Only thing I see that appears to be wrong is that deer is caped out for a shoulder mount and just laying in the dirt? Waste of game?

FiremanJG will be along in a sec to call me consistent for this but here goes.

I like nosler partitions because of their on game performance, I don't believe you will find a better combination of reliable expansion with enough hold together retention to get the job done bullet. The front 1/2 is like any other cup and core bullet and readily expands on through the ribs heart/lungs no bone shots yet holds together for through the shoulder/spine shots due to the partitioned jacket. The shank and remaining jacket is about 50-60% of the original bullet weight and it stays together.

Partitions are expensive and many claim problems getting competition level accuracy out of them, but I don't shoot too many of them and they shoot as good as anything else in my guns with load development.

I have never hunted accubonds, but have hunted sirrocos and I find the bonded bullets can sometimes expand and retain too well. They keep expanding but don't come apart leaving a huge surface area of the bullet which is detrimental to penetration. I have recovered a few 165 grain swift sirrocos fired out of a 300 RUM that were almost as big around as a quarter (the coin). They transferred a tremendous amount of shock and energy to the animal all being DRT kills, but did not penetrate that well, although they were successful as the critters were one shot drt kills.

We spent 3 hrs looking for him that night. Didn't find him till the next day. He had make a crazy turn and ended up in a thicket. It took us 2 hours the next day to find him. Hard to believe but there was no blood trail after the initial location where he was shot. It was in the 60's when he was shot with a low of only mid 50's and warmed up even hotter that morning. No way to salvage the meat seeing as he probably died within a couple minutes of being shot and sat for ~14 hours in too warm of weather. Made me sick to not be able to salvage it.

Sorry you didn't get him, that sucks. I wouldn't eat it either.

You are correct on both accounts. I have better accuracy (although it is minor) with other bullets, but Partitions have been and always will be a quality bullet for most big game situations.

There's worser things to be called than "consistent".

I've had good performance with the. 264" 140-grain Accubond. No bone hit, and the lungs were liquefied. Deer ran about 50 feet and expired. MV was 3150, deer was about 50 yards away. Blood and tissue trail was very good.

I've lots of experience killing big game with accubond's and partitions, 99% of the time with 7mm's in 140 and 160gr. Nosler designed them to shed roughly 35-40% of their weight, and judging by the 200 plus big game animals I've been fortunate enough to take here in NA, 95% of the time that's exactly what they do. I took a 7mm Rem Mag and 160 AB's to Africa 4 times now (40 head of plains game), and they do the same thing over there. If there's a better hunting bullet than either of these I haven't seen it.

This is a very small sample, but they all look the same on the bullets that the animals actually "catch". The smaller antelope are all pass through's.

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I have been nothing but pleased with accubonds in various calibers and have yet to catch one.

I only load accubonds for my 7 mag (160 gr), but they are very accurate and the four deer and 3 hogs I have shot with it have all dropped within 15 yards. Complete pass through on all, and actually two of the hogs dropped from one shot. No complaints, but then again I recovered nearly 100% of the meat from those animals to. Don't see much use in the high shoulder shot, too wasteful for me.

Shot a (small) deer yesterday with 180 grain accubond in 300WM. Front quartering shot. Decimated rib cage and left a nice big wound channel all the way to the exit point out the opposite rear hip.

My only complaint is that this [self-censored] bullet clipped the stomach which made cleaning a pain. What a POS.

Got a couple of friends that switched to AB's this year, nor am I impressed. I'm sticking with my Ballistic tips, those have always done a great job for me.

Shot a small deer with a cannon, and pi**ed off that it f-ed up much of the animal.

Shot a little deer with a cannon from front shoulder to hip and pizzed of it "CLIPPED" the guts? I'm guessing there must be some sarcasm here and clipped is the understatement of the century!

Made a bad shot with a 7mm-08 with Ballistic Tips, hit the shoulder and deflected straight up. Watched the buck on camera for a couple of years before he was shot on the adjacent lease. Neat scar running straight up his shoulder, and it messed with his horns making him a freaky 14 point. Only time I ever tried ballistic tips, only deer shot with a rifle I have not recovered. Came home and unloaded the rounds I made and threw the unloaded bullets I had in the the trash. BT is the worst hunting bullet Nosler makes IMHO, I'll stick with loading ABs and Partitions.

Chuck, I've killed hundreds of deer with Nosler Ballistic Tips. I started with the first generation version and then the toughened version. No complaints from me at all. I do avoid trying to shoot through bones.

The first hog I ever shot weighed just under 400 pounds, per the ranch owner, and I killed it with a first gen BT. Shot him in the lungs and the bullet ended up just under the skin on the far side of the hog.

I think it's one of the best hunting bullets a fellow can buy. Great accuracy potential, good BC, and messy performance (which I like, since I'm a lung shooter). That said, I recognize the limitations of the bullet - no quartering shots if possible and no bones except ribs.

Curious as to which 7mm BT, and how long ago? I got to cull some does a couple of years ago on MLD ground. Used my 7-08 and 120BT's @3050fps) on all of them, wound up with 17. Hunters for the Hungry was very happy!

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I could post a photo of stopped Accubonds similar to JGRaider's, but I'm too lazy. Are you satisfied with that performance JG? I'm not, I want pass-throughs and that's why I am switching back over to Barnes (TTSX) or Nosler partitions for anything larger than deer.

I'm absolutely satisfied. What more could you possibly ask for? Those 160's were 3075@ the muzzle, shot straight through shoulders of 450-700lb animals. They all died within 50 yards of where they were hit. Textbook performance.

I always got great pass thru with the 130 gr BT in my 270. When I went to the 100 gr BT in my 260, pass thru was not a certainty, but if I hit them square in the lungs I usually got pass thru on deer but not on medium sized hogs. I prefer getting a bullet exit, for tracking purposes, but there really hasn't been any tracking involved for the last few years. Lung shot deer don't go very far.

Regarding what bullet to use is a personal decision, and if you don't trust the BT, don't buy them.

I think that if you tally up everybody's experiences, you have to conclude that every bullet is going to have limitations of some kind and you have to take different things into account and use them right.

I don't like using a bullet where going from a behind the shoulder shot to an in the shoulder shot can fubar everything. I want a hole through and through with expansion not explosion. Few bullets I have found CONSISTENTLY do this every time. Of the few I have found they are bonded/partitioned bullets and cup and core bullets at reduced velocities.

Exactly, I tried the BT and the one shot I made failed me, so in the trash with them. Now the AB, frankly I don't know what will happen if I hit the shoulder. Hopefully we won't cross that bridge, but if it happens and they fail, well in the trash with them too. I will say out of my 7mm-08 now the 120gr Barnes TTSX is a clean killer, only shot two deer with it though as I enjoy hunting with my 7 mag the most.

I have shot 18 WT Bucks, 4 Bull Elk, 2 Pronghorn, 2 Mule Deer bucks and countless pigs with 180 grain BT's out of a 300 Win Mag. Only one animal did not drop in it's tracks, one of the Mule Bucks went 35'. I've had very good luck with BT's and that's all I'll use.