Nosler Accubond one of the greatest hunting bullets ever?
I realize this is an old thread, but I wanted to add my .02.
I had no idea so many other people had discovered what I have...namely the excellence of the Nosler Accubond bullet. I have killed 4 or 5 elk with them. They were all knocked down with 1 shot. One of my kills was even shot low, and barely grabbed the bottom of the belly at 185 yds. The cow made it about 15 yds and was dead when I made it up the hill. The Accubond had expanded and tore up the vitals with very little actual contact. I shoot the 200gr. bullet out of my .30-06 loaded to the max with Winchester 760.
I have only had experience with 2 other bullets. I started shooting Winchester Fail Safes, but they performed terribly. I shot one cow at 20 yards through the lungs, and it took off running. You could see the blood spraying out of the lungs. I shot it again in the front shoulder, and the bullet did not penetrate the bone (which is what the Fail Safe was supposedly designed for). The bullet hadn't expanded at all and was lodged in the shoulder without much damage. I switched the next year to the Accubond and Barnes Triple X.
I shot my cow that next year with the Accubond at 75 yards, 1 shot. The lungs and heart were obliterated. My buddy I was with wounded his (he was shooting factory loads of some sort), and couldn't hit it at 30 yards after we tracked it down, and ran out of ammo (It was his first hunt, and no, he can't shoot worth a crap [ROFL1]). I put it down for him by shooting it in the spine with the Triple X. Because I shot the spine, it was hard to tell how it really performs. The cow was dead instantly, and the spine was obliterated, but there wasn't a whole lot of expansion. I didn't stop shooting the Barnes Triple X because of the performance, I just really liked the Accubond's terminal performance, as well as it's in-flight performance due to it's high ballistic co-efficient.
Since then, I've shot several cows and one bull, and the Accubond has always had excellent terminal performance.
It doesn't sound like you handload, but I think Winchester was producing a factory load using the Accubonds for the .30-06 a couple of years ago when I looked. I'm sure they do one for the .308 as well.