I recently purchased a 280AI , I’m taking it on a cow elk hunt in December. I bought a couple boxes of Nosler 150 ABLR a month ago, and recently found a box of Nosler 140AB. According to the boxes, the 140 grain out preforms the 150. My question is, is there a reason why you would shoot the 150 ABLR over the 140AB?
No expert on large game but with any ammo selection the best one is the one that shoots well out of your gun. Hitting the spot will make way more difference than an extra 10 grains.
In what way does it say it outperforms the 150?
Very generally, generally speaking with bonded bullets heavier is better. Despite being bonded these bullets will start shedding lead as soon as they start their penetration. Therefore a bullet that starts off with more weight retains more weight and can penetrate further, do more damage. That’s the polar opposite of what happens with a mono bullet where you really need to have speed in order to get them to open which means lighter typically works better.
I haven’t looked up the specifics of those bullets but the ablr should have a higher ballistics coefficient than a regular accubond. Therefore it would provide better wind resistance/ deflection and retain velocity a little better than a standard accubond. It’s also going to be a little softer than a standard accubond and will therefore expand at a lower velocity. Also means it will probably shed a little more weight
But also thoroughly agree with the above poster, if one of them shoots super well and the other one shoots poorly then your decision should be made based upon that rather than 10 grains
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I would agree with what the others have said. Get a box of each and whichever shoots better groups should be your hunting load. I’ve shot close to 10 animals with ablr’s (some 142 6.5cm and some 165 6.8 western). In both cases they shed a lot of weight and do a lot of damage, not too dissimilar from a nosler ballistic tip. The high speed impacts from the 6.8 western have all been pass through a with large exits except 1 quartering away shot which we caught the base of the bullet in the off side hide and it weighed 60 grains. I think that the normal accubond is much tougher and will hold together more. I prefer the bucket to fragment a bit to do more damage to the vitals, especially on an elk where they may be a tad harder to kill and so a little meat damage isn’t the end of the world, so I would prefer the ablr if they shoot well for you. Bc is much better on them for wind.
Thank you all for your responses and the information, I got to focused on the ballistics, and didn’t think about what you all pointed out