Best of the new high BC bullets?

[big10hunter]

Hornady LR accubond and Nosler ELD-X. Does anyone have experience? Looking for both shootablility and game killing ability.

 

[b0nes]

I believe you have your brands mixed up, nosler long range AB and hornady eld. Haven't shot either but know people that have shot LRAB, reports are they can be tough to get them to group and very soft. Much thinner jacket than the real accubond. I'd say the jury is still out on the eld x. Just my 2¢, take it for what you paid for it.

 

[Dedicated_Elk]

Have shot the 175 Nosler LRAB out of my .284 Winchester for a few years now and have preformed great on everything from elk to chamois. I switched over from 180 Bergers after watching way to many elk walk away. It was definitely hard to get them to group at first, but once you play with them enough you can get the hang of them. I just got back from New Zealand and shot 6 animals, Tahr, chamois, and red stag with ranges of 100 to 780 yards. One shot did wonderful on all of them. Great expansion and great exit holes if they exited. Haven't played with the ELD-x yet so not sure on them.

 

[Josh Wright]

I've never had a problem with the ABLR grouping.

 

[dotman]

I didn't have trouble with the ABLR grouping either but stopped shooting it after seeing it only retains like 35% of its mass.

 

[Josh Wright]

Tim that's interesting. I shot a muley at 530 last year and it was over 50% retained weight. That was with the 129 gr 6.5 mm out of a 26 nosler.

 

[dotman]

Tim that's interesting. I shot a muley at 530 last year and it was over 50% retained weight. That was with the 129 gr 6.5 mm out of a 26 nosler.

I read a bunch of reviews and they were not great the standard AB outperformed so I put my focus on Berger and matrix, I may give it a shot again but it just had me second guessing it.

I only loaded 20 rounds with the ABLR and it was easy to dial in.

 

[teamvit]

I haven't tried the ELD-X yet but I will this summer. Last year i used the ABLR in both 168 7mm and 129 6.5mm. I did recover a 7mm out of an aoudad but didn't weigh it. It expanded perfectly though

 

[bhylton]

I read a bunch of reviews and they were not great the standard AB outperformed so I put my focus on Berger and matrix, I may give it a shot again but it just had me second guessing it.

I only loaded 20 rounds with the ABLR and it was easy to dial in.

If your concerned about 35% weight retention, isent looking at bergers a step in the wrong direction? the few animals i have shot with bergers have had like 0% retention. just a bunch of little flecks of lead / copper shotguned throughout the cavity. they are very accurate though and easy to load. From what ive read, the ELD-x is holding together better than the LRAB. Im a big nosler fan, but im going to try the ELD-x this year

 

[dotman]

Yeah I get what your saying, really I like Berger and have used them in my 300wsm and plus I like the new 170gr with a higher BC then the 150gr Nosler in my 270. The accubond seems to be a better bullet then the LRAB. I did notice just how soft the jacket on the LRAB is, as I dented the jacket easily just pulling a bullet.

It still seems like there are overstated BC calcs on it and not enough good reports on it like the accubond has. I think if it had the same jacket as the accubond it would be a better bullet, just not enough going for it to make me commit to it.

 

[mcseal2]

My favorite bullet I've ever tried for performance on game is the standard accubond. I've recovered a few from elk and muleys shot at real tough angles. They all weighed very close to 65% of their original weight and had excellent mushrooms. Most I've shot have passed through on broadside shots at deer and elk. The ones that didn't penetrated a bunch of critter and broke bone.

I shoot Bergers in my 264 win mag for whitetail and antelope now. They have performed exactly as advertised, tiny entrance explosion inside and seldom an exit. I haven't had an animal go far after being hit by one, most drop in their tracks or within 20ft. I went to the Berger for better long range accuracy. The Accubonds seemed to do well until 450-500yds and then my groups became less consistent. The Bergers will hold the same group size at 600yds as the accubonds did at 450 in that rifle. I like the way Accubonds perform on game better personally but the Bergers have not failed to kill everything I hit with them quickly so I have no reason to fault them. I was chosen as one of the people to test the Berger 87gr 6mm bullet before it came out and it shot and killed very well also. The only negative I saw on it to report to Berger was that past about 175yds it didn't open quite fast enough on coyotes to drop them quickly. It makes sense if the bullet is designed to penetrate 2-3" before dramatically expanding that's pretty deep into a broadside coyote. Deer gave it enough mass it expanded and killed them very well. I loaned the rifle out to a couple neighbor's wives for doe season during the test and even on a poor hit behind the lungs the doe died within seconds.

I just got a couple guns back from the gunsmith that have been in the works for a while, I bought the parts over several years a piece at a time and just got them completed. One is a heavy 264 for long range with a 25" #5 fluted Lilja barrel and Huskemaw 5-30 scope. It weighs about 12lbs with the scope, not a light mountain rifle by any means. I plan to try the Hornady ELD-X bullets in it first and hope I can get a good load with them. They may be the perfect combination of the Accubond and Berger if they perform as advertised. Maybe the problem I had with the standard accubond at longer distances was the tip melting Hornady talks about, makes as much sense as anything.