ELD-X vs Accubond

[drdool]

Shot a mule deer couple weeks ago with the factory Hornady 200gn ELD-x out of a 22" 300wsm. Muzzle velocity 2775fps. Running shot at 75 yds bullet hit back a bit and though it didn't drop the buck slowed him enough to get a second shot in the crease/shoulder and dropped. Bullet performed and did the job but was a little surprised there was not more expansion. Just standard punch through on both shots. Following this thread as have used 180 ABs for years with no issues other than having one nearly decapitate a Tx whitetail at close range. Planning on using the 143 ELD-x from 6.5 PRC this weekend.

 

[SapperRIP]

Hey Guys. Thanks for the add!

I have used Nosler Accubonds in my elk rifle (300 WM) for a couple of years now. For deer I've always used Hornady bullets e.g. SST's. When Hornady came out with the ELD-X I was really excited about the possibility of their use on elk. However I've recently heard of problems with the ELD-X in terminal performance over 500 yds. What are the recommendations from this forum? ELD-X vs Accubonds. Don't talk about Bergers. Ive counted those out.

Thanks in advance!

I shoot 200 gr. ELD-X for my 300 Win Mag. I shot an Elk last year at 800 yards and it didn't make it 20 yards. A moose was shot with them 2 years ago at 280 yards and it made it 50 feet tops. I have also shot 3 deer with it from 150-400 yards, and have killed all of them within 50 yards of being hit. Which includes doe shot this last saturday at 375 yards and dropped in her tracks. They work great and I have had 0 performance issues to date. Just my personal experience.

 

[Double Dropper]

The old standby for years was a 165 grain Ballistic Tip out of my 300 Win Mag @ 3250, killed everything up north in Canada including bears and bulls, finally I destroyed one on a B&C Bighorn Ram, nothing left of that bullet. I did manage to recover a few over the years and most weighed over 100 grains. Perfect mushroom. From the ram incident i did upgrade to Accubonds but have played over the years with a variety of bullets. I found the Barnes too hard, Partitions sometimes pencilled through without expanding, the search for the perfect bullet goes on, not too hard, not too soft, High BC decent weight retention, for hunting I found the 200 grain ELD-X a bit too soft, playing with the 212 ELD-X now (wait to see) as well as the Bergers 190 and 215 grain versions. Have had fantastic results with the 180 and 200 grain Accubonds but have never recovered one yet. I am a firm believer in a pass through, dont want my meat all messed up and I dont want to shoot grenades, hence leaving behind the Ballistic Tips, no free lunch.

 

[Copper Basin]

The old standby for years was a 165 grain Ballistic Tip out of my 300 Win Mag @ 3250, killed everything up north in Canada including bears and bulls, finally I destroyed one on a B&C Bighorn Ram, nothing left of that bullet. I did manage to recover a few over the years and most weighed over 100 grains. Perfect mushroom. From the ram incident i did upgrade to Accubonds but have played over the years with a variety of bullets. I found the Barnes too hard, Partitions sometimes pencilled through without expanding, the search for the perfect bullet goes on, not too hard, not too soft, High BC decent weight retention, for hunting I found the 200 grain ELD-X a bit too soft, playing with the 212 ELD-X now (wait to see) as well as the Bergers 190 and 215 grain versions. Have had fantastic results with the 180 and 200 grain Accubonds but have never recovered one yet. I am a firm believer in a pass through, dont want my meat all messed up and I dont want to shoot grenades, hence leaving behind the Ballistic Tips, no free lunch.

I would like to hear of your Barnes experience if you don't mind. I stopped using Bergers for a reason and don't wish to start a thread war over them. I am searching for your not too soft, not too hard bullet. Thank you again for the info

 

[Double Dropper]

Barnes failed to expand on some soft game, driven out of a 30-06 (180 grain) pencilled through, as well a long shot (over 500 yards) again kind of pencilled through. This was again in a 300 mag driven to 2900 fps. I am playing with a hot load in the 06 with 150 grain TTSX driven to almost 3100 fps. Long and short, just never had a Nosler Accubond fail to deliver, but sometimes the grouping was not there. plus its fun to try a variety of bullets. I still want a pass through,

 

[Copper Basin]

Barnes failed to expand on some soft game, driven out of a 30-06 (180 grain) pencilled through, as well a long shot (over 500 yards) again kind of pencilled through. This was again in a 300 mag driven to 2900 fps. I am playing with a hot load in the 06 with 150 grain TTSX driven to almost 3100 fps. Long and short, just never had a Nosler Accubond fail to deliver, but sometimes the grouping was not there. plus its fun to try a variety of bullets. I still want a pass through,

Thanks for the info

 

[Alibiiv]

I have a similar delima.

I built a 30 nosler and received it 4 weeks prior to a cow elk hunt. I banged my head against the wall for 3 weeks trying go get the new fed TLR 200 to shoot. I worked extensively and couldn't eliminate fliers. This is from a known good Smith with all top shelf build components and optics.

I loaded some 215 bergers knowing I could make them shoot with little to no load development. As expected I loaded 3 groups of 3 at -.030 off and those 3 different charge weights averaged a heavy .5 at 200. Good enough, I loaded 20 of the best group and left town the next day very confident to 300 yards which I knew was more than needed for a Texas cow elk hunt. I killed the cow at 180 and a pure shoulder shot dropped her like a rock. Interior was mush, 4 broken ribs on the outbound but I couldn't find the bullet and no exit. Again it DUMPED her!

