6.5 Grendel Hornady Black 123 ELD-M for hunting?

[Feugo Jeuvo]

No worries with this bullet on deer. I have been using it on deer and coyotes.

 

[Rips]

Sounds like they are fine on deer. On small game varmints the eld -x expanded better. Two other shooters I know also found this. Strange that Hornady say the x has a thicker jacket for penetration as the way they expand would indicate the opposite!
If they are doing the business for you then happy days

 

[Rips]

The daytime shooting part of this video shows the accuracy of the eld-x

 

[Buttermilk]

Some things I read online, plus watching a few Youtube vids, indicates to me that the 6.5mm 123 ELD-M bullet might be a bit on the less expansive side.

I've watched a vid of two hogs being killed with one shot using the 6.5 123 ELD-M bullet. To me, that indicates the bullet holds together well enough to penetrate two hogs adequately to kill both. Certainly not a "soft" bullet...

 

[smack]

This is the first 5 shot group I fired at 100 yards through a 16" Grendel carbine. Alexander Arms M4 contour barrel useing the factory Hornady Black 123gr ELDM ammo. I have no problem shooting Mule deer with the 123gr A-Max so I will have no problem hunting with the ELDM.

 

[Jeeper48]

Bringing this back up to see if anyone has any more experience with hunting and this bullet. I developed a load for my Grendel and the Barnes 120 gr TSX, its very accurate but a measly 2390 fps, the Hornady factory load provides me with much better performance

 

[MudRunner2005]

I'm glad you brought this back up, I'm wanting to hear some results, as well.

 

[Buttermilk]

My son shot a nice buck using the Grendel I built and gave to him. He used a handloaded Hornady 123 SST @ ~2570 fps. 40 yd shot, getting one lung, liver and gut (quartering shot). Bullet may have clipped a twig as it didn't impact at point of aim (was off to the right by ~5"-6"; he did shoot thru some brush).

Deer went about 30 yds, laid down and died.

Bullet expansion was less than expected, but still showed signs of expansion. Bullet exited and wasn't recovered. If the bullet did indeed clip a twig/limb (the hole he was shooting thru did have some twigs in it), that could have caused the bullet to behave differently than if it didn't clip anything before impacting the buck.

We plan to use a different bullet next. The Hornady 123 ELDM and a couple others are on the short list.

 

[MudRunner2005]

I want to pop one with my 6.5G this year. I'll be using either the Berger 130 Hybrids, factory Black 123 ELD, or factory 123 AMax. I have heard the ELD is basically the AMax with the curves ironed out for better ballistics, and that the AMax is basically a tipped version of the Hornady BTHP bullets (of which I've shot deer with before with good results), and lots of folks use AMax's for hunting with good results. At the ranges I'd be shooting at my buddy's new property, it won't really matter, as long as it expands. Longest shot would be maybe 150-200 yards.

 

[Buttermilk]

I've sectioned the 6.5mm Hdy123ELDM bullet and it has the Hornady Interlock ring inside that "locks" the jacket to the core. Based on that, plus the fact that there are numerous reports of that bullet being quite capable of taking deer and hogs, that's the bullet we will use next. Plan was to use it this year but certain things developed that prevented that from happening.

 

[txhoghunter73]

My 6.5 Grendel killed a lot of animals. Killed several hogs(not pictures, hard to get those pics when running and gunning). All with the 123 ELD M so far I am VERY happy.

 

[257Tony]

We have used the 123 Amax on several bucks in the last few years, all fired from a 6.5 Creed at 2875 mv. None has required more than a single shot, about a 50/50 split on drt or run 30 yards and tip over. Only had one exit, small buck shot broadside through the ribs. The others were all big bodied deer shot right in the shoulder, breaks through the onside shoulder and stops against the other shoulder, massive internal trauma.

I like this load so much for deer I bought the last 500 bullets I could find. Here is a 200 yard shot on a nice buck with my rifle I loaned to my buddies 70 year old dad.

 

[Vortex!]

I'm running hornady black 123gr eldm through my Grendel but sadly I haven't been able to shoot a deer with it. I took my little sister hunting and when I do that I don't shoot anything. I let her do the shooting.