ELDM vs ELDX (construction-wise)

[Harry Knutz]

Great Job!

 

[Petey308]

Great Job!

Thanks! I appreciate that.

 

[Bushersam]

Great work, thanks for sharing.

 

[Allen Kitts]

Awesome info, thanks.

 

[john k]

Very interesting and photos were great. How about the differences in the bonding process? In my limited experience, it seems like the AB's do not come apart as easily as the ELD-X upon impact. Thanks

 

[Petey308]

Very interesting and photos were great. How about the differences in the bonding process? In my limited experience, it seems like the AB's do not come apart as easily as the ELD-X upon impact. Thanks

So bullets like the Nosler Accubonds, Swift Scirocco, Norma BondStrike, etc have the jackets electro-chemically "soldered" to the cores and as a result they shed weight at a slower rate and typically in bigger pieces. They also take more force and energy to expand than softer non-bonded bullets. They will not expand as much at lower impact velocities, whereas non-bonded, particularly softer constructed bullets will.

Bullets like the ELDX, SST, Sierra TGK, Norma TipStrike, your basic CoreLokts, etc are all just mechanically bonded, but I don't really consider them truly bonded at all. They have means such as interlock rings, cannelures, thick tapering jackets, etc to slow the rate of expansion, but with high impact velocities and high resistance upon impact they can still suffer over-expansion and come apart more than a truly bonded bullet.

This is why understanding how bullets are constructed is important so you can select the right one for your needs. You're right that ABs do not come apart as easily as the ELDX, and that's because the AB has a thicker jacket plus it's fully electro-chemically bonded, whereas the ELDX has a tapering jacket that is overall thinner, especially at the ogive, and only has a small interlock ring to help adhere the jacket to the core.

Hoped that helps answer your question.

 

[NOCO hunter]

I am assuming that you are melting the lead out of the bullet to it get down to just the jacket. Have you noticed any difference in difficulty in removing the core on the bullets that have the core 'bonded' in one way or another?

 

[Petey308]

I am assuming that you are melting the lead out of the bullet to it get down to just the jacket. Have you noticed any difference in difficulty in removing the core on the bullets that have the core 'bonded' in one way or another?

Yes. The actual bonded bullets leave a layer attached to the jacket still. Here are some examples:

 

[Petey308]

I am assuming that you are melting the lead out of the bullet to it get down to just the jacket. Have you noticed any difference in difficulty in removing the core on the bullets that have the core 'bonded' in one way or another?

You can also tell when it's a harder lead alloy even when not bonded because it takes significantly longer to melt.

 

[Predator 22]

Do you need any bullets? I'd be happy to send you anything I have.

 

[Petey308]

Do you need any bullets? I'd be happy to send you anything I have.

I'm always happy to accept any, as it gets expensive to acquire them on my own. I'd love to sample as many as I can. I'm building a shadow board to hang up in my shop and might put it in a storefront someday. I think it would be pretty cool to have them all laid out to visually compare.

 

[Predator 22]

What are you needing? If I don't have them I'm sure another member would be happy to help as well.

 

[Petey308]

What are you needing? If I don't have them I'm sure another member would be happy to help as well.

Better question might be what are you willing to send? lol. There's a lot out there. I've done several and I know many are the same just different sizes and calibers (like TMKs, ELDMs, ELDXs Berger hybrids for the most part, etc, etc), but I still get requests for the same bullet but different caliber and/or weight. So then it makes the list of possibilities even longer lol.

I prefer 30 cal as a good middle ground regarding caliber size, but most are the same in whatever caliber, and he proportions just change.

 

[Predator 22]

Off the top of my head I have...
Hornady
6.5mm 123 eld-m
22cal 53gr v-max
22cal 55 v-max
22cal 60 v-max
22cal 55 sp
20cal 32 v-max
Berger
7mm 195eol
7mm 175eol
6.5mm 140vld-h
6.5mm 156eol
6.5mm 130vld-h
20cal 35gr varmit
22cal 73gr match
Nosler
6.5mm 130 accubond
270cal 140 accubond
270 cal 130 balistic tip
270cal 1?? Partition
7mm 160 partition
Sierra
6.5mm 120gr matchking
270cal 130gr btsp?
Speer
6.5mm 120gr gold dot
I'm sure several others I'm forgetting. I can bag a couple of each up and send them your way to cut up.