This weekend I killed a 150ish pound white tail at 265 yards with a rock solid quartering to shot. That deer ran about 50 yards with of course no blood trail in some thick and nasty brush. I found the base and core exactly where expected in between the last two ribs in the muscle, not quite making it to the skin. Additionally, the outbound shoulder was destroyed into 3 pieces and swollen to twice it's size due to internal hemroraging. I go through all this to say it's spectacularly accurate with very high bc and nasty terminal performance but had it been 30 minutes later I would have been blindly looking in the dark for that deer.

The 215 berger recovered weighed 77 grains pictured below. It's disappointing as imo is about the perfect bullet for the 300 wm or 30 nosler.

I also had similar results shooting a doe last year at 375 from a 65 creed with a 143eld-x. It exploded on entry with a rib cage hole you could squeeze a fist into. She was dead on the spot but not good for a pure rib hit at around 2200 fps.

Having said all that, I'm planning to load the 200 nos accubond as it won't destroy deer and is extremely reliable on elk which is the goal.

View attachment 157420

I experienced the same thing with a 30-06 and some 165gr Nosler ABLR bullets and Superformance powder. I could not get the rifle to shoot and fliers all over the place. I thought that the barrel was shot out as it was a rifle I'd just picked up. I changed the loads, bullet length, nothing worked, until..........I changed to Hodgdons 4813, and the groups shrunk to bugholes.

 

[Double Dropper]

Change one thing and bingo! Glad you got it to work, love those 165 bonds out of the old 06.

 

[WyoMSRHunter]

The old standby for years was a 165 grain Ballistic Tip out of my 300 Win Mag @ 3250, killed everything up north in Canada including bears and bulls, finally I destroyed one on a B&C Bighorn Ram, nothing left of that bullet. I did manage to recover a few over the years and most weighed over 100 grains. Perfect mushroom. From the ram incident i did upgrade to Accubonds but have played over the years with a variety of bullets. I found the Barnes too hard, Partitions sometimes pencilled through without expanding, the search for the perfect bullet goes on, not too hard, not too soft, High BC decent weight retention, for hunting I found the 200 grain ELD-X a bit too soft, playing with the 212 ELD-X now (wait to see) as well as the Bergers 190 and 215 grain versions. Have had fantastic results with the 180 and 200 grain Accubonds but have never recovered one yet. I am a firm believer in a pass through, dont want my meat all messed up and I dont want to shoot grenades, hence leaving behind the Ballistic Tips, no free lunch.

What's your favorite powder for your 300 WM?

 

[MagnumManiac]

Interesting people using bullets lighter than 180gr in ANY magnum.

I once had a very long conversation with a tech from Nosler regarding issues with very different nose profiles & lengths of ogives between lots of 180gr BT's.
Anyway, he stated that the different bullet weights were designed for different cartridges, ie, 150's for 308, 165's for 30-06 & 180's for 30 mags.....made sense to me.
I have had the most Stella performance with AB's out of several 300 magnums.
A later conversation alluded to the same regarding AB's & Partitions.
The ABLR is becoming a favourite too in 6.5 and 30 cal.
I cannot fault them at all so far.

Cheers.

 

[Double Dropper]

What's your favorite powder for your 300 WM?

WOW loaded question, I do love RL-26 but have no access in Canada. My loads;
1. 200 grain Nosler AB 75grs RL-26 loved it.
2. 200 grain ELDX 76.5 grains of RL-25
3. 190 grain Berger 77.5 grains of RL-25
4. IMR 8133 212 ELDX wont say the load at this time.
5. 178 grain ELDX or Accubond 79.5 grains of RL-26.

Currently playing with RETUMBO and H1000 as well. Using ADG Brass and swapping back and forth between CCI250 and F-215GM primers. Loads are safe in my rifle only*

 

[Double Dropper]

Interesting people using bullets lighter than 180gr in ANY magnum.

I once had a very long conversation with a tech from Nosler regarding issues with very different nose profiles & lengths of ogives between lots of 180gr BT's.
Anyway, he stated that the different bullet weights were designed for different cartridges, ie, 150's for 308, 165's for 30-06 & 180's for 30 mags.....made sense to me.
I have had the most Stella performance with AB's out of several 300 magnums.
A later conversation alluded to the same regarding AB's & Partitions.
The ABLR is becoming a favourite too in 6.5 and 30 cal.
I cannot fault them at all so far.

Cheers.

I have been playing with bullets all year, I can load 3 and walk to my deck and shoot 100 yards, pyjamas and slippers lol. I am looking to go back to 200 grain Accubonds and work up a serious load.

 

[brentc]

I use bullets of all makes, but now I mostly shoot Berger and Hornady. For ELD-Xs I've killed critters of various sizes from moose and oryx to deer and antelope with .308 cal 212s and 200s, 338 cal 270s, and 6.5mm 143s from distances 60 yards to 640 yards. All bullets performed as designed and produced game bags full of meat. Additionally, I haven't had any difficulty getting any of them to shoot 1/2 MOA or better.

 

[Double Dropper]

So how do you explain the bullet failures others are having? I don't think the post is with respect to accuracy, just some failures to perform/penetrate.