Bullet performance on deer.. Graphic photo, I'll pull it if there are complaints

[Wea300mag]

That is some serious deer fire-power there. 

Nice buck!

[luvtohnt]

I don't have field photos of the bear but I have all the load info and was able to recover the bullet.

Ruger M77 Mark IV chambered in .300 Winchester Magnum. Using the Barnes TSX BT 165 gr. loaded with 70 grains of IMR 4831. Velocity is right in the neighborhood of 3000 fps.

Shot the bear at 130 yards, hit her just to the right of the spine and took out booth lungs (I think the energy at that distance caused a lot of hydrostatic shock and that is why both lungs were toast). She ran for ~40 yards, and I put another round in her neck (only option, and I think she stopped because she was going down). The second shot was purely a backup from all the stories and youtube videos I have watched about bears being so tuff. First shot was found just under the hide near the armpit and the neck shot was a pass through. After several hours of soaking and cleaning with peroxide to make sure I could get an accurate weight the results are as follows.

Expansion- .613 diameter average because the two diameters differed slightly.
Weight retention- 99.45% (164.3 gr) I grabbed a random bullet out of my new box to check the accuracy of weight and it was 165.2 grains, so I used that as the number to figure weight retention.

I also shot a mature bull elk in 2011 (double lung shot, no shoulder), had a small entrance wound and the exit hole reminded me of a .45 ACP hole on paper. The bull went less than 40 yards before he piled up. I have been nothing but pleased with this round and would recommend these bullets to anyone who reloads.

[fishingfool]

Feed back on the accubonds. My wife and I call them accuBOMBS. Tried them in her 270-140 and my 280AI-140, we shot 5 speed goats in Wyoming and 3 mule deer here at home. The third mule deer was taken by the neighbor lady with Kat's 270. We were shocked at the huge entrance wounds, destruction of meat was sickening for us, we eat what we kill. We have used Speer Grand Slams in our hunting rifles since '98, I read the rave reviews and tried the "bombs" one season, never again. The dogs got almost as much meat as we did that year. It  seems odd, to me, that the Grand Slams are seldom mentioned, we have had great results with them. OK, rant over, just had to put my :twocents:in. Tight lines ff

[Gutpile]

Hmmm. I've had great results with accubonds. The worst bullet as far as wasting I've ever seen was partitions. They are a great bullet but produce quite I bit of bloodshot. I've personally used accubonds on deer, antelope, bear, and now elk. The only"blowup" I've had was at very close range with my 7 mag but it did do the trick and it was with the long range accubond not the regular accubonds. The long range are not meant for close range shots. It was about 10 yards. Anyways I just can't help but wonder the circumstances of these horror stories because I friggin love them and will continue to look forward to hearing the accubond "pop" when they hit home next season.

[7mmfan]

Another option that hasn't been mentioned is the Hornaday Interbonds. Substantially cheaper than Accubonds, with what I feel are similar results both for accuracy and durability.

I switched my 7 mag over from Interlocks to Interbonds last year and have been VERY impressed. I've killed two elk with them now, and a buddy killed his first bull with them this year. Last years was a little over 200 yards, pass through, jellied lungs. This year I shot my spike through the front shoulder at 30-35 yards. Bullet took out 2 ribs afterwards and I found the bullet under the hide on the other side fully intact with 87% weight retention. I will post a picture of the bullet when I get home. Friend shot his at about 100 yards, one pass through double lung, follow up shot spined him. Spine shot was suprisingly clean.

In the mean time, here is a comparison of 154 gr. Hornaday SST vs. 154 gr. Hornaday Interbond. Shot at 100 yards.

[kbrowne14]

I shot a deer with an accubond at about 40 yards moving 2800 fps.  The wound was devastating, but not that bad.  I shot an elk 400 yards and the entrance wound was small, but my exit wound was enormous.  My father in law shot an elk this year at 800 yards with a 300 win mag with 200 gr accubonds and the wound was absolutely devastating, the exit would was the size of my fist. 

