Hornady 6.5C 143 ELD-X performance issues

[jehu]

And Running a Savage Stealth factory chassis rifle in 6.5 Creedmoor with a reworked trigger and the factory 143 ELD-X Ammo. Decided to forgo reloading for it this deer season because this ammo is consistently sub half MOA in my rifle, yields consistent single digit SD's, all while exceeding the factory ammo velocity a bit.

I spent the last few days deer hunting in Indiana with very perplexing results. I'm wondering if anyone else is seeing eFed inconsistent terminal performance like I did. Read on....

First deer: average medium sized doe, lasered range of 285 yards, good feeling shot off a Magnum Tripod in a pop-up blind in a 3mph half value wind, held 1/3 up and just behind the shoulder broadside in a harvested bean field. Spun at the shot, tail Rey CE camped down tight, and typical panic nt blood trail but not outstanding run back into the brush 10 yds away. Figured first deer down with this set up. I figured wrong. The field. Followed a terrible small droplet every few feet blood trail for over 1/4 mile before we list it. Only thing that makes sense is a bullet that didn't expand.

Second deer: good medium sized doe standing broadside at 302 yds with no 60!discernible wind. Same hold, doe ran over 140 yds with a double lung hit before falling. Very small caliber sized exit would. Decent blood trail after 35 yds but nothing outstanding until the last 25 yds or so. Luckily we could see her laying in the field.

Third deer: larger than average doe standing broadside at 314 yds, no wind. Shot felt very good, but deer ran about 60 yds before going into a treeline. No blood ever found at all. And I don't believe I missed it.

Fourth deer: 4 year old spindly 6 pt at 257 yds broadside. Mule kick at the shot and ran 35 yds before ducking back into the trees. Blood trail was phenomenal (my 6 yr "00 could have towed it), deer ran a total of 45-50 yds. Double lunged, with jellied lower lungs and missing top of the heart. The difference? I took my 6.5 Grendel out using Hornady 123 SST ammo.

Fifth deer: Stayed With the Grendel and shot a 150+ doe at 180 yds that left a huge blood trail and only went 50 yds after the double lung hit.

So, am I wrong to think the 143 is not performing? The 123 SST in the Grendel is obviously performing. What has anyone else seen?

I had very simular experiance with 6.5PRC & 300 win mag eld-x on eastern whitetails. They would fall down from impact then get back up and run leaving little to no blood trail. The ones we found , by doing a grid search the next day revealed that the exit wound was the same size as the entrance wound. We determind that the thicker jacket on the bullit was not allowing expansion unless bone was hit. Most of this was under 500yds under the highest velocity. We went to the eld-m bullit, which is the old amax with the heat sheild tip. They produced DRT results everytime. I think the eld-x work better on tuffer game.

 

[codyadams]

Slower the impact speed, the softer bullet you want, on deer, on soft shot placements....lung shots. Many 120-130 will typically do fine. A 120 BT and 130 AB would serve you well on those shots and speeds. If you need more expansion downrange with your bullet, hit the shoulders. You won't destroy too much meat at those distances, and it will promote expansion. My furthest deer was 400 yds, 6BR/105 Amax at 2850, double lunged, golf ball exit, jellied lungs. 25 yds before falling over. I would be curious to learn what speeds with your ammo and rifle....some fall short of spec...and that makes a stronger case IMO, for lighter 120-130s in small capacity rounds. I know all about BC...but your shots were not extreme LR. Good hunting folks.

Even with the slowest 6.5 creed load and a 143, they should have still expanded just fine at the ranges he was shooting. Not saying a 120 or 130 wouldn't work well, it certainly would, but that really isn't the point. The point of the thread is that the 143 didn't work when it should have.

 

[deserthunter86]

I killed a hog at 100m - heart was liquidified and a whitetail at 300m pin sized entry and a 2.5 exit hole. Both DRT. Personally, these things fly perfectly and the 6.5 ELDX does a ton of damage. Maybe a bad batch?

 

[Unguided Missile]

vernw,

Not sure if you've seen this one but here's a post from a fellow member.

https://www.longrangehunting.com/threads/2019-sask-whitetail.230289/

He got this nice looking buck with a 6.5 CM also. Sounds like it took him two shots to put this one down for the count. Not sure of the yardage or where the first bullet hit, but the second bullet was placed in the neck somewhere. It's the same bullet and bullet weight you were using.

For what it's worth, I took a buck a couple years ago with my .243 Winchester. I hit him with a 95grn Nosler partition from about 75 yards away. I hit him right behind the shoulder and the deer just stood there for a few seconds. It ran about 10 yards and then stood there again. The first shot was lethal (later determined after I gutted him) but I put a second shot on him and he then ran about 10 yards and fell over. The exit wound was minimal (about the size of large lemon) but the internals were smoked where the bullet traveled through. Meat loss was minimal also.

