tips to be very accurate.

 

[Colorado Cowboy]

I shot 100 grainers that were given to me with the .257 Wby I bought last year. This box was probably 4 or 5 years old. They shot well in my 25-06 & .257. Interestingly the faster I pushed them, the tigthter the groups got.