Accusing ?

b0nes

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Oct 4, 2014
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So last week I shot a mule deer with my 270 wsm, 140 Accubond leaving the barrel at 3100 fps with impact at 355 yards. He was quartering away hard, bullet hit furthest back rib and exited far side halfway up the neck. But the entrance wound was huge and the exit was small. I've never really seen an entrance wound bigger than bore diameter. The entrance wound was probably an inch and a half in diameter. Is this just because the bullet struck the rib and the bullet expanded before fully entering the cavity? I didn't have time to take pictures of the wounds because it was hot.
 
I'm guessing it was a combo of rib bone fragments and rapid expansion that made the bigger hole. I'm not sure how fast the bullet is moving at that distance but I'm sure it's fast so the impact was probably pretty violent. I would think that seems pretty typically for accubonds...good expansion with weight retention to push on through.

IMO...I think that if you consider the bullet passed through that much animal and exited it performed as well as you could have asked.
 
I've seen it with one animal out of about 50 I've shot with with Accubonds, ranging from moose to duiker. Calibers from 6.5 to .338, and 10 different cartriges, easily my favorite bullet .

On the big entrance, I found the bullet under the hide, oposite the baseball size entrance wound. Mule deer with a140gr .284 from a 280 at about 70 yards, mv about 3100fps.

All other animals I've killed, many at close range, have had typical small entrance and either exit or found under the hide. I'd say the hide catches about 1/4 of them on big animals.

Shoot enough bullets into animals and you'll see something wierd from time to time. Sierra Game kings in a 7mag are still one of my favorite bullets, I've killed about 20 elk with them and seen them take about that many more. Have yet to see one "fail." The emphasis on bullet construction, paste through, perfect mshroom, etc is marketing to a T. Incidentally the only "failures" I've had were with nosler partions. ;) one animal lost, elk with a broken shoulder, and a warthog that had 3 exit holes, one 90deg to the entrance, but very dead.
 
I'm plenty happy with the performance of the bullet, I was just curious because I had never seen it. The bullet passed through about 3+ feet of flesh and bone. If I had been using the bullets I usually use (139 grn sst in a 7-08) I never would have even taken the shot, but that's why I switched to accubonds. I shot out to 300 before the season and I'm fairly certain they weren't tumbling.
 
If they were tumbling, then you would have a hard time hitting anything at 300. If they tumble, then you have problems. The SST junk will seldom penetrate as well.
 
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Same thing happened to me (last year) w/ my 160 gr. Nosler Accubonds, and I was wondering about that myself. It was basically the same condition (although broadside), specs, yardage, etc. as yours. Maybe its just a common trait with AB's, but I certainly didnt care as I was able to harvest my 1st muley.
 
Bone fragments and angle. Seen it before on an antelope with 160 AB's in a 7STW. Ugly.

Keep using the bullets though, because they are awesome.
 
I shot a deer with a 7mm Rem a few years ago. Quartering away. Hit the shoulder blade. Spun the deer around and the bullet exited the same side it entered. It did manage to blow bone chips all through the check cavity however. Sounds like maybe that;s what happened to you.
 
If they were tumbling, then you would have a hard time hitting anything at 300. If they tumble, then you have problems. The SST junk will seldom penetrate as well.

I liked the performance of the SST on my girlfriends elk last year at 400 yards... Clean pass through double lung and took about 10 steps and tipped over.
 
I shot a whitetail buck squarely in the center of the brisket some years ago with an 8mm-06 170 grain SP at about 40 yards and the entry wound was the same, nearly 2" in diameter. His heart and lungs were jelly but he still ran nearly 100 yards before dropping.
 
I killed a whitetail buck with a 7rm/160 accubond at stupid close distance, and had an entrance hole in the ribs I could stick my fist through. The core still penetrated though and he only went 50 yards. I've killed or watched killed probably 20 game animals since with accubond and haven't seen another oversized entry.
 
I've found that sst's do great when used for their purpose. Nice broadside shots behind the crease. I don't think I would be shooting in the shoulder with them. I would like to switch my 7mm08 over to partitions, Accubond, or barnes in a heavy for caliber bullet for close range an possibly out to 350 round.
 
If it hit close to the rib, think about the the pressure of soft skin being stretched 'against' a hard surface on entrance. It's meeting a lot of exterior resistance. Now, on exit, and even though more expanded, the soft skin is being pulled away, with less energy, so it it 'gives'.

My Theory anyway.........
 
I had the same thing happen on a mulie buck with 150gr Winchester silvertips out of an '06. entrance was big enough to put your fist in, exit hole was perfect size for a fully expanded .30 cal bullet. as long as it did the job, can't complain to much right?
 
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