338 cal. 225 grain Accubond on elk....

[Wyo. Coyote Hunter]

   Last Sat. evening about 15 minutes before legal shooting time was over, I got my chance an my elk... I had been on a good place to watch for elk for about 2 hours. Nothing. The last minutes I decided to move to another park and still hunt my way there and return to the truck after dark.. I had just begun to make my move, when I saw an elk step from the brush into the open park.. It was a small spike. I did not want to shoot a spike if I could get something else. So I eased ahead a couple steps, and saw more elk coming out to the brush.  I decided to move quickly ahead to a pile of logs that would give me a solid rest. The elk were may 150 yards away,,, I made it to the log pile, but when I rested the 700 across the logs to shoot, all the elk were looking my way. Just as I centered my attention on a big cow, a 5 X 5 bull stepped from the brush behind the cows..    I decided to take him rather than the cow because in this area both are presently legal on a general license. I expect in a few years a cow permit will be required for cows, and only bulls will be legal. In that situation, I usually try to have a cow permit rather than only hunt for a bull. So with the bull broadside, I centered the Leupold 3.5-10 on the upper part of the bulls shoulder and squeezed the trigger.. When the .340 cracked and the 225 grain Accubond hit the bull in the spine, he of course collapsed. 
While I was happy to get him, he was a beautiful animal. When I got to him, his eyes were closed, so I gave him one in the neck. I wished I had not left my S & W .44 in the truck.  I found the bullet had hit just a might high, and the damaged to the lungs, while deadly, was not massive. Later, up on skinning I found the Accubond under the skin on the off side. The core remained in the jacket, but the bullet only wt. 94 grains.  The year before I killed a huge cow in the same area with a 200 grain Accubond from my .300 wea. While she fell on the  spot also, I didn't recover that bullet. Wish I could have.. So it seems like the Accubonds based on this one instance are doing what they are designed to do, expansion with out the core seperating from the jacket.... 

[Coyote Hunter]

Congrats on the elk! 

As far as the bullet goes, 225g down to 94g?  Not my cup of tea!  I have some 110g AB's loaded up for antelope but think I'll stick with the Norht Fork, A-Frame, TTSX and the ilk for elk/deer.  (I hunt them the same season.)

[Wyo. Coyote Hunter]

 

[Wyo. Coyote Hunter]

  Thanks. good luck on your upcoming hunt. The loss of wt. did surprise me also.... 

[yooper77]

Congrats on the Elk.

I am not surprised on the Nosler Accubond final weight, since it’s designed to mushroom to a point as it penetrates just like the Nosler Partition.  How the bullet performed is the best of both worlds and work as advertised.

yooper77

[WyoStillhunter]

Congratulations on the 5X5.  I spent part of the evening putting the backstraps of my spike into the freezer.  It will be good eating.

I can't get too anal about bullet performance and recovery.  If I shoot an animal and my tag ends up tied to that animal I am satisfied with bullet performance, my shooting, my hunting, etc.  I use conventional cup & core bullets almost exclusively.  They always work if I do my part.

PS -- You and I were pulling the trigger at almost the same moment.  I think my spike was down and out at 5:05 p.m. in SE Wyoming.  At any rate, I am sure we both had knives in our hands at the same time a few minutes later.

[Sourdough]

I shot a Cow Moose at 787 yards last year with a Nosler .338 225gr Accubond.  Did not recover the bullet, but jellied both lungs.  Moose turned 180 then stood there till she fell, about 10 seconds.  I too consider the bullet worked well since I tagged the Moose. 

