Nosler Trophy Grade Long Range Ammo: Here's What You Need to Know

Nosler Trophy Grade Long Range ammunition is specifically designed for excellent performance on big game at long range without sacrificing short range terminal performance.

Growing interest in long distance shooting in recent years has helped increase demand among hunters for equipment that extends their effective range afield. Many of those hunters started out hunting with regular match grade ammo originally designed for target shooting.

This type of ammunition is known for outstanding accuracy and great external ballistics, but those match grade bullets sometimes delivered uneven performance on game. Fortunately, most of the major ammo manufacturers have started to develop ammunition loaded with good quality hunting bullets with a high BC that are as accurate as regular match grade bullets, but also deliver much better terminal performance on big game.

For instance, the Barnes VOR-TX Long Range (VOR-TX LR), Federal Premium Edge TLR, and Hornady Precision Hunter are all products that were designed rather recently to give hunters the performance they need at extended range.

Well, the Nosler Trophy Grade Long Range line of hunting ammunition is Nosler's contribution to that field.

Designing a bullet for optimum performance at either short range or long range isn't extremely complicated. However, the situation changes quite a bit when attempting to build a bullet that's effective on the whole range of big-game animals from deer to moose, while also seeing success at both short range and long range.

For instance, a bullet optimized for best terminal performance on game at 500-600 yards (or more) must reliably expand at a pretty low impact velocity. On the other hand, a less robustly constructed bullet that's optimized for expansion at longer range is much more likely to open up too rapidly and/or completely disintegrate when impacting at high velocity if a shot presents itself at short range.

Additionally, the bullet must also be accurate enough for the hunter to consistently hit the vitals of an animal while at the same time retaining enough energy to deliver quick, humane kills on game at extended range.

In short, Nosler needed an accurate and aerodynamic bullet that delivers effective terminal performance across a wide range of impact velocities.

How did Nosler check all those boxes?

This ammo uses a single bullet type: the Nosler AccuBond Long Range, which is a big part of the answer to the question.

The regular AccuBond bullet used in many Nosler Trophy Grade ammunition loads incorporates a polymer tip and a boat tail design that gives the bullet a higher ballistic coefficient than more traditional bullets like the Nosler Partition.

Well, the AccuBond Long Range (also known as the AccuBond LR or ABLR) has an even higher ballistic coefficient than the regular AccuBond bullet, and is also designed to expand or mushroom at a lower impact velocity of 1,300 fps (compared to the 1,800 fps expansion threshold of most other Nosler bullets).

Additionally, and in stark contrast to other popular hunting bullets like the Hornady ELD-X or Nosler Ballistic Tip, the AccuBond Long Range is also a bonded core bullet that's designed to withstand higher velocity impacts without expanding too rapidly or coming apart completely.

Finally, the company advertises that this ammunition uses Nosler Brass and that Nosler's high quality standards in manufacturing provide consistency and accuracy rivaling that of custom hand loads.

The end result is some ammunition with the potential for outstanding accuracy firing a high BC bullet that's designed to still expand at impact velocities as low as 1,300 feet per second. Those characteristics are great for performance at longer range.

At the same time, the fact that Nosler Trophy Grade Long Range ammunition uses a bonded bullet means that it will still perform well at shorter range without the risk of catastrophic expansion or core/jacket separation.

Add it all up and this bullet will deliver great expansion, reliable penetration, and good weight weight retention across a broad velocity range. The bullet should get the job done regardless of whether we're talking about a moose at 50 yards or mule deer at 550 yards.

Nosler Trophy Grade Long Range ammo is currently manufactured in 6.5 Grendel, 6.5 Creedmoor, 6.5-284 Norma, 26 Nosler, .270 Winchester, 270 WSM, .270 Weatherby Magnum, .280 Ackley Improved, 7mm Remington Magnum, 7mm Remington Ultra Magnum, 7mm Shooting Times Westerner, 28 Nosler, .308 Winchester, .30-06 Springfield, .300 Winchester Magnum, .300 WSM, .300 Weatherby Magnum, .30-378 Weatherby Magnum, .300 Remington Ultra Magnum, 30 Nosler, and .33 Nosler.

As you can see, most of the options in this line are for heavy hitting rifle cartridges that are very popular among hunters like the 7mm Rem Mag, .300 Win Mag, and .300 Ultra Mag.

There are exceptions though, and not every cartridge in that line is a fire breathing magnum. The 6.5 Grendel, 6.5 Creedmoor, and .308 Winchester are all great examples of rifle cartridges with more modest performance on paper. Even so, the use of the AccuBond Long Range bullet helps wring out the full potential of those cartridges.