Nice work! We killed with 162Ms, 180Ms, 225Ms and trying out 285Ms this year. All performed very well. Seating depth is the only thing that drives me crazy with them. Never know what they will like 
162 ELD-M performance
- Thread starter MAD10
- Start date
Help Support Long Range Hunting Forum
Yes it is..... I highly recommend Nathan Fosters' book the practical guide to long range hunting cartridges 2nd ed. Nate owns ballistics research in New Zealand and has an incredible extensive field knowledge on cartridges and their potential.
In my case I have run them at .015 and currently .070 off the lands and shoots .2/.3 in this 7mm 08. I went from obemdorf bottom metal to a detach mag which caused me to seat deeper hence the increase in jump but no affect on accuracy or pressureNice work! We killed with 162Ms, 180Ms, 225Ms and trying out 285Ms this year. All performed very well. Seating depth is the only thing that drives me crazy with them. Never know what they will like
Last edited:
Just be careful if pushing them over 2900 fps and shooting game inside 300 yards. They are thinly jacketed and need to slow down a bit to perform....hence why they make a great long range bullet contrary to what people might believe. As we like to say "the bullet doesn't lie" so when driven at magnum velocities just make sure you don't shot the animal inside 300 yards. If you are then you should consider traditional controlled expansion bullets ie a partition for example. I took the advice from Nathan Foster's book "the practical guide to long range cartridges 2d ed." and basically put my ego aside ( I do shoot a 338 Edge lol) and slowed the velocity down and this caliber and bullet is a hammer out to about 1100 yards on Elk and Deer but I do a lot of shooting so for someone else 600-800 yards is a more reasonable achievement. Knowing the research Nathan put in and my experience with the bullet I saw no reason to run a 7mm RUM or 28 Nosler, 7mm Rem Mag 7 Wby etc.
Word of caution.... If you are expecting an exit wound (Blood trail) or a meat saver bullet this IS NOT your bullet.....they dump all their energy inside the animal and it destroys all organs and will ruin meat if given the chance. Personally that is what I want....Instant humane killing for the animals sake and my piece of mind lol. Like many of us I grew up with traditional bullets and they have their place....but just not in the long range game. If someone is concerned with meat loss then maybe long range killing is not your game and traditional bullets and distances is a better option for you. it comes down to what is an acceptable expectation.
Last edited:
That is a McMillan adj A3
That is a loaded question lol.... this current rifle is running a 26" finished with the brake 1:9 bartlien. the key is the velocity stays between 2600-2700 fps which allows the bullet to perform at point blank range and out to 1100 in the right hands. I shoot this gun in comps as a well so when I shoot the barrel out I will go with a 20-22" 7mm 08 AI or SAW variation and look for 2600-2700 fps at that length.
COAL is 2.947ish CBTO is 2.040 / Varget 40.6 / CCI 250 and Lapua brass and because I swapped out bottom metal I ended up having to jump .070 to the lands with zero issues. Ave velocity 2738 / ES 6
VLD Pilot
Well-Known Member
I currently shoot mine at 3000 fps. I have a 284 in a short action. My OAL is 2.980. Seems to be a great combination and bullet performance is great. Again, my shots are or have been behind 300 yards in game. I'm gonna have to pick up a box of the ELDX version and give them a go. Do a comparison test. I'm sure they perform well.
that's right blacktail if someone is running them at magnum velocities they have to be careful inside 300 yards further than that the bullet has slowed a bit and performance is improved
Last edited:
I'll help with that... the difference between the ELDM and HVLD is the hornady has a huge open tip that the polymer tip covers till impact where the HVLD has a much smaller open tip design and sometimes can fail to violently expand on impact - both bullets are designed to do the same thing... just the ELDM gets help with the polymer tip
That is my fear with the VLD style bullets in any caliber the nose filling up and acting like a solid. This caused us to get a way from the old sierra match grade HP in the LE world and we went to the 155 amax which now will be the ELDM i imagine. I retired from the team so on them to decide. I was going to run the hybrids in my 6.5 saum or the 156 vlds but now second guessing myself.
1894C
Well-Known Member
I'm chunking 180eldms a shade over 3000. They along with the 162s are phenomenal bullets.
best way I can say it .... you know both bullet designs - go with the one that makes you feel more comfortable
I'm liking the 147 eld in my 6.5 saum
I've ran the eldm line of bullets in various calibers. I found seating depths of .047 to .050 from lands worked well on several. I had one that worked well around .060 off and two rifles that likes .007 to around .010 off the lands.