[Wyo. Coyote Hunter]

  Just now my hunting pal rolled into town with a very nice 6 point bull.  It is not a book elk, but defiantely a trophy animal. He shot it this am lucky there is snow. The bull was at the most 100 yards. He shot it with a .340 and 200 grain Combind/Teck. bullets from Win. He got them as a present from his son last Christmas. He said at the shot, the bull walked off without any indication that he had taken a vital hit.... He trailed the animal for about 60 yards, with no hair, no blood, nothing..... At about 60 yards, he noticed the right front leg was not tracking right. With in the next 30 yards or so, the bull lay in a heap. The bullet entered behind the shoulder and made it into the off shoulder, the right one, but it did not exit.    He said he was in a state of shock that he missed the bull, lucky he did the right thing by tracking.. Neither of us have used this bullet before, apparently it did not stick together enough to exit. When the quarters are skinned, more info, may be available. We both agreed the Part. or something similar is the best elk bullet. On dry ground, this bull could have easily been lost......  But he wasn't..

[Tonk]

I have always used those Nosler Partitions in my youthfull hunting years, they were the very best a hunter could get his hands on in my area. I know that Frank Barnes made very good bullets too and Bitterroot bullets were very hard to come by in stores.....almost impossible in the Mid-West.

Several decades have passed and I have done many bullet tests over the years but I can tell you that I still believe that a Nosler Partition will get the job done on any big game animal in the USA. Nowdays I have gone to the Swift A Frames as my #1 elk hunting bullet used in my .338/300ULtra mag wildcat . They mushroom out almost perfectly eveytime out the gate and retain over 90% of their bullet weight too.

I am in the process of testing out some of those Accubond bullets for some long range shooting with a couple of friends. I won't ever shoot that far again but it is fun for me and the younger generation wants to see how things go for them. I still use those Partition bullets 210 grn in my little .338/06, great little backup rifle in the mountains.

[nomosendero]

Congrats

[Wyo. Coyote Hunter]

  Nice to see you are back from the far west.... Maybe not too far from Ark. but hope you had a great hunt....

[nomosendero]

Nice to see you are back from the far west.... Maybe not too far from Ark. but hope you had a great hunt....

Yes we did, we had a mix-up with the zone on the Antelope Buck tags, went to town & bought some Antelope Doe tags, but we all got a Antelope & Mule deer ea.

Sure was cold this time! 

[jro45]

Sounds like you had a good time. Those accubond  bullets did the job. Those Partition bullets work fine also.

[lucky guy]

Congratulations!  Elk hunting is funny isn't it.  Too dark, ready to leave, and there's your best shot of the week.  It is really important (I'm learning) to keep your head in the game until you empty the magazine.

Congratulations again!

[wackmaster]

SOUNDS LIKE A GRATE HUNT!

My sons and I killed 7 elk this year 3 bulls and 4 cows.
2 buls where shot with 338 225 accubonds both bulls had broke shoulders and droped on the spot no bullet retrived. (under 300 yrds)
1 bull was shot with 338 225 interbond at 915yrds broke far shoulder retrived bullet expanded to 60 cal and waighed 198gr.
1 cow was shot with 7mm ultra mag 162gr sst she droped so fast you thought her legs were cut off. no bullet found (200 yrds)
1 cow 7mm wild cat 154 gr sst 3400fps  bullet expanded to 50 cal broke far shoulder and shed core.
2 cows 338 225 accubond 1 bullet found 1 not recoverd. the bullet found broke both shoulders mushroomed to 58 cal and waighed 183 gr.
The second cow was shot head on walking straight at us at 150 yrds the bullet made a complete pass through exiting the left ham!!!!!!
It hit her so hard it poped her stomick upen and half her cuts was out!!!! we estamated her age at 4 1/2. This was nat a young calf.
As for me I am a ferm beliver in bonded bullets!!!

[Tonk]

WCH.......Congrats on your success and bagging a nice bull elk! I hope you have many more hunts like this last one too. You just keep using those Accubond bullets and all well be Hunky Dory my good man.

[Sweetwater]

WCH, ya done good! It made the freezer, so it had to be OK!

Regards,
Sweetwater

[Wyo. Coyote Hunter]

  Thanks for all the good wishes, just got back from a visit with my dad. he is 84, not too mobile, but in good health.... Nice to see relatives and friends, but it is wonderful to be home in Wy. snow, wind and all........