180 accubond, 30 caliber

[Condor]

I have finally tweaked my load to where I am getting sub-MOA performance. I am told that if i hit a whitetail with this bullet it will just go through it and not create a huge wound channel. What are you personal experiences with this bullet weight being shot out of a 300 win mag at coues deer.

Thanks

Connor

[youngbuck]

.30 hole for entrance, .5" for exit of you dont hit a major bone to take out with the bullet. Inbetween the entrance and exit, there will be a 1"-2" hole filled with nothin but jelly. Its been a great bullet for me. Nothing has gotten away from it.

[cactusjack]

I use 180gn Win Silver ballistic tips on everything. It does a number on coues, elk and anything I go after. the bullet flies great and hits hard. Nosler makes them too.

[Browning'sCustomMeat]

it'll prolly kill it....

[Red Rabbit]

I have used the 180 Accubond from my 300WSM on mule deer, Texas Whitetail, feral pigs, and cow elk with no regrets or concerns. Behavior was similar to a Nosler Partition- not as disruptive as a Ballistic Tip or Berger VLD, but still very effective.

[Coues Sniper]

It all depends on the velocity. Close in shots, say 400 or less, not an issue. Once that bullet speed is in the lows 2000's that expansion becomes a problem and I'd start to worry.

[slopoke36]

If I was shooting a .300 win mag, I would shoot a 165 gr Nosler Partition. If you re-load might look into slowing the bullet down a little bit as well. 180 gr is far to big for these whitetail. That 165 will also do an elk under as well.

[shaynec]

You certainly would'nt want your whitetail to be too dead.

[oz31p]

I've been loading and shooting a 180g accubond in a 300wm for 5years now. I've only shot a coyote and a mule deer but they fell dead. Give me 7 days ill show you some pic of what it does to a coues deer.

 

About the same as what youngbuck sayed.

[firstcoueswas80]

It all depends on the velocity. Close in shots, say 400 or less, not an issue. Once that bullet speed is in the lows 2000's that expansion becomes a problem and I'd start to worry.

 

 

I think a lot of people worry about that more than they need to. My dad shot his buck at 531 with his 7 RUM with a moderate load not all that fast and it hammered that deer with a perfect fifty cent piece exit.

[308Nut]

The 180 AB will do just fine. It will open reliably to 1800 FPS and a bit less depending on muscle density, bone interaction etc.......

 

That said, it sounds like you have been developing a load, finally found one that is accurate and are worried about it's performance. DONT WORRY!!!! It will do just fine. Even on those little coues bucks.

 

M

[Coach]

I have gone to the exact same bullet for my .300 WSM for everything except coues. For coues, I like the Nosler/Winchester CT ballistic silver tip. It opens up better on light, thin skinned game IMO.

 

As others have stated, the accubond will perform more like a partition, and I witnessed a very close call on a Nosler partition on coues. The buck was trotting over a hill and the hunter hit it perfectly at it topped the hill. We both saw it hunch up but keep going. When we got to the spot of the hit, there was nothing. The back side of this hill was crazy thick, and without a blood trail we would have a heck of a time finding the deer. We got lucky and the buck only made it 40 or so yards past the hit and didn't make it to the thick stuff. When we found it, there was one tiny drop of blood under its nose, and we couldn't find either an entry or exit wound. Once we skinned it, there was a tiny .270" hole going in the ribs on one side and another .270" going out the the opposite shoulder, just short of the scapula. Luckily, it did enough damage on its way through to keep the deer from making it any further, but if it had, we had no blood trail to go on, and could have spent days looking for it.

 

Bottom line, if that's the bullet that flies best for you, go for it - it will kill deer dead as a hammer. But you might try the CT silver tip. In all the guns I reload for, these bullets will fly very similar, but the expansion will be better on coues with the silver tip.

 

[slopoke36]

Bottom line, if that's the bullet that flies best for you

 

+10

 

[youngbuck]

My 180gr AB loads have taken 8 coues and 1 Desert Bighorn in the past 4 years or so. Yardages from 160 to 729. Every animal but the 729yd coues dropped in their tracks. He only took a few steps. Ive never seen anything "too dead". The ABs don't excessivly damage meat as I feel the BTs can. Ive also seen a lot of 160gr 7mm ABs in action, with the same results. I'm big fan of ABs on coues. I know and understand the minimum opening velocities for the AB and other bullets thanks to 308. The numbers add up, but in field performance is why I like them.

 

I'll try to take some pictures this weekend if I get lucky. I have 2 guys haulin 300RUMs both shooting 180 ABs and one guy with a 7mag with 160 ABs. My back up rifle is a mag with 140ABs. I wish I had pics of the deer my buddy shot with a 7stw and 160 AB @ 630yds. There litterally was a 2" diameter hole through the chest cavity (no heart left) with tiny entrance and exit holes. No meat damageand no cape damage.

 

All the balistic gell tests Ive seen, show expansion between 2-8 inches penetration, and small diameter wound chanel after that. On coues, in my experiences, that means all expansion is in the chest cavity, with a small exit.

[Condor]

thanks for all the responses that gives me some peice of mind before I start backpacking in tonight after my buck. Good luck on everyones upcoming hunts.

Connor