Hornady 143 gr ELD X Terminal Performance Report

[elkaholic]

Firstly, 'Grats on the good hunting! Generally my

Tagging in. Excited to see more reports of the ELD performance. Has anyone done any ballistic gel testing?

I tested them in buckets of clay and had similar results

experience agrees, and I'm fortunate (or inexperienced) enough to have spent little time following up game. I was taught to wait for a few minutes before following an animal in the event it ran after the shot. the rationale being it would bed down and stiffen up, reducing the probability of being lifted on approach. This has proved good advice, and usually I arrive at the end of a blood trail to find an expired animal.

It did not go so well for my uncle one year. He shot an elk, and spent the rest of the day chasing it. High lung shot, .260, Barnes TSX, pencil hole through the chest cavity.

Shot placement could have been better, but so could have bullet performance. Examining the evidence we all agreed that it would have been a better day for those involved had the bullet expanded and caused more trauma in the lungs. Maybe I'm off base comparing a Barnes-x failure to the ELD-X results Tikkashooter contributes



I appreciate this kind of comparison. The assertion of 'shot placement' being the issue here appears overly dismissive. Could be my ignorance here, maybe there's something I don't know?

I understand that ELD-m and -x are differently constructed. I happen to like Accubonds. Based on my experience shooting accubonds through deer, the results here seem to suggest ELD-m is more frangible and and ELD-x is tougher and slower to expand than my 'baseline'.

... Or is this just my confirmation bias at work?

Tagging in. Excited to see more reports of the ELD performance. Has anyone done any ballistic gel testing?

Pretty sure Elkaholic did some testing

I had similar results.at about the same or lower velocity in a bucket of clay as Rymarts recovered bullets. They will expand below most normal shooting range. If they have a problem, it would be at high velocity impact on large animals, but even there, they would be ok with proper shot placement.

 

[Rymart]

If they have a problem, it would be at high velocity impact on large animals, but even there, they would be ok with proper shot placement.

Not exactly high velocity impact, but I filled last years' cow elk tag with my wifes' 260 Remington and the 143 ELD-X (2775 fps MV). Mature cow elk, 350 yard shot, hit it square in the thickest part of the shoulder bone (round part just below the blade). Shattered the shoulder bone, blew up the vitals, hit the offside shoulder at the same place, shattered it, and exited. No bullet recovered.

 

[elkaholic]

Not exactly high velocity impact, but I filled last years' cow elk tag with my wifes' 260 Remington and the 143 ELD-X (2775 fps MV). Mature cow elk, 350 yard shot, hit it square in the thickest part of the shoulder bone (round part just below the blade). Shattered the shoulder bone, blew up the vitals, hit the offside shoulder at the same place, shattered it, and exited. No bullet recovered.

IMPRESSIVE!

 

[PBramble]

I've killed four deer total with them. Deer one: 125ish yard shot, blew straight through. Small hole in, small hole out. Second shot 65 yards in the neck, small hole in the left side, blew a fist sized chunk out of the front. I was confused by the shift in direction (90 degrees to the left) and never really thought about it after that. Fast forward to this year. 260-70 yard shot quartering away. Small hole slightly back from the near shoulder, not much damage to the meat. Far side shoulder shattered with massive amounts of trauma under the shoulder blade. He ran. Second shot hit in the ribs, no exit, but his gut was ripped open and hanging out. That one dropped him. I was shooting forward, yet again trauma occurred in the opposite direction of bullet travel. Next deer, shot quartering towards me, 120 yards. Small hole in front of the left shoulder. The bullet traveled to the far rib cage. Jelled lungs and massive amounts of trauma along the far ribs. No exit. Next deer, shot head on, 200 yards. Bullet seemed to have exploded on impact and dug a trench in his chest about 10 inches long, removing enough meat to expose the lungs. When hit, he did a back flip and landed on his back, scrambled to his feet and ran. Finished him with a pistol when we got to him. In every case that the bullet did not exit, nothing was recovered. There seemed to be nothing to find. I'm not sure if I'm happy with the amount of damage I've seen, but they seem to do what they were designed for. I can say they left wayyyy less particles of lead than my .308 shooting traditional lead nosed bullets.