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125 Accubond in .308 Win

IMR3031

IMR3031

Member
Joined
Jan 27, 2016
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Provided I sort things out with my lease and am able to hunt deer this next season, I'm strongly considering this bullet in .308 Win. I've hunted with .308 since 1981 and have taken a bunch of deer with it, nearly all of them with the Speer 165 BTSP. My reason for going to a lighter bullet is very simple- the .308 I will use this year is a Ruger American Predator- handy little 18" barrel, and light- but the recoil from my favorite 165 gr load is not terribly friendly to the arthritis in my hands- -my shoulder and cheek are fine. I have other calibers I could hunt with, but we just moved up to TN and have a smaller space than I'm used to- so since my wife hunts with a reduced load in .308, I'll load for that one rifle caliber and store the rest of the bullets, brass, and dies until we're no longer renting.

I've already done a fair bit of load testing with the 125 Accubond, and have an accurate load for this rifle that averages just over 3100 fps in the 18" barrel.

So my question is-- for those who have used this bullet on whitetails, what do you think? How has it performed when hitting bone-- penetration, exiting, etc.?

Thanks!
 
I loaded a 308 win reduced recoil load using H4895 and the Nosler 125 AB's for my kids using their Ruger American rifles. The bullet was only traveling a little over 2600 fps. I harvested two does with the load before letting my kids hunt with it. I placed both shots just behind the front shoulders and had complete pass-throughs. The bullets didn't expand very much. Both does ran approximately 75 - 90 yards before falling. I think both deer would have dropped in their tracks with a high front shoulder shot.

For what it's worth, my kids couldn't really distinguish between the reduced recoil and normal loads. So we used the 125's for target practice.
 
IMR3031 said:
Provided I sort things out with my lease and am able to hunt deer this next season, I'm strongly considering this bullet in .308 Win. I've hunted with .308 since 1981 and have taken a bunch of deer with it, nearly all of them with the Speer 165 BTSP. My reason for going to a lighter bullet is very simple- the .308 I will use this year is a Ruger American Predator- handy little 18" barrel, and light- but the recoil from my favorite 165 gr load is not terribly friendly to the arthritis in my hands- -my shoulder and cheek are fine. I have other calibers I could hunt with, but we just moved up to TN and have a smaller space than I'm used to- so since my wife hunts with a reduced load in .308, I'll load for that one rifle caliber and store the rest of the bullets, brass, and dies until we're no longer renting.

I've already done a fair bit of load testing with the 125 Accubond, and have an accurate load for this rifle that averages just over 3100 fps in the 18" barrel.

So my question is-- for those who have used this bullet on whitetails, what do you think? How has it performed when hitting bone-- penetration, exiting, etc.?

Thanks!
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Get a suppressor and keep your same load .
 
15yd shot, left handed, and she dropped him in his tracks. 308 Win, 125 NAB, 41gr RL7. Roughly 2650fps. Did not exit, but look where it impacted. She used that load to take several does from 25-125yd, and I believe that only one more failed to exit. I prefer a little more weight if possible, but it's hard to argue with these results. Your approach will work just fine
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MUP said:
Could you just use the same reduced load round that you're loading for your wife? Seems that would likely be the most simple route IMO. Welcome to Tennessee btw!
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Thanks- not looking to do that. Her load is a 160 Hornady FTX at 2490.

My limitation is the space I have available for loading, were it not for that I wouldn't even be revisiting the 125 bullet. I also have a Weatherby Vanguard in .308 which does not give me that problem, but the 24" barrel isn't the best for a couple of the cramped shooting houses I'd be in- I lost a shot a a very nice buck a few years back for that very reason. I have other rifles and calibers available, but will stick with .308 for this season to simplify the logistics here.

And thanks for the welcome to TN! I'll probably end up hunting back in Alabama again- from what I can see so far, getting a lease in TN is much like getting on one in TX! (Where I finally gave up and just went back to Alabama to hunt.)
 
EastTNHunter said:
15yd shot, left handed, and she dropped him in his tracks. 308 Win, 125 NAB, 41gr RL7. Roughly 2650fps. Did not exit, but look where it impacted. She used that load to take several does from 25-125yd, and I believe that only one more failed to exit. I prefer a little more weight if possible, but it's hard to argue with these results. Your approach will work just fine
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Thanks very much- that's exactly the kind of info I am looking for.

I don't plan to load it down, else I'd use the 125 Ballistic Tip- I killed several deer with that in a single shot .30-30 @ 2673- no shot was over 100 yds but it always exited. I'm thinking the bonded bullet would still hold together well at normal .308 speeds.

And congrats to her on a nice buck!
 
A friend loads the 125 NBT with a case full of 748 for his 308's and I don't know if he's ever recovered a bullet. The 125 NAB should work as well
 
Never had a problem with the 125 accubond killing every deer it hits, behind shoulder get exits and good blood trail , in the shoulders generally hanging in offside hide when shot are between 150-250 under 150 still generaly get exits on these small east tndeer
 

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