From my understanding, the accubond as well as the ballistic tips have always had issues of tearing apart with extreme velocities, generally at close range. Not every time of course, but some of the time. 

[Fowlweather25]

An exit wound at 800 yards? holy crap!

[JJB11B]

168 gr sierra game kings/ or match kings out of my .308s...course I only shoot rifles at varmints these days....

[dscubame]

I'd say you were a little too close and the velocity a little too high for that Ballistic Tip. Should have been shooting a Barnes tsx. Or an Accubond, or similar. I definitely wouldn't use a Ballistic tip out of a cartridge that pushes them out over 3000 fps. I once shot an antelope at 320 yards with a 150 grain Ballistip Tip out of a 270 Winchester. Bullet blew up and not even a fragment reached the far side of the body cavity. This was a broadside shot behind the shoulder and it just barely clipped a rib going in.

The Ballistic Tip are very accurate out of my A Bolt, but I'm looking to load up some Accubonds for next year. Only problem is, they aren't available anywhere. The only bullets I've found that anyone has in stock, ARE the Ballistic Tips.

EXACTLY.  Heavy bullet, very fast traveling with that gun therefore at 85 yards you experienced less than satisfactory results.  The story would be very different at 150 yards and getting even better as you travel out to 500 yards+ much better results. 

[aorams]

180 grain accubonds at 2950fps from .300 winmag:

Deer at 160 yards:  Minimal meat loss, silver dollar size exit, heart and lungs were unrecognizable J-ELLO.
Elk at 60 yards  A bit more meat loss, but more due to shot placement.  DRT.

I think we will see if we can load them a bit hotter for next year.

[JackOfAllTrades]

I'd say you were a little too close and the velocity a little too high for that Ballistic Tip. Should have been shooting a Barnes tsx. Or an Accubond, or similar. I definitely wouldn't use a Ballistic tip out of a cartridge that pushes them out over 3000 fps. I once shot an antelope at 320 yards with a 150 grain Ballistip Tip out of a 270 Winchester. Bullet blew up and not even a fragment reached the far side of the body cavity. This was a broadside shot behind the shoulder and it just barely clipped a rib going in.

The Ballistic Tip are very accurate out of my A Bolt, but I'm looking to load up some Accubonds for next year. Only problem is, they aren't available anywhere. The only bullets I've found that anyone has in stock, ARE the Ballistic Tips.

EXACTLY.  Heavy bullet, very fast traveling with that gun therefore at 85 yards you experienced less than satisfactory results.  The story would be very different at 150 yards and getting even better as you travel out to 500 yards+ much better results.

Oh, I completely understand the performance of the bullet because of the short range.. But I've shot other bullets that would have held together at that distance and still performed admirably at longer ranges.
 
-Steve

[kbrowne14]

An exit wound at 800 yards? holy crap!

The elk was quartering Towards us, the shot went through the lower part of the neck, broke the neck and came out the front shoulder.  The bullet did break apart a little bit though.  I found a piece of the bullet on the inside of the front shoulder near the exit wound.  He was shooting a 200 grain accubond at around 2900 feet per second. 

[Fowlweather25]

Nice!

[demontang]

Ive ised the accubonds and bt put of my 338win. The bt are explosive to say the least under 150yds out of my 338. Ive shot two deer with them both had lots of meat damage   loaded up some 225gr accubond at 2800 and have taken deer elk bear and a few yotes with them. Ive shot an elk at 20yds in the shoulder and the bullet did very little damage to the meat but smash the bone on both sides and exited, the bear at 75yds had a small hole in and out . My deer at 150yds had a hole in and out no meat loss. The coyotes where 40yds-600yds and the bullet destroyed them. The accubonds have been great bullets for my 338win and im looking forward to shooting the 6mm accubonds. Ill post pics of a recovered accubond