Partition or Accubond

Bigjav

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Other than the accubond having a higher BC, is there any terminal performance advantage between the two bullets on game?
 
There is a practical field difference.

The Partition's design is to mushroom the frontal portion, yet retain weight in the stern guaranteeing x% weight retention.

The Accubond, more or less, glues the lead core to the copper jacket, yet mushrooms more like a common cup & core and will provide a more expanded channel, retains its weight, but because of the frontal area will probably penetrate a bit less, in relative terms.

The Partition generally penetrates extremely well.

The Accubond will expand & hold together, but because of the greater frontal surface may not penetrate quite as far as the Partition.

So the brass tacks is......which one shoots better out of your rifle ? It's a 'can't go wrong' situation.
 
As stated above chose The one that shoots best out of your rifle. You really can’t go wrong with a Nosler.
 
The bonding process used on the accubond is pretty impressive. The other day, I shot one into a big pile of wollastonite (which is like really fine, dense sand). It gets very tough when it is compacted and I figured there was a good chance the bullet would come apart impacting such a tough surface at over 2600fps. I was able to recover the bullet and it was heavily mushroomed; very little of the base was showing. Still, it retained about 60% of its weight and you can see the lead stubbornly sticking to the twisted petals of copper that come back from the front of the bullet. For reference, here's a shot of the accubond (on the left) and a Speer Hot Cor (on the right). While they mushroomed in similar ways, the Speer only retained about 40% of its weight because, as you can see, the lead scraped off the copper petals. In any case, I really like those accubonds. I had to play with seating depth to get those 140's to shoot well out of my 7mm-08, but I'm now getting groups that are 5/8-3/4".
IMG_1889.jpg
 
What powder are you using in your 7mm08? I have a ton of 140 gr accubonds and cannot get good groups.
 
What powder are you using in your 7mm08? I have a ton of 140 gr accubonds and cannot get good groups.

I went through a lot of powders and almost gave up on the bullet. In my last round of tests, I got an ok group from 40 grains of H 4895, so I started shortening the OAL and playing with it. In the end, going to 2.75" (I think I had started at 2. 84") shrunk those groups right down and gave me a bunch more velocity too. I was really surprised what a big impact a slight shortening can have on velocity! I've now played around with slightly different powder charges and slightly shorter OAL's but the winner is this:

7mm-08 Hornady case
Winchester Large Rifle Primer
40 grains H 4895
2.75"
(140 NAB)

From my 22" barrel, it's giving me almost exactly 2700fps and excellent accuracy. I guess it just wanted a big ol' jump to the lands... It does make curious whether I missed some other good loads, since I started with a longer length, but I'm happy now. H 4895 is easy to get, temp insensitive, great for low recoil loads and it's the powder that I use in my .30-06 too, so I'm almost down to just one powder now.
 
I've had good luck with RL16 and Big Game powder in my 7-08.

I tried Big Game, RL 17 and Varget before I went to H 4895, but wasn't super impressed with the results. However, I've heard a ton of people say that those 3 powders are dynamite with their 7mm-08's and I believe them. I've never tried RL 16. I'm now loading my 7mm-08, my .30-06 and my son's .308 all with H 4895.
 
I tried all kinds of things to try to get the 140gr. Accubond to group.
Long jump. No jump. Different powders.
This out of my 7mm-08 and Rem Mag.
Finally gave up on them.
Using either Nosler Ballistic tip, or Berger VLD Hunting.
 
I've gotten Partitions and Accubonds to shoot MOA or less in all of the rifles I load for. However, I only load for five rifles.
 
I tried the accubonds for feral cattle. Shot a 1500 lb bull at about 50 yds and it dropped with one shot. No exit wound. Shot a 1000 lb cow at 640 yds and it dropped with one shot. Rifle is a 30-06 AI with reloader 19. I never recovered the bullets but I am very pleased with the performance.
 
I primarily use ABs but have shot several animals with partitions. They both killed animals similarly.
 
Thanks for the replies. My best powder so far is varget, tried reloader 15 but wasnt good. I will have to try big game. IMR 4350 also didnt work very well.
 
Thanks for the replies. My best powder so far is varget, tried reloader 15 but wasnt good. I will have to try big game. IMR 4350 also didnt work very well.

Everyone's experiences vary, but I prefer H4350 over IMR, and I've been impressed with Reloder 16 where I've tried that one so far.
 
To the original question- I've had great results with both. I've used the Partitions on probably 10 animals and only recovered 1, a head on shot square in the chest, found the bulled next to the femur after traveling the length of the body. They really do a great job of passing through.

I've recovered a couple of Accubonds, and they have held together great, even after hitting shoulder bone.

Can't go wrong either way, just shoot the one your gun likes.
 
Bigjav, you didn't disclose what cartridge you are using, nor the game you intend to hunt. A PT, or an AB, may not be your optimal Nosler options. More info please. A Ballistic Tip, or E-Tip, may serve your particular requirements better, but we will will never know with more info.
 
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