180 Hornady ELD-M bullets blowing up in air

I built a rifle based on the awesome bc of the 180eldm. I'm only 50 rounds into breaking in my barrel and have had two bullets come apart on me. One hit the target sideways at 100yds and the other blew up right out of the barrel. This rifle was supposed to be for hunting and some long range playing around. Now I'm worried about using it for hunting...
Rifle is a 7wsm, 700sa, 26" bartlein 5r 1:8, hs precision stock. Most accurate load so far is 65.0gr of RL26 at a COAL of 2.900".
 
Subzero said:
I built a rifle based on the awesome bc of the 180eldm. I'm only 50 rounds into breaking in my barrel and have had two bullets come apart on me. One hit the target sideways at 100yds and the other blew up right out of the barrel. This rifle was supposed to be for hunting and some long range playing around. Now I'm worried about using it for hunting...
Rifle is a 7wsm, 700sa, 26" bartlein 5r 1:8, hs precision stock. Most accurate load so far is 65.0gr of RL26 at a COAL of 2.900".
Click to expand...

wow, shouldn't a speed issue that was claimed to be my potential problem since I have a "hot rod round" by the manufacturer. They never did get back to me like they said they would to let me know the issue they found or when I called them a few more times to follow up. Always too busy to test the ones I sent in so I gave up.

They sent me bullets of my choice for replacement and I just loaded the Berger 195's instead in my 28 Nosler. I'll be working up a load for the Berger 180's eventually as I have good luck with them.

I shoot the Berger 180 Vld Hunting bullets out of my 7Wsm and group amazing. I've had great luck with them for hunting. Even 1 bullet coming apart out of 100's is 1 too many for me. Especially in a hunting situation. It just wasn't worth the risk, or worth a baffle strike on my suppressor.
 
squeeeeze said:
wow, shouldn't a speed issue that was claimed to be my potential problem since I have a "hot rod round" by the manufacturer. They never did get back to me like they said they would to let me know the issue they found or when I called them a few more times to follow up. Always too busy to test the ones I sent in so I gave up.

They sent me bullets of my choice for replacement and I just loaded the Berger 195's instead in my 28 Nosler. I'll be working up a load for the Berger 180's eventually as I have good luck with them.

I shoot the Berger 180 Vld Hunting bullets out of my 7Wsm and group amazing. I've had great luck with them for hunting. Even 1 bullet coming apart out of 100's is 1 too many for me. Especially in a hunting situation. It just wasn't worth the risk, or worth a baffle strike on my suppressor.
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The scary part is that I haven't shot my rifle past 100yds yet. It's possible that some of them would have come apart further down range.
I was thinking about trying the 175eldx. Have you tried those? Thanks for the tip on the Vld's, I might give them a shot.
 
Subzero said:
The scary part is that I haven't shot my rifle past 100yds yet. It's possible that some of them would have come apart further down range.
I was thinking about trying the 175eldx. Have you tried those? Thanks for the tip on the Vld's, I might give them a shot.
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Mine were coming apart at 100 yards too and key holing. A couple didn't even hit the target, pretty crazy. At around 300 plus sometimes I couldn't even determine where they hit or what happened.

The 175 Eld-X would be a great choice as well. I shoot them in my 280AI and had considered them for my 7Wsm also. They are a great hunting bullet
 
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I have just shy of 100 rounds of the 180 eld down the pipe. So far I haven't had any issues with them blowing up or keyholing in my 7mm rem mag. Bc holds true for my rifle.
 
squeeeeze said:
wow, shouldn't a speed issue that was claimed to be my potential problem since I have a "hot rod round" by the manufacturer. They never did get back to me like they said they would to let me know the issue they found or when I called them a few more times to follow up. Always too busy to test the ones I sent in so I gave up.

They sent me bullets of my choice for replacement and I just loaded the Berger 195's instead in my 28 Nosler. I'll be working up a load for the Berger 180's eventually as I have good luck with them.

I shoot the Berger 180 Vld Hunting bullets out of my 7Wsm and group amazing. I've had great luck with them for hunting. Even 1 bullet coming apart out of 100's is 1 too many for me. Especially in a hunting situation. It just wasn't worth the risk, or worth a baffle strike on my suppressor.
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I would have been tempted to say my new choice in bullets for this gun are Berger 195s how about a few boxes of those.

Seriously though, my concern about these bullets would be that even out of a cold bore at lower velocity from my Rem Mag what are they going to do on game when they're already on the fringe of self destructing in the air.
 
ive heard od ELDs in both x and m's dusting out in other cartridges before. The common theme among them is hot rodding/hot loads. I don't know if that is a unacceptable issue with these bullets generally the remedy is bringing down your velocity
 
I don't have a chrono, but from what I have read online my velocities should be around 2,900fps out of my 7wsm.
I don't think that velocity would be considered "hot rodding". Also, I have no pressure signs. All the groups I shot during load development/break-in were under 0.8" (not including the two bullets that blew up on me).
I'm going to finish this box of bullets at the range and see what happens. Someone posted that cut rifled barrels are so sharp they might destroy bullets before being fully broken in. Hopefully that is the case with my rifle. I will keep the forum posted.
 
Subzero said:
I don't have a chrono, but from what I have read online my velocities should be around 2,900fps out of my 7wsm.
I don't think that velocity would be considered "hot rodding". Also, I have no pressure signs. All the groups I shot during load development/break-in were under 0.8" (not including the two bullets that blew up on me).
I'm going to finish this box of bullets at the range and see what happens. Someone posted that cut rifled barrels are so sharp they might destroy bullets before being fully broken in. Hopefully that is the case with my rifle. I will keep the forum posted.
Click to expand...

If you'd ever DO get some chrono'd shots I'd like to see them, if for nothing else for report and data.
 
I got some chrono shots today. I averaged 2,960fps with 64.0g of Reloader 26 shooting 180ELDM out of my 26" barrel. I'm pretty happy with those velocities, also I haven't had any more blow ups.
Shot out to 550yds today and I'm impressed with this bullet.
I'm guessing my barrel broke in and stopped killing bullets? I'm about 75 bullets into this barrel.
 
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