 

[6x6 elk]

I was hunting with my friend last week who was using the 6.5 Creedmoor with the same Hornaday ELDX bullets. He shot a doe at about 80 yards, it went about 20 yards and fell over. It had an entrance hole about the size of a dime at an exit hole about the size of a half dollar. Part of the Lung was coming out of the exit hole. Lots of internal damage. From that particular Doe, The performance looked excellent.

 

[basinman]

I have shot 2 deer with this same load. One was a very nice buck at about 125 yards and he was quartering away. I put it behind his left leg and it stopped on the opposite shoulder after breaking it. It did massive damage but he still ran about 25 yards before piling up. The other was a doe that was perfectly broadside at about 100 yards. I double lunged her and she ran about 100 yards and piled up. The exit wound was about 2 1/2". These are by no means long-range shots but the bullets performed okay.

 

[25WSM]

I haven't heard too many complaints on the x but I use the eldm and the kills are drt.
Shep

 

[SteveBurton]

Those are puzzling results. Last year I shot a large 10pt with the 143 ELD-X out of a Creedmoor at 260 yards. Velocity was 2860 fps. Bullet did hit a rib going in, hit both lungs and left a 2-1/2" exit wound. Deer bolted and ran 30 yards before piling up with a blood trail a blind man could follow. 2 weeks ago I shot a Coues at 630 yards with the 143 ELD-X out of a PRC. Velocity was 2970 fps. Again it hit a rib going in, cut a lung in half and destroyed the off shoulder. Deer went 10 yards and flopped over.
Maybe you aren't hitting any bone and the bullet is just penciling through? I did experience that a few times with a 270 WSM that only had 1/2" entrance and exit wounds. That was with their ballistic tip ammo so was very surprised that the bullet did not expand at all.

 

[25WSM]

The op shot several animals and so he had to hit bone on at least one of them. I had similar results with my 270wsm when it first came out. Shot 140 accubonds. 2 buck both had pencil holes in and out. Both ran 100 yards. I think the accubonds are working now from what I hear. I haven't heard any thing about 143x not killing. Stumped on this one. Obviously the op can shoot he dropped 2 with the 6.5 baby creed. I love the grendel with 123s. Under rated round for sure.
Shep

 

[codyadams]

To me, comparing your results to the others replying here, it really seems that you may have got a batch of ammo that had a harder component, core or jacket, or some other issue in the bullet manufacture.

 

[25WSM]

Those bullets are run in such bulk if there is a problem it is going to show up a bunch more.
Shep

 

[Chino Tom]

I began loading the 143 ELD-x for my 260 Rem in 2017. That year I killed a nice
Montana Muley at 275 yards. It entered just behind the right front shoulder and
passing through the heart. The deer took about 10 steps and dropped. There was
quarter sized entrance wound and a much larger exit wound. The following year
on a white tail buck at about a 100 yards much the same story on bullet impact and
internal damage, but this buck jumped a fence and ran a 100 yards. Lots of blood
trail (seems the white tails always run at least 30 yards or more, even when
the vitals are junk). This year I worked up a load for my 270 with the 145 ELD-X.
I shot a Texas white tail at just over 180 yards and he dropped like a rock. 10 seconds later he got up and ran off. No blood or hair. We looked for two days for this deer
but never found it. Later that week I hit a buck in the vitals (lots of blood trail)
and he ran about 40 yards. Never have recovered any of the Eld-x's as they have
all completely passed thru. Earlier this month had the opportunity to hunt Muleys
again in Montana and shot another nice buck at 235 yards. He was quartering away
and I hit him just behind the left shoulder. The bullet hit the top of the heart passed
thru the right ribs and ended up inside the right shoulder. First time I recovered
an ELD-X. The lead core had separated from the jacket as we found each about
an inches apart. Haven't weighed the pieces yet. The impact velocity was 2600.
My results have been good with the ELD-X in both my rifles (and both Tikka's like
them). Not sure what happened to the white tail that ran off. That being said,
for next year I'm going to work on loads with the 140 grain Accubonds.

 

[palerider3]

I've killed a couple of deer and a couple of elk with factory Hornady 143s and it's done fine for me. Always expanded even on shots that didn't hit bone and had lower impact velocities. I have a hard time with claims of bullet failure when the animals weren't recovered. Any properly placed 140gr bullet will kill a whitetail doe.

 

[Huntz]

So far I have shot 4 Mule deer and 2 elk with the 6.5X55 and 143 ELDx bullets.All were one shot bang flops from 200 to 360 yards.MV using H4831 is 2755FPS.Seems like the real deal